MICHAEL ROWLAND: But first, we are just days away from National Science Week kicking off with the government expected to refocus efforts on encouraging more young Australians to enter what is increasingly a critically important field.

Science Minister Ed Husic joins us now. Minister, good morning.

ED HUSIC, MINISTER FOR INDUSTRY AND SCIENCE: Good morning, Michael, how are you?

MICHAEL ROWLAND: Very well, thank you. So, let's talk about science, technology, engineering and maths, constant subject of discussion, controversy, how can we encourage more young Australians to study science, technology, engineering and maths?

ED HUSIC: A big part of that rests on us being able to capture interest early on, which is why Science Week, National Science Week's really important because it provides opportunities for young people to be able to meet world-leading scientists in their states and territories or get involved in different ways.

But there is a big challenge not just to get people involved in science, technology, engineering and maths STEM studies themselves, but also to take them up as a career and continue them on. It's really important that we have Australian know-how powering what we need for national wellbeing, and also for our economy as well, really important.

I commissioned last year a review that's being headed up by Sally Williams looking at how do we get more people, women and people from underrepresented backgrounds, involved in STEM and stay in STEM? We've got so much work to do we just cannot have people feeling like they've been left out or not invited to take part in helping us with all that work we need to do as a country.

MICHAEL ROWLAND: Yeah, certainly much greater scope for more diverse members of the community to study these areas.

ED HUSIC: Yeah.

MICHAEL ROWLAND: Now, all sections of the economy, as you say, should be playing their part including business. Interesting survey out today by Science and Technology Australia that showed that nine out of ten of those surveyed believed that business should be doing more to promote the importance of science. What would you like them to be doing?

ED HUSIC: I thought that 3M research was really good work that was done for Science and Technology Australia, because it not only pointed out that business should do more to defend science, but it underscores the value that Australians put in science itself. Australians in huge numbers, according to the index that's been put out today, get the value of science, they get why it's so important in their lives, and they also think it's important to defend science and its role in our society.

And in terms of business, I think there is a big role to play in terms of being able to support  - if you look at our research and development standings globally, we are way behind. As a proportion of GDP I think we've got R&D at about 1.8 per cent roughly. The OECD average is about 3 per cent. We can do a lot better.

Government can invest, sure, and you can do a lot through unis, but it will be great to have business pitch in, in that investment, and through that as well defend the value of that to the Australian economy, which is huge because it will again drive the success of the economy, jobs, but also as I said earlier about wellbeing, science plays a big part in making the quality of our lives fundamentally better.

MICHAEL ROWLAND: Yeah, a very big week coming up, we're always interested in all things science on this show. We'll be covering that in greater depth as the week goes on. Just to another issue, I ask you this    

ED HUSIC: Well just before you go.

MICHAEL ROWLAND: Yes.

ED HUSIC: I just also want to commend the ABC because I love Science Mondays and I love the fact that you're doing your bit in terms of making it accessible, science, talking about the value of science as well to the economy. So it is good to have things like that around and particularly in breakfast TV. So well done.

MICHAEL ROWLAND: Thank you very much. We'll include that in our next promo, and I can see Nate Byrnes smiling there broadly in the background, Ed.

Let's move on. You're a senior member of the government. Labor's caucus has decided to toughen its language regarding the Palestinian territories in the Middle East now describing them as occupied and Israeli settlements in the West Bank now describing them as illegal. Why the policy shift?

ED HUSIC: I think it's important to know what we are doing is consistent with the view of the international community. International law recognises that those settlements are illegal. The biggest impediment I think in terms of, in particular, a lot of what other people think I should say, in terms of getting a final two states answer in terms of that part of the world.

We do need to see this resolved. I think a lot of countries are very keen to see this resolved, but settlements make this really hard to happen. We need to be able to get resolution there and I think it's very important that we're consistent. We had inconsistency from the former administration here in Australia. We are basically going in line with what the international community has accepted for quite some time and believes is really important to put a focus on to get this sorted out long term.

MICHAEL ROWLAND: How much of this though was an attempt to avoid a potential barney on the floor of Labor's national conference next week, a barney that could have severely embarrassed both the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister?

ED HUSIC: I have to say, Michael, having lived through a number of conferences and the lead-ups to conferences many times, there are always efforts to try and draw in things from one part of the political landscape and attach it to what's happening in conference. I wouldn't be reading too much into it.

MICHAEL ROWLAND: Okay. But leaders of the Australian Jewish community are upset to say the least at what Labor has done, including Colin Rubenstein who has described your move as both one-sided and profoundly disappointing. Did the government reach out to the Jewish community before making this decision?

ED HUSIC: I believe that there was consultation, but again I direct that to - I think the Foreign Minister's been able to answer a lot of these things and talk about these things but it's not - we think that being able to be consistent with what the international community classifies or acknowledges as a legal settlement is important and that, again, this is a roadblock in the way of longer-term peace. And I think people also understand that when you make calls like this there will be people that take different views and will represent them strongly, and this is the beauty of our democracy that that is able to happen and that's just a natural part of what we have to deal with when you're making calls like this.

MICHAEL ROWLAND: Ed Husic, Science Minister, really appreciate your time this morning, thank you.

ED HUSIC: Thanks, Michael.

ENDS