Professor David Lindenmayer
Dr READ (Brunswick) (09:54): About six weeks ago in this place the member for Narracan accused Professor David Lindenmayer of quoting his own work in questionable peer-reviewed papers and of being a scientific fraud. There is nothing wrong with members of Parliament disagreeing with people who are better trained and qualified than we are, especially when there are experts on opposing sides of a debate, but it is wrong to accuse someone of scientific fraud when there is no evidence that this has occurred. The member for Narracan may not know what scientific fraud is nor how seriously it is taken within the scientific community. He therefore may not know that people making such an accusation must send evidence of data manipulation to the journal in which it was published. This is followed by an investigation and often a retraction by the journal. The member for Narracan may not have published many peer-reviewed articles, so he may not be familiar with the process. He would not know that scientists working in an area are usually required to cite their own work as they build upon the knowledge in their field of research. I want to take this opportunity to express my admiration for Professor Lindenmayer. Professor Lindenmayer has published more than 872 peer-reviewed articles in national or international scientific journals. He has published 48 books and is among the most highly cited researchers in the world. The Australian newspaper lists him as the leading conservation and biodiversity expert in the nation. We are lucky to have him.