History
In 1984 the Federal Budget made substantial cuts to funding for
science. This led to Barry Jones' famous accusation that the science
community was `wimpish' in its lobbying and did not provide him
with sufficient muscle in his dealings with Cabinet . The Australian
Academy of Science worked with several of the larger societies to
create an umbrella group to represent the interests of scientists
and technologists in their dealings with Government. As a result
of this, the Federation of Australian Scientific and Technological
Societies (FASTS) was formed in late 1985.
FASTS includes groups of smaller societies, and the group
decides who will represent them on the Board. A number of societies
with common interests have formed councils under the FASTS
umbrella. These include the Australian Mathematical Sciences Council
(AMSC).
The AMSC was formed in 1989. The inaugural member societies
were: Australian Mathematical Society (AustMS), Statistical
Society of Australia (SSA), Australian Association of Mathematics
Teachers (AAMT), Mathematics Education Research Group of
Australasia (MERGA) and Mathematics Education Lecturers'
Association (MELA).
The first meeting of the AMSC was held on October 27, 1989
and its first president was Prof Garth Gaudry. Key people involved
in its formation were Dr Robert Anderssen (AustMS President
1984-86 and FASTS Treasurer at the time), Prof Garth Gaudry
(then President of AustMS) Mr Pat Costello (then President
of AAMT) and Dr David Widdup (Executive Director of FASTS).
A more detailed account of the formation of AMSC can be found
in Chapter 2 of The National Curriculum Debacle by Professors
Ken Clements and Nerida Ellerton (Meridian Press).
Subsequent Presidents have been Prof Richard Jarrett (1993-94),
Ms Jan Thomas (1995-96), Dr Noel Barton (1997-8) and Assoc. Prof
Helen Macgillivray. (1999-)
Since the Council was established there has been representation
of the three major interest groups (mathematics, statistics and
education) on the Executive. This has not been deliberate as members
of the Executive do not represent their societies but are responsible
to the Board as a whole.
AAMT withdrew from AMSC at the start of 1996.
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