Real problem, wrong solution: why the Nationals shouldn’t politicise the science replication crisis

Abstract

The National Party, Queensland farming lobby group AgForce, and MP Bob Katter have banded together to propose an “independent science quality assurance agency”. To justify their position, Liberal-National MP George Christensen and AgForce’s Michael Guerin specifically invoked the “replication crisis” in science, in which researchers in various fields have found it difficult or impossible to reproduce and validate original research findings. Their proposal, however, is not a good solution to the problem.