Dear scientists: Join a political party.

In the wake of the 2016 federal election we ask that you, as scientists, join a political party and at the very least join the political discussion. We're not asking you to join the Science Party in particular (although that would be great!), but any party. What we want more scientific discussion in parliament and the community. We need your voice!

The Science Party ran in the federal election on evidence-based policy. We think that more science literacy and science-literate discussions need to happen in the public domain, especially in politics.

This election has been a bit of a shock with a few candidates being elected on an anti-science and anti-logic agenda. It is very concerning to us that One Nation and Derryn Hinch's Justice Party can get candidates elected to the Senate, and the anti-vaxxers in the Health Australia Party can gain a substantial number of votes. While we did well in this election, we need to do better, and to do better we need more conversation. That's where you come in.

Our policies are grounded in evidence and we are proud to change our policies when new or more evidence is available. That's the way that science works, and when making decisions about people’s health, education and rights, it should be how policy works.

You don't have to agree with all of our policies to join our party. In fact, we welcome honest debate about our policies and we have changed them on many occasions after rational, logic and in depth discussions based on facts and evidence. The more people talk about policy making and government with a focus on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, the more we'll impact on scientific thinking in in parliament.

We need your input and your voice. The Science Party is a great place for more discussion to happen and if you are thinking about getting involved in politics, even if it is only a little bit, we welcome you.