Ed Husic at AI Month at Questacon, November 2023. Photo: Ed Husic Facebook.
One of Labor’s own has blasted the Federal Government over its intentions to sack another 350 CSIRO staff, and what gives the message more impact is that it’s coming from the former Science Minister.
Ed Husic was Industry and Science Minister during the first term of the Albanese Government, but was relegated to the backbench following this year’s federal election.
While he oversaw job cuts to the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation during his tenure, he has now called for drastic action to save CSIRO.
In fact, Mr Husic has told the government to “pry open the jaws of Treasury” to fund the jobs and the agency’s ongoing research program.
CSIRO chief executive officer Doug Hilton announced on Tuesday (19 November) that between 300 and 350 research roles will be abolished next financial year.
That is on top of the hundreds of jobs already cut over the past 18 months.
Dr Hilton issued a statement signalling that the organisation needs to adapt to a new research direction.
Late on Wednesday, Mr Husic appeared on ABC television to severely criticise the decision.
“If you do value science, you need to stop looking at science and research as a cost, and see it as an investment in the future, well-being and capability of the country,” he said.
“I think that the task at hand is to roll up the sleeves, get out the jar of Gumption and pry open the jaws of Treasury to make sure that our national science agency is funded in the way that will be good for the country into the long term.
“If you want to find the money, you can find it.
“I mean, we found $600 million for a football team in Papua New Guinea. I’m sure we’ll be able to find the money for our national science agency, because that is an investment, as I said, in our future capability as a country.”
Treasurer Jim Chalmers, however, has shot down any hopes that next month’s mid-year economic and financial outlook could find more money to fund the science agency.
“I am a big believer in the CSIRO. I think it has an important role to play in not just our science base, but our industrial base more broadly as well,” Dr Chalmers said.
“That’s why we do provide substantial funding, and we understand that people would like us to provide more.”
The current minister responsible for CSIRO, Tim Ayres, has indicated that jobs in nutrition research at CSIRO would be affected, but there are few other details about the imminent losses.
The CSIRO Staff Association within the Community and Public Sector Union said Labor’s public science jobs cuts go further than those lost under former Liberal prime minister Tony Abbott.
But speaking in Perth on Wednesday, Anthony Albanese said his government was a “friend of science” and it was “nonsense” to make the comparison with Mr Abbott.
“Tony Abbott gutted the CSIRO. Didn’t support scientific research. We are supporting scientific research,” the Prime Minister said.
“What we’re making sure is that the funding is going in the right directions. And what the staff there will know is that there was a substantial increase in staff. A substantial increase was made in previous budgets.
“The fact is that we support science and we support the CSIRO, and we want to make sure that every single dollar of funding for scientific research is going in the right direction. That’s what we do.”
The festering disagreement has allowed the Opposition to jump in and accuse the government of fighting among itself while inflicting pain on CSIRO workers and uncertainty over the agency’s future research program.
Shadow Industry and Innovation Minister Alex Hawke said Mr Ayres needs to “front up” and explain the government’s whole intentions for the national science agency.
“There is mounting confusion about exactly which CSIRO research units would be hit by Labor’s cuts,” Mr Hawke said on Thursday morning.
“Minister Ayres has gone MIA while basic details of Labor’s CSIRO cuts go unexplained.
“Labor’s cuts to the CSIRO will not only hurt Australia’s research ecosystem, they will harm productivity and undermine the capacity of industry to compete.
“Aussie manufacturers are already struggling with unaffordable energy; now they have to deal with an innovation brain drain.
“Labor’s so-called ‘Future Made in Australia’ agenda is simply an empty slogan.”
Mr Hawke said the Coalition established the CSIRO Innovation Fund and invested more than $3.8 billion in the 2020-21 Budget.
Mr Ayers is doing a round of media appearances to sell the government’s case for the latest cuts.
