A Senate inquiry into the CSIRO’s resourcing says the agency’s staff need greater certainty over the future of their jobs and their research. Photo: Peter Bennetts.
The final report of a parliamentary inquiry into the CSIRO’s resourcing has told the Federal Government to give the nation’s leading science body some security over staffing and funding levels.
The Senate’s Economic References Committee has recommended the government clarify whether there will be job losses and funding cuts, to give those employed at the agency more certainty about their futures and that of their scientific research.
It also takes a swipe at the agency’s highest level of leadership over perceived lack of consultation with staff.
“Central to CSIRO’s work and mission are its people, from early- and mid-career researchers to the most experienced scientists and the dedicated and capable support staff who enable their work,” the report states.
“The committee received compelling evidence suggesting that this workforce is currently experiencing deep levels of frustration and distress.
“These sentiments stem not only from concerns staff have about their own job security and the wellbeing of their colleagues, but also a very genuinely felt view that the importance of their work is often misunderstood and discounted by CSIRO’s leadership.
“Time and again, the committee was told that staff feel they are not being adequately consulted or heard regarding CSIRO’s direction and future.”
The report delivers six recommendations that go largely to the need for better consultation with staff, respect for what they do and for assurances over funding and job security.
The committee says the CSIRO cannot afford to alienate the very people it relies on to deliver its mandate.
The expertise held by CSIRO’s staff in strategically important areas is often very difficult or impossible to replace, it says.
“Once this capability is lost, it cannot be easily replicated or ‘picked up’ by other research organisations, here or overseas,” the report states.
It comes as hundreds of jobs have been shed at the CSIRO in the past two years and an ongoing redundancy and efficiency drive hangs over all employees.
The inquiry was launched last year following the announcement by CSIRO’s chief executive officer Doug Hilton of plans to cut up to 350 research positions, on the back of the loss of more than 800 jobs in the 12 months prior.
Independent ACT Senator David Pocock, who was instrumental in setting up the committee, said CSIRO’s job losses were a consequence of a long-term bipartisan failure on the part of governments to properly fund the agency.
“The CSIRO is one of the most successful research organisations anywhere in the world, our task is to ensure it continues to do this critical work for the good of all Australians,” Senator Pocock said.
“Per capita, federal investment in CSIRO is less than half what it was in the 1980s and the cost of research has skyrocketed, meaning they have to make cuts. This level of funding is so short-sighted as we need the work of its scientists more than ever to confront the challenges we face.
“In this time of global uncertainty we talk a lot about building sovereign capability and nowhere is that more important than in science and research.”
Greens science spokesperson Peter Whish-Wilson said the CSIRO needed additional funding and a new commitment from current and subsequent governments to real increases in the resources available to it.
He said evidence to the inquiry made clear that the challenges facing the CSIRO were the direct consequence of chronic underfunding by governments.
“These funding pressures are driving a shift toward short-term, applied work at the expense of deep, long-term climate science,” Senator Whish-Wilson said.
“This is not an incidental outcome, it is a direct consequence of policy and funding choices and it carries significant national risk.
“The CSIRO has spent decades building the knowledge, infrastructure and skilled workforce needed to model Southern Hemisphere climate systems.
“This is not something that can simply be outsourced or picked up elsewhere. Rebuilding it would take years of sustained investment and the cuts now under way risk losing it altogether.”
The CSIRO Staff Association (a section of the Community and Public Sector Union) is using the report’s recommendations to call on the government to use next month’s federal budget to deliver more funding to the science agency.
Secretary Susan Tonks said the report’s findings displayed the deep community and industry support for the CSIRO, while also demonstrated the decades-long deterioration in its funding.
“CSIRO plays an irreplaceable role in delivering world-leading science and innovation that underpins Australia’s prosperity, security, sovereign capability and wellbeing,” she said.
“Urgent action is needed to protect CSIRO’s capacity to deliver public good science and maintain Australia’s global standing.
“That includes immediate funding to prevent job losses, investment in research capacity and long-term support to ensure financial sustainability, as well as improved organisational transparency and accountability.
“As a matter of urgency, we are calling on the Albanese Government to use the federal budget to provide additional funding to halt and reverse staff losses and to suspend further cuts pending an independent external review of CSIRO’s restructure process.”
Original Article published by Chris Johnson on Region Canberra.
