- by Shem Kinchi
- The Guardian
- Issue #2111
Technician conducting experiments in CSIRO laboratories at Griffith, NSW, 1995. Photo: CSIRO – Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0)
CSIRO, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, has a lot of runs on the board, including Aeroguard, the polymer banknotes we all use, and essential parts of wi-fi technology. Recent achievements include vital contributions to the development and commercialisation of BarleyMAX (a high fibre wholegrain with high levels of resistant starch), DHA Canola (containing long chain omega-3 fatty acids) and plant-based meat-alternative start-up v2food.
There will be fewer achievements in the future if Labor government cuts go ahead. More than 600 jobs are slated to be cut and it is feared that hundreds more are headed for the same fate, as large-scale restructuring cuts core scientific research, ends long term projects and shrinks science support roles.
Cuts announced to date include:
- Approximately 400+ jobs from Enterprise Services
- 43 jobs from Health and Biosecurity (human health)
- 30 jobs from Agriculture & Food
- 5 jobs from Manufacturing
- 120 jobs from Data61 (AI, robotics, cybersecurity)
- it is rumoured that 65 jobs from Environment are set to go.
The cuts to health and biosecurity (human health) are in their final stages. As a result, CSIRO is set to exit clinical trial research, leading to the closure of the clinical trial unit based at Sydney’s Westmead hospital and the complete removal of CSIRO from the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI) in Adelaide.
These cuts will also cause long-term projects to end prematurely, including further research into the development of high amylose wheat, which improves digestive health, and provides protection against bowel cancer and Type 2 diabetes, as well as allergy research such as the OmnisOva program which produces new generation allergen free, egg white products for families.
A recent Staff Association poll unsurprisingly revealed plummeting morale throughout the organisation and concerns over Australia’s ongoing research capability.
Despite receiving more than one hundred submissions from staff and stakeholders, Human Health Research Director Erica Bremner Kneipp and business unit supremo Brett Sutton have ignored pleas urging CSIRO to protect the priceless research.
KINTORE AVENUE
CSIRO will also abandon research into Value Added Nutrition, effectively ending the Health and Biosecurity presence at Kintore Avenue – located at the University of Adelaide campus – the site of breakthrough nutrition science over the past 50 years.
There, CSIRO has contributed to the development and commercialisation of BarleyMAX (a high fibre wholegrain with high levels of resistant starch), DHA Canola (containing long chain omega-3 fatty acids) and plant-based meat-alternative start-up v2food.
MORALE DOWN
When enacted, these job cuts will reduce the total CSIRO workforce at Kintore Avenue by nearly thirty per cent, jeopardising the long-term viability of the historic laboratory.
The impact of rolling job cuts is being felt across the organisation and staff morale has taken a big hit.
In May, more than 650 Staff Association members participated in a snap poll, where more than two thirds of respondents reported feeling worse off since the announcement of rolling cuts in Enterprise Support Services and multiple business units including Health and Biosecurity, Agriculture and Food, Manufacturing and the likely prospect of more to come in Data61.
COLLAPSE IN CONFIDENCE
Almost 80 per cent of participants from the same poll reported feeling less confident about the current state of job security in CSIRO, with less than 2 per cent reporting feeling more secure.
There are indications that the cuts to jobs and research are damaging the sense of mission within CSIRO across the organisation. CSIRO’s most recent culture survey has revealed a steep drop in confidence when it comes to the strategic direction and vision set by senior executives for Australia’s premier science agency.
Those impacts are most pronounced in South Australia. Analysis of the culture survey report shows a near total collapse in confidence in CSIRO’s strategic direction and intent at Kintore Avenue and SAHMRI, and a massive 22-point decline at Waite Campus.
PREVENTABLE TRAGEDY?
For CSIRO’s Human Health researchers based at Kintore Avenue, there is a strong belief that a research tragedy could have been prevented, but for the inaction of senior executives and an inexplicable failure to avoid this slow moving trainwreck.
Workplace sources at Kintore Avenue have described frustrated attempts over recent years to put Human Health science on a more sustainable funding footing by attracting external earnings; only to have these efforts ultimately rejected by senior leaders within the research program.
The Human Health program cuts will also impact jobs and research into public health and wellbeing, including applied public health, nutrition and behaviour and behavioural and wellbeing science.
