- by FJ
- The Guardian
- Issue #2192
CSIRO Parkes Radio Telescope. Photo: Amanda Slater – flickr.com (CC BY-SA 2.0)
CSIRO has won an extra $387.4 million in funding, as part of a federal budget measure to support the organisation’s financial sustainability, but questions remain over job security and executive accountability at Australia’s premier science agency.
The additional funding builds on the $233 million announced last December as part of the Mid Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO) and both measures represent new spending on top of the approximately $1 billion appropriation that CSIRO receives annually.
It sounds as though the Labor government is looking after our venerable science and research organisation, the people who bought us polymer banknotes, wifi, and Aeroguard. However, reports suggest that this latest funding lifeline won’t save even one of the 350 CSIRO research roles currently targeted for cuts.
Questions remain around job security, Executive accountability and transparency around the deployment of the additional funding have featured when senior leaders fronted CSIRO staff at a webinar. Despite the good news over funding, CSIRO’s average staffing level is predicted to fall by 200, going from 5,300 to 5,100. That’s a bit less than the organisation had before a boost during COVID.
CSIRO Staff Association Secretary Susan Tonks said that what’s required from the organisation’s executive is “a strong commitment to future employment security at CSIRO. Staff need a real guarantee that future job cuts are off the table until the end of the decade, at least.”
Tonks added that there needs to be increased transparency and accountability for CSIRO Executive when it comes to the administration and deployment of the extra $620 million in funding.
Chief Executive Doug Hilton has been upbeat about the funding, calling it “a real turning point.”
Finance Minister Katy Gallagher said it would be “disappointing” if CSIRO had more redundancies after the extra cash infusion. Science Minister Tim Ayres said the government was “focussed on science.” Ayres also spoke of giving CSIRO confidence for the future.
Since the organisation shows no sign of not going ahead with cuts to research roles, it looks as though Gallagher is doomed to disappointment, while staff have good reasons to not share Ayres’ optimism.
