Tim Ayres (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Industry and Innovation) Share this | Hansard source

We will get to the decision, but I won't take interjections from people who've mobilised against the interests of science and who've diminished the role of science in so many aspects of Australian life. There are no funding cuts from this government. There's nothing but support, including additional support on top of the billions of dollars of funds that we provide every year. In fact, it was the Abbott government, in 2014, that started the problem with savage cuts to the CSIRO's capacity. They were mobilised by an ideological antipathy towards science and the modern world. That's what drove that.

What is happening here is that CSIRO management are making some decisions about what are the priority areas of research for the CSIRO, what research programs are going to be strengthened and where work is going to either not continue or be altered. That is the truth. As the minister, I expect every research dollar, every dollar that goes into science, to be spent consistently with those national science priorities. I recognise that organisational change—the changes that have been signalled—is very difficult indeed. The people who are affected by these changes are passionate scientists who bring an enormous amount of expertise and hard work to the work that they do.

But the future focus of this organisation, my responsibility as minister and this government's commitment to the CSIRO and to science are to make sure that we have an organisation that is fit for purpose and is ready to meet the challenges that we will need to face. They will be there supporting a clean, affordable energy transition, including transforming critical minerals to materials; addressing the pressing problems of climate change with a renewed focus on adaptation and resilience; applying advanced technologies, including AI, quantum sensing, robotics and manufacturing; improving the productivity and resilience of Australian farms and the agriculture sector; and mitigating and eradicating biosecurity threats to industry, landscapes and communities. Those will be the focus areas and the priorities. That's where the CSIRO, their management and their staff are working together to deliver a stronger, more effective CSIRO.