Michelle Ananda-Rajah (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator David Pocock and colleagues for moving this important motion on CSIRO. CSIRO is, indeed, a national asset. As it is a peak public institution in this country, devoted to science, we will always support it. This stands in contrast to the climate deniers on the opposite side, who now seem to have discovered a genuine interest in science. It's entirely hypocritical for them to be now clutching their pearls and their chests and wringing their hands in anguish over imminent job cuts at CSIRO. You have no credibility whatsoever.

The story of CSIRO is not one of government job cuts. It is, unfortunately, a story of mismanagement. Indeed, four days ago, a whistleblower declared to the Fairfax Papers that there were problems evident at CSIRO five years ago. The Morrison government, during the pandemic, injected an additional $459 million over four years into CSIRO. This funding boost led to a huge increase in CSIRO's headcount. The headcount swelled by nearly 1,400 staff between 2020 and 2024. In other words, CSIRO went on a massive recruitment drive with this additional funding. What also happened during that time is that employee benefits, CSIRO's largest expense, jumped—by 30 per cent since 2019. This is a quote from this former senior staff member:

There were no real projects for them to work on.

When 2024 clocked on, there was a funding cliff, and this near half-a-billion dollars that had been injected into CSIRO had been, effectively, squandered. The new management have come on under the stewardship of eminent scientist and fine Australian Professor Doug Hilton. He's had to do housekeeping; he and the independent board, which stands at arm's length from the government, have had to do some housekeeping.

I want to make it clear: any institution, whether it be scientific or otherwise, that receives public funds must be held accountable. CSIRO must be held accountable even though it is a peak scientific body. It is not a protected species. No-one that receives taxpayer dollars in this really challenging fiscal environment is a protected species. So the board did a review. It was the first strategic review in 15 years—and that tells you everything you need to know. It decided that there needed to be a realignment of CSIRO's priorities with the national priorities of this government. As a result of the mismanagement of the previous administration, unfortunately, a number of people are now likely to lose their job.

In terms of these people, bear in mind that this Albanese Labor government is establishing a number of statutory bodies next year. From January next year, the first ever Centre for Disease Control will kick off. That is going to require people with expertise in infectious diseases. Professor Hilton has already declared that one priority will be 'one health'—animal health as well as human health and environmental health. This will be an absolute focus of the CDC. There is no tackling infectious diseases unless you tackle threats to animals as well as the broader environment, because that's how pandemics emerge. In addition, provided this parliament works together and passes our environmental laws, we will be standing up a national environmental protection agency. So those workers who are likely to lose their jobs in the environmental sector of CSIRO will potentially be able to enter the EPA or Environment Information Australia, the EIA. We would need their expertise.

In addition to that, we have just announced the establishment of a national AI safety institute, a body that will rest within the department of industry. It will absolutely need scientists with expertise in AI, quantum and mathematics to be able to, again, scan the horizon for threats. So there are opportunities here for those scientists. (Time expired)