The Staff Association has appealed for an urgent and sustained increase to CSIRO funding and resources as part of a submission to a Senate inquiry into Australia’s premier research organisation.
That call for stronger Government support for CSIRO have been echoed in similar recommendations to the same investigation, offered by science industry peak bodies including Science and Technology Australia (STA), the Australian Academy of Science (The Academy) and the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE).
Meanwhile, CSIRO Executive’s own testimony to the inquiry has revealed the scale of the challenge ahead, with the organisation seeking an extra $80 million to $135 million per annum over the next ten years, just to tread water.
The union submission was informed by the results of a survey involving the participation of more than four hundred Staff Association members, which focused on the impact of recent job cuts on research capacity, workforce morale and the maintenance of scientific infrastructure.
The Staff Association warns that urgent action is needed to protect CSIRO’s capacity to deliver public good science and maintain Australia’s global standing. Immediate and long-term funding, coupled with transparent and consultative decision-making, is essential to restore and sustain CSIRO’s capacity to serve the nation.
As one member explained: “The cumulative effect of funding cuts, job losses, and reduced support for early-career researchers is seen as a threat to Australia’s scientific sovereignty, productivity, and ability to address existential challenges like climate change, environmental degradation, and public health.”
Public investment in research and development often delivers innovation that forms the groundwork for commercial breakthroughs and increased productivity, the submission argues, pointing out CSIRO’s role in creating some of the most storied and ubiquitous scientific innovations in Australia’s history, including the invention of Wi-Fi, plastic bank notes, Aerogard and the Hendra virus vaccine.
Staff commented on the importance of the work that CSIRO does:
“CSIRO provides advice that no other institution in Australia can provide – and maintains a large array of facilities for the nation. These include climate modelling, animal health and disease, air quality monitoring, bushfire response, fisheries management advice, water management, agricultural management, health and well-being, energy usage forecasts, manufacturing research and development,” to name a few.
The submission maintains there is widespread concern that CSIRO leadership does not fully understand or consult staff about the importance of specific scientific work when making resource allocation decisions. Respondents described a disconnect between executive management and the realities faced by researchers, with decisions often prioritising short-term fiscal metrics over long-term scientific capability.
Over 66 per cent of survey respondents said they do not believe CSIRO leadership understands the importance of specific scientific work when making resource allocation decisions, while over 80 per cent can’t agree that CSIRO leadership genuinely consults staff about priorities before making resource allocation decisions.
Executive’s failure to adequately manage the extra appropriation funding provided to CSIRO during the coronavirus pandemic provides a case in point.
It all raises questions about resource allocation decisions by the CSIRO leadership. Staff were firmly of the view that the role of management should also be scrutinised.
“There is a profound inequity in an organisation where researchers are burdened with the administrative labour of ‘hollowed out’ support units while ‘top-heavy’ management remains disconnected from the human and technical consequences of their decisions.”
“This Inquiry must examine whether the current ‘corporate’ leadership model is compatible with CSIRO’s mandate to serve the public good. We are seeing a shift where administrative neatness and executive rewards are prioritised over the sovereign scientific expertise required to keep Australia’s water and environment safe.”
CSIRO Staff Association is requesting an immediate additional funding injection of approximately $252.3 million to halt and reverse the loss of nearly 1,200 staff in the 2026-27 Budget.
The union has also called for Government intervention to suspend further job cuts pending an independent, external investigation into CSIRO’s restructure, ensuring transparency and accountability in this process.
Additional recommendations include measures to secure long-term resourcing that keeps place with inflation and tied to a proportion of Gross Domestic Product, plus specific actions to improve transparency and accountability.
Read the Staff Association submission here.
The STA submission asserts that public funding “to CSIRO and other critical STEM research agencies and programs are investments in Australia’s sovereign capability. They are patient capital for the national benefit and should not be treated as an expense line to be constrained.”
STA recommends the development of “a new indexation rate for appropriation lines related to research that more accurately reflects the true rate of increases in the costs of doing research.”
“CSIRO’s appropriation – and that of other Commonwealth-funded publicly funded research agencies – must be regularly reviewed to ensure research and development budget appropriations are increased at the true rate of inflation and the rising cost of doing research, not standard indexation.”
The Academy submission claims that recent job cuts at CSIRO are symptomatic of a research sector that is “highly resource-constrained and reaching a critical point… while the costs of science are increasing, Australia’s investment in research and development is well below the OECD average and declining. This puts our science capability, including our national science agencies, in a precarious position and risks Australia’s future prosperity and security.”
“Australia’s chronic underinvestment in research and development is a systemic failure of policy that must be reversed. The critical expertise, infrastructure and knowledge of our national science agencies cannot be rapidly rebuilt once eroded by under-resourcing. Australia’s government relies on this national research capability in times of great need. The future effectiveness of our PFRAs depends on sustainable, long-term funding.”
Recommendations include a commitment from the Federal Government to “sustainable funding (of) publicly funded research agencies, especially to secure public good research.”
Read The Academy submission here.
The ATSE submission describes Publicly Funded Research Agencies (PRFAs) as “the backbone of Australia’s research and development ecosystem,” while lamenting recent cuts to CSIRO and ANSTO.
“Australia’s PFRAs provide significant economic and social benefits to the nation. While research and development nationally has been found to return $3.50 on average for every dollar invested, CSIRO has been shown to return $8.80 per dollar invested. This translates to an expected $32 billion for the Australian economy by 2034.”
ATSE have called for the National Research Infrastructure (NRI) Roadmap to be updated to “facilitate sufficient investment to maintain and operate NRI facilities, including those run or supported by CSIRO.”
“In the long-term, losing PFRA capacity to support NRI facilities would erode Australian research capability across the whole system, reducing access to critical research infrastructure for researchers across the nation and making it harder for Australian research to solve Australian problems and build Australian opportunity.”
Read The ATSE submission here.
CSIRO’s submission bakes in the research job cuts, irrespective of the extra $233 million funding announced in the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO).
“As a strategic shift, the proposed changes to CSIRO’s research direction are not budget driven and are independent of the recent announcement in the (MYEFO) of additional funding for CSIRO… funds released as a result of strategic shifts would generally be reinvested into areas of high priority; however, given the challenges to on-going sustainability, CSIRO needs to realise the savings from the proposed reduction of 300 to 350 full-time equivalent positions.”
Despite all this, CSIRO says it won’t be enough. “Based on current estimates, in addition to the savings that will come from recently announced changes to its research direction, CSIRO needs to invest at least $80 million to $135 million per annum for the next 10 years to achieve long-term sustainability.
“The impact of increasing costs has impacted CSIRO’s research capacity and led to an underinvestment in property, scientific and research infrastructure and equipment, information technology, digital technologies and cyber security. CSIRO’s ability to meet climate resilience and energy efficiency targets across its extensive ageing property portfolio has also been constrained by increasing costs.”
Despite citing an increase in labour expenditure from $796 million to $987 million over the past five years, the submission admits that there is gulf between CSIRO salaries and those on offer in other parts of the Australian science sector.
“CSIRO wages for senior researchers are lower than wages of equivalent researchers working in other parts of the research and development ecosystem, such as the higher education sector or industry, and are therefore less attractive to international talent.”
“With continued investment and a clear, forward-looking research direction, CSIRO will remain well positioned to deliver transformative science and innovation for Australia,” the CSIRO submission concludes.
“Strengthening the organisation’s long-term financial sustainability will ensure that CSIRO can continue to support government priorities, drive economic growth, safeguard the environment, and contribute to the security and wellbeing of all Australians.”
Read the CSIRO submission here.
The Economics References Committee has been tasked with investigating CSIRO funding and resourcing, with a report due no later than 31 March 2026.
The terms of reference include proposed jobs and program cuts, the importance of public good science and Australian sovereign scientific capability, the long-term capability needs of CSIRO’s workforce, infrastructure and equipment and the role of CSIRO’s leadership in making decisions on resource allocation.
Submissions have closed and the Committee is expected to hear evidence in public sometime in March. For more information visit the inquiry website.