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 MYEFO and both measures represent new spending on top of the approximately $1 billion appropriation that CSIRO receives annually.
However, reports suggest that this latest funding lifeline won’t save even one of the 350 CSIRO research roles currently targeted for cuts.
Questions around job security, Executive accountability and transparency around the deployment of the additional funding are set to feature when senior leaders front CSIRO staff at a webinar tomorrow.
CSIRO’s Average Staffing Level is predicted to fall by 200, down from 5,300 to 5,100. That’s a similar number to what the organisation recorded (5,141) in 2019-20, prior to the Covid-era funding boost.
“The task of rebuilding trust with CSIRO staff is not going to be easy,” Staff Association Secretary Susan Tonks said.
“What’s required from 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.”
“Furthermore, there needs to be increased transparency and accountability for CSIRO Executive when it comes to the administration and deployment of this extra $620 million in funding,” Ms Tonks said.
Chief Executive Doug Hilton described the funding boost as “a real turning point.”
“This additional investment will allow us to become a more sustainable organisation and a more stable organisation. And those two things are important. It allows investment into our facilities, our equipment, and our cybersecurity. And it provides confidence to our staff that they have the long-term ability to do the creative science that this country so desperately needs.”
“This funding injection gives us real workforce stability into the future. And we’re confident that we can maintain that workforce stability,” Dr Hilton said.
Finance Minister Katy Gallagher said it would be disappointing if CSIRO Executive pursued further redundancies.
“We have worked with CSIRO over the last nine months or so to reach an agreement, essentially, with their ongoing funding requirements that allows them to deliver what they are asked to deliver, and the funding we have provided allows them to do that… we have provided funding that we believe will put CSIRO on a sustainable footing.”
“This is a government that focused on science, we don’t just talk about it,” Science Minister Tim Ayres said.
“We are delivering here in a way that sets up the national science agency with confidence for the future… This is a substantial boost to the CSIRO and it is part of a purposeful approach that I’m determined to lead on behalf of the Albanese Government for Australian science.”