Cuts to CSIRO jobs and research are attracting public attention and generating media coverage. This page lists recent stories and will be updated regularly.
To view media stories relating to enterprise services job cuts, click here.
CSIRO cuts could undermine ocean research, inquiry told – Cuts at Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation have put a crucial environmental research programme “at real risk”, marine scientists have warned. The Senate’s economics references committee is inquiring into the funding and resourcing of CSIRO, and environmental issues have featured heavily in submissions… Research Professional News, 2 February 2025 (link, text below).
Cash-strapped CSIRO forks out $500,000 on trees, indoor plants amid sweeping staff cuts – The cash-strapped CSIRO is spending more than half a million dollars a year maintaining the lawns, trees and indoor plants at its Canberra headquarters despite the Albanese government coming under increasing pressure to rein in spending… The Australian, 30 January 2025 (link, text below).
The science of sacking – CSIRO chief Doug Hilton announced he’s sacking 350 scientists, but the $965K pa head of the science body now refuses to have his own ‘sacking science’ publicly reviewed… By Rex Patrick, Michael West Media. 19 January 2026 (link, text below).
Staff Association welcomes $233 million CSIRO funding boost – CSIRO Staff Association has welcomed the Albanese Labor Government’s announcement of an additional $233 million for the CSIRO. This investment is desperately needed and will help stabilise immediate operational and infrastructure pressures at Australia’s national science agency… CSIRO Staff Association media release, 17 December 2025 (link, text below).
Statement regarding additional funding for CSIRO – CSIRO welcomes the Australian Government’s short-term investment of $233 million, which enables us to take the first steps toward addressing our long-term sustainability challenges… CSIRO media statement, 17 December 2025 (link, text below).
CSIRO’s $233m funding boost won’t save jobs – Australia’s national science agency CSIRO says it welcomes a $233 million funding boost announced by the federal government on Wednesday, but maintains it still needs to cut more than 300 full-time roles. Treasurer Jim Chalmers said he was “very proud” of the extra funds for CSIRO released in the government’s Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO), but added that how the agency decided to use the money was “a matter for them, and for their board”… ACS Information Age, 18 December 2025 (link, text below).
CSIRO budget handout won’t address funding issues – The federal government’s mid-year budget has gifted more than $200 million to the nation’s science agency. CSIRO will receive an extra $233 million, the government has announced. The cash boost comes in the wake of a series of job cuts as the agency seeks to navigate a funding shortfall… Government News, 19 December 2025 (link, text below).
CSIRO to receive $233 million in mid-year budget but up to 350 jobs still to be cut – The CSIRO will receive an additional $233 million in federal funding but will still proceed with up to 350 job cuts announced last month. Treasurer Jim Chalmers announced the funding boost as part of the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook… ABC Online, 17 December 2025 (link, text below).
National science agency CSIRO gets $233 million funding boost in mid-year budget – The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is getting a $233 million funding boost in the Albanese government’s mid-year budget update today. Treasurer Jim Chalmers revealed the figure on Wednesday morning, a month after the national science agency announced plans to cut 350 jobs as it moves to reprioritise research areas while grappling with budget pressures… Canberra Times, 17 December 2025 (link, text below).
CSIRO staff cuts may not be over – The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation has not ruled out further staff cuts as it tries to repair “underinvestment in infrastructure”, a Senate estimates session has heard. At the hearing of the economics legislation committee on 4 December, CSIRO chief executive Doug Hilton said that after the 350 roles that are currently due to be cut, further decisions will “depend on our budget trajectory and we would look at all measures before we would embark on job cuts”… Research Professional News, 8 December 2025 (link, text below).
CSIRO fails to rule out further job cuts during senate estimates grilling after announcing 350 roles will be slashed from 2026 – Australia’s peak scientific agency has not ruled out further job cuts as it looks to make large savings and bolster its financial position. The CSIRO has revealed plans to cut up to 350 jobs from next year after making cuts of about 500 roles in August last year. It comes as the agency revealed it faces “long-term financial sustainability challenges” as funding fails to keep pace with the rising costs necessary for its operations… Sky News, 5 December 2025 (link, text below).
First CSIRO, now ARC’s facing job cuts: Pocock warns of ‘another attack on our research community’ – Jobs are set to be slashed at the Australian Research Council (ARC) as the Federal Government pushes ahead with its insistence that agencies achieve across-the-board budget efficiencies of up to 5 per cent. ARC is a Commonwealth entity established as an independent body under the Australian Research Council Act 2001 and reports to the Education Minister, Jason Clare… Region Canberra, 5 December 2025 (link, text below).
The public sector is not bloated and cuts will hurt Australians – The talk around Canberra at the moment is about the reports of the government asking departments to find 5 per cent cuts, or a “re-prioritisation” to use Finance Minister Katy Gallagher’s words. The word use is quite pertinent, given the CSIRO’s announcement of its cuts last week contained the line that the cuts were a “sharpened focus” that meant “other research activities will need to be deprioritised”… By Greg Jericho. The New Daily, 27 November 2025 (link, text below).
CSIRO is facing big job cuts – 7.30 spoke to current and former CSIRO staff and the picture that emerges is one of an organisation reaching crisis point. A senior CSIRO scientist, who wanted to stay anonymous to speak freely, told me that morale is at rock bottom and it’s unfortunate areas like climate change research will suffer because of the job cuts, even though it’s a stated priority area… ABC 7.30, 27 November 2025 (link, text below).
CSIRO cuts slash heart of STEM – In Donald Horne’s The Lucky Country (1964), his main argument was that Australia’s success has come largely by luck, not by the skill, intelligence, or vision of its leaders. In his usually misunderstood and misused quote that Australia is a Lucky Country run mainly by second rate people who share its luck, he argued that Australia’s elites were complacent, unimaginative and resistant to innovation… By Maria Miller. Upper Yarra Star Mail, 30 November 2025 (link, text below).
CSIRO cuts show science still treated as a budget cost – The CSIRO cull has put fresh attention on decades of real-term funding decline and the pressure to fit research into narrow policy goals… By Binoy Kampmark. The Mandarin, 28 November 2025 (link, text below).
Senate inquiry to be held over CSIRO job cuts – CSIRO chief executive officer Doug Hilton. A Senate inquiry has been set up for the Federal Parliament to scrutinise the reasons behind the mass job losses at CSIRO. A parliamentary inquiry will be held into the government’s intention to cut hundreds more jobs at the nation’s peak scientific research agency… Region Canberra, 27 November 2025 (link, text below).
‘Science is under siege’: Senate to probe CSIRO cuts – More than 1,100 job cuts and plummeting funding at the CSIRO will be examined by a Senate inquiry over the summer as criticism mounts on the Albanese government’s refusal to lift its investment in the science agency. The wide-ranging inquiry will also examine the CSIRO’s research commercialisation and the “independence of the CSIRO’s leadership” in making resourcing decisions… InnovationAus, 26 November 2025 (link, text below).
‘We want answers’: parliamentary inquiry to probe latest round of CSIRO job cuts – On Wednesday, the Senate passed a joint motion by Greens senators Barbara Pocock and Peter Whish-Wilson and independent ACT senator David Pocock to set up a committee inquiry to consider the CSIRO’s funding cuts, the agency’s future needs, and the importance of public funding for science, to report by March 31… Canberra Times, 27 November 2025 (link, text).
‘Aren’t you ashamed?’ Govt lashed on CSIRO cuts – Science minister Tim Ayres has defended the CSIRO’s move to cut up to 350 research jobs, telling Parliament it was a “necessary and important” change to the national science agency. The CSIRO last week confirmed it was following more than 800 recent job cuts with another 300 to 350 research roles as part of a rebalancing of its research priorities… InnovationAus, 25 November 2025 (link, text below).
Climate of fear… Are CSIRO’s sweeping job cuts a sign Australia doesn’t care about the extinction crisis? Sweeping job cuts across the nation’s science agency this week have been foreshadowed for months, but the sheer scale of them has left many researchers within laboratories and offices across the country shocked. Up to 350 research roles are on the cutting room floor across key areas – including environment, human health and minerals – as leaders of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) attempt to steer the agency from a steep funding cliff… Guardian Australia, 22 November 2025 (link, text only).
‘Deeply concerned’ – CSIRO reveals which research unit will lose the most scientists – One in five staff in the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)’s environmental research unit are set to lose their jobs, as the agency pushes ahead with a plan to cut up to 350 roles next year. The embattled agency confirmed to The Canberra Times that between 130 and 150 full time equivalent roles would be cut from the unit, which conducts research on topics including climate change, pollution and resource management… Canberra Times, 20 November 2025 (link, text only).
CSIRO job cuts a dumb way to be the smart country – The Albanese Government can throw some money at CSIRO the day after the cuts are announced, using the same pea-and-thimble trick used before to say how well science is being funded, but the reality is that funding has been falling for 40 years… By Ian Bushnell. Region Canberra, 21 November 2025 (link, text below).
‘It made me sick’: CSIRO job cuts due to waste, not underfunding, ex-senior staff say – The CSIRO’s workforce is paying the price after management squandered a huge short-term government funding boost, former and current senior staff say… SMH/Age, 22 November 2025 (link, text below).
CSIRO to cut up to 350 research jobs in major overhaul – The CSIRO has announced it will slash up to 350 jobs as the national science agency grapples with long-term financial challenges. The organisation said it had reached a “critical inflection point”, with funding failing to keep pace with the rising costs of running a modern science agency… ABC News, 19 November 2025 (link, text below).
The CSIRO cuts are just the tip of the iceberg for Australia’s science funding – Australian science is on life-support, and the government isn’t stepping up. Up to 350 CSIRO researchers are set to go in the latest round of redundancies announced by Australia’s peak science agency, with cuts now a familiar occurrence at the organisation. More than 800 jobs have already been slashed over the past 18 months… ABC Science, 19 November 2025 (link, text below)
It took a teacher to put CSIRO tragedy in a nutshell… Why would her students pursue science? It was Paula Taylor who summed up the heartbreak of the CSIRO declaring it would have to sack 350 research staff. The news broke late on Tuesday. That night I received a message from Paula, the recipient of this year’s Prime Minister’s Prize for excellence in science teaching in primary schools. “How do I make a case for students to pursue science?” she asked me… by Ryan Winn. SMH/Age 19 November 2025 (link, text below).
Labor MP Ed Husic urges own party to ‘pry open the jaws of Treasury’ after CSIRO announces job cuts – Ed Husic has challenged his own government to “pry open the jaws of Treasury” to boost funding for Australia’s national scientific agency after it announced up to 350 research jobs would be cut to deal with an imminent budgetary cliff… Guardian Australia, 19 November 2025 (link, text below).
CSIRO cuts highlight which jobs government protects in national interest – This week, the CSIRO announced up to 350 research positions would go at the organisation. That’s on top of more than 800 jobs cut over the past 18 months. The CSIRO Staff Association issued a press release designed to hit Labor where it hurts. “Worse than Abbott,” read the headline, describing these job cuts as more devastating than those inflicted by the former Coalition government… By David Speers. ABC News, 20 November 2025 (link, text below).
Millions for CSIRO? Science agency to get funding boost – The Albanese government is preparing to unveil a funding boost to the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), after the science agency appealed for extra cash to pay for building repairs and equipment. The Canberra Times can reveal that the mid-year budget update to be released next month will include more than $100 million for the science agency, which is struggling to stay within its budget and preparing to cut up to 350 more research jobs… Canberra Times, 20 November 2025 (link, text below).
Agriculture, biosecurity research workforce to be slashed in CSIRO job cuts – A unit specialising in food and agriculture, biosecurity, climate change and environmental research will bear the brunt of a massive round of sackings announced earlier this week by Australia’s national scientific agency. CSIRO chief executive Doug Hilton told staff gathered for a town hall meeting on Monday that up to 350 jobs would be on the chopping block but did not provide details of what division’s would be hardest hit at the time… Canberra Times, 20 November 2025 (link, text below).
‘Every program comes to an end’ – Science Minister Tim Ayres defends CSIRO job cuts – Science Minister Tim Ayres has defended the need for hundreds more jobs to be culled at the national science agency, while denying the Albanese government is to blame for failing to fund it adequately. The CSIRO on Tuesday announced a plan to axe up to 350 research jobs from next year, with staff to find about the future of their employment by the end of the week – Canberra Times, 20 November 2025 (link, text below).
‘Sad day:’ CSIRO to cut hundreds of science jobs as rising costs outpace funding – Australia’s leading science and research agency will cut hundreds of jobs across the nation as rising costs outpace funding. The CSIRO has announced up to 350 science jobs will be lost as the organisation faces long-term financial sustainability challenges fuelled by the rising cost of running a modern science agency… News Corp, 18 November 2025 (link, text below).
‘Sad day for publicly funded science’: CSIRO guts research teams – The CSIRO will make hundreds of scientists redundant in the lead up to Christmas while “sharpening” its research structure, as the agency reckons with a budget cliff and decades of declining funding. Up to 350 CSIRO research redundancies were confirmed on Tuesday following an all staff and union meeting, but exactly which roles will go remain unclear… InnovationAus, 19 November 2025 (link, text below).
‘Sad day for publicly funded science’: up to 350 more jobs to go at CSIRO – Australia’s national scientific agency is expected to cut up to 350 more research roles from next year as it looks for savings and new sources of funding to plug budgetary shortfalls. The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) held a town hall on Tuesday afternoon, when the agency’s leaders outlined the troubled times ahead… Guardian Australia, 19 November 2025 (link, text below).
‘Fundamentally unsustainable’ CSIRO to slash hundreds of science jobs – Australia’s leading scientific research organisation has told staff it will slash hundreds of research jobs, in a major blow to publicly funded science. The CSIRO told staff on Tuesday that between 300 and 350 research jobs would be axed. That equates to about 10 per cent of all scientists employed by the institution, the staff association estimates… SMH/Age 18 November 2025 (link, text below).
‘Critical point’: CSIRO to axe up to 350 jobs by next year – The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) will axe up to 350 research jobs from next year, with ACT jobs at risk, with staff to find about the future of their employment by the end of the week. CSIRO chief executive Doug Hilton confirmed between 300 to 350 roles will be cut at an all-staff and union meeting on Tuesday, after additional job cuts were flagged in the May budget… Canberra Times, 18 November 2025 (link, text below).
‘Worse than Abbott…’ Backlash erupts over latest CSIRO mass retrenchments – The Albanese government has been accused of beating former prime minister Tony Abbott’s record downsizing of publicly-funded scientific research and development, after the CSIRO revealed another round of mass retrenchments. This time, it’s 350 staff, bringing the total number of jobs eliminated to at least 800 since the change of government… The Mandarin, 19 November 2025 (link, text below).
‘Critical inflection point’: CSIRO to slash hundreds of jobs as part of cost-cutting drive – Hundreds of scientists and researchers will lose their jobs with Australia’s leading science agency blaming rising costs and funding gaps for the cuts. The CSIRO has announced up to 350 full-time staff roles will be abolished as the agency embarks on a new research direction to remain sustainable over the coming decades… AAP, 18 November 2025 (link, text below)
Workload woes at CSIRO – Staff at the national science agency have expressed concern over the impact of job cuts on workloads. According to a survey conducted by the CSIRO Staff Association, only 25 per cent of participants said their workload was manageable… Government News, 18 November 2025 (link, text)
CSIRO grounds missions model in research overhaul – The national science agency will not launch any more large scale research missions and is folding current ones like ending plastic waste and achieving net zero into its regular research portfolio, as it searches for budget savings. The move puts an end to a six-year model of research delivery that tried to coordinate partners and outcomes under grand challenges with clear time-bound goals… InnovationAus, 13 November 2025 (link, text).
CSIRO jobs and massive glasshouse bill feature in separate parliamentary talks – CSIRO staff have taken their cause to Parliament House this week, calling on the Federal Government to commit to long-term funding for the nation’s peak science agency in order to secure jobs. The national science agency lost more than 800 jobs in the past 18 months, with more slated to go in a “reshaping” of the organisation… Region Canberra, 9 November 2025 (link, text below).
CSIRO’s Data61, manufacturing heads quit – The directors of CSIRO’s digital and manufacturing research arms have resigned amid ongoing turmoil and job cuts at Australia’s national science agency. The head of CSIRO’s digital research business Data61, Dr Jon Whittle, and the head of CSIRO’s manufacturing research unit, Dr Marcus Zipper, will leave their roles simultaneously on Friday, 14 November… ACS Information Age, 7 November 2025 (link, text below).
CSIRO research threatened by historically low government funding – Australia’s national science agency has hit historically low levels of government funding. That’s according to new analysis from the parliamentary library — commissioned by independent Senator David Pocock. The CSIRO admits funding isn’t keeping up with the cost of vital scientific research, as departments are asked to consolidate research activity and reduce headcount… ABC RN Breakfast 15 October 2025 (audio only)
Albanese urged to ‘secure the future of science’ as CSIRO reckons with ongoing decline in funding – The CSIRO will embark on further cost-cutting to research units in a bid to repair a multimillion-dollar budget shortfall, as Australia’s national science and research agency reckons with an ongoing decline in funding. The institution’s annual funding level as a percentage of GDP has been falling with few exceptions over recent decades and is now at its lowest since 1978, a parliamentary library analysis commissioned by ACT senator David Pocock showed… Guardian Australia, 14 October 2025 (link, text below)
CSIRO Data61 research cuts – Interview with CSIRO Staff Association’s Susan Tonks, covering ongoing concern that further CSIRO job and research cuts are on the way… ABC TV news, 10 November 2025 (video only, embedded below).
The mood is ominous at CSIRO as jobs disappear ‘by stealth’ and staff are wondering who’s next – The mood in parts of Australia’s national scientific agency is low after a mystery number of AI, robotics and data researchers were quietly let go within the last year. Since CSIRO announced it was “reshaping its research portfolio” to deal with an imminent funding cliff in 2024, speculation about whose jobs are on the line has spread like wildfire… Guardian Australia, 10 October 2025 (link, text below).
CSIRO scientists pitching for their careers in Survivor-style Science Cuts – The CPSU has criticised the four-day workshop process underway at the CSIRO this week, where research portfolios are being asked to compete against each other for survival as another round of staff cuts gets underway… CPSU media release, 1 September 2025 (link, text below).
The tribe has spoken: CSIRO workshops likened to Survivor councils deciding which jobs will be ‘exited’ – The nation’s leading science and research agency is this week undertaking a four-day workshop aimed at deciding the future direction of its portfolios and staffing levels. CSIRO has confirmed that research will be “exited” as part of the organisation’s “reshaping…” Region Canberra, 2 September 2025 (link, text below).
‘Survivor-style’ job cut fears at peak science body – Scientists at Australia’s peak research body are involved in a “Survivor-like” contest to keep their jobs, according to a union that fears core roles will be cut. The CSIRO is this week undertaking a four-day workshop involving 300 of its most senior scientists to clarify the shape of its future research programs… AAP, 3 September 2025 (link, text below).
CSIRO faces deep cuts as Govt spruiks productivity agenda – The Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) has warned that an ongoing agenda of aggressive cuts at the CSIRO is putting Australia’s long-term productivity and innovation capacity at risk… CPSU media release, 7 August 2025 (link, text below).
CSIRO research cuts – There are fears hundreds of jobs could be cut from the CSIRO this year in another blow for staff still coming to terms with positions being slashed last year… ABC TV news (link, video below).
Survey shows CSIRO job cuts shake staff confidence in leaders – Confidence in senior leadership and their management of change is flagging at Australia’s key scientific research agency, after hundreds of job cuts and concerns about more to come… Canberra Times, 11 August 2025 (link, text below).
CSIRO could be facing hundreds more job cuts this year, union warns – There are fears hundreds more Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) jobs could be axed this year, the union has warned. The Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) issued a statement on Thursday morning saying that Australia’s national science agency was enduring its biggest job cuts in a decade… ABC Online, 7 August 2025 (link, text below).
Hundreds more CSIRO jobs on the chopping block as experts raise fears over impact on science – Hundreds more jobs could be axed at Australia’s national science agency, sparking concerns the country is gutting its research capability just as the Trump administration makes deep cuts into the sector in the US… Guardian Australia, 7 August 2025 (link, text below)
Union accuses government of ‘sitting on its hands’ during CSIRO job cuts – The main public sector union has warned the Albanese government that job cuts at its key science agency will undermine Australia’s long-term productivity and innovation capacity, ahead of the economic roundtable… Canberra Times, 7 August 2025 (link, text below).
CSIRO researchers brace for hundreds of job cuts – The national science agency has confirmed it is “reshaping” its research portfolio to do “fewer things, better”, after the staff union warned hundreds of job will be cut later this year… InnovationAUS, 7 August 2025 (link, text below).
Interview with Susan Tonks – The Community and Public Sector Union says staff at the CSIRO are worried that more job cuts are going to be announced. The union is calling on the federal government to intervene to cuts. Susan Tonks is the secretary of the CSIRO Staff Association and joins me… ABC Tasmania Statewide Drive, 7 August 2025 (link to audio only, transcript below).
New $90 million research facility opens at CSIRO to house specimens collected over 150 years – Millions of irreplaceable biodiversity specimens have been re-homed at a new CSIRO facility that the agency says will support research to better understand and manage Australia’s natural environment… While there was celebration at the opening of the building, concern remains about the potential of job cuts at the agency, with the Community and Public Sector Union warning that hundreds of jobs could be axed this year… ABC Online, 14 August 2025 (link, text below).
This is a huge risk to our young people. I am a bit puzzled about the government’s priorities – CSIRO is on the verge of an extraordinary breakthrough, developing an algorithm that can block images from being used to create deepfakes… But there are fears CSIRO may cut another 400 research positions in this financial year… Jenna Price for The Canberra Times, 13 August 2025 (link, text below)
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Cartoon by Fiona Katauskas, Guardian Australia.
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Research Professional News, 2 February 2025
Cuts at Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation have put a crucial environmental research programme “at real risk”, marine scientists have warned.
The Senate’s economics references committee is inquiring into the funding and resourcing of CSIRO, and environmental issues have featured heavily in submissions.
The Australian Marine Sciences Association told the inquiry that Csiro’s Environment Research Unit could lose up to 20 per cent of its staff “at a time when Australia’s ocean and coastal systems face escalating pressures from climate change, biodiversity loss and growing industrial demand. These cuts risk eroding long-built scientific capability, undermining both the stewardship of critical public environmental assets and Australia’s global leadership in marine science.”
The association said the current state of Australia’s marine “environmental assets” is “the result of decades of sustained investment in public science, much of it delivered by Csiro researchers”.
It said cuts could undermine Australia in meeting international treaty obligations, reduce the national capacity for “rapid response science” such as that needed when algal blooms occur, and diminish collaboration with First Nations people.
The cuts could also have long-term effects by breaking the chain of knowledge and training, the submission said. “These impacts are long-lasting and weaken Australia’s scientific foundations well into the future.”
The association urged parliamentarians to meet with Csiro chief executive Doug Hilton to find ways to prevent the cuts.
Other submissions from individual researchers and analysts called for increased funding to meet environmental challenges. One professor of environmental science told the inquiry that “providing essential, fundamental ecological science is a major aspect of Csiro’s work that is extremely poorly resourced through other avenues and organisations and yet is absolutely vital to effective environmental decision-making at higher levels”.
The inquiry was established in the wake of 2025 Senate estimates hearings in which senior Csiro staff suggested job cuts and financial issues were likely to continue.
Its terms of reference cover issues such as the impact of job and programme cuts, and how cuts to scientific work might affect areas of research “that do not find ready industry funding partners”.
Health concerns
A submission from the Australasian Institute of Digital Health said that cutting Csiro research is “a short-term, poorly considered move” in the light of current developments in artificial intelligence and digital health.
“Reducing the capacity of Csiro to innovate, research and develop science in general, and e-health in particular (including AI in healthcare and digital health), will likely have longer-term ramifications that could stifle and diminish future innovation.”
It noted that Csiro manages the Australian e-Health Research Centre, which is carrying out strategic research in the field.
Submissions to the inquiry closed on 30 January, and its final report is due by 31 March.
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The Australian, 30 January 2025
The cash-strapped CSIRO is spending more than half a million dollars a year maintaining the lawns, trees and indoor plants at its Canberra headquarters despite the Albanese government coming under increasing pressure to rein in spending.
The agency has slashed 350 jobs due to “steep rises in the cost of doing science,” but The Australian can reveal the national science agency forked out $518,608 last financial year for “grounds maintenance” and lawn upkeep at its Black Mountain site.
And spending on the landscape budget almost doubled the year prior, with costs jumping by 64 per cent from $379,822 to $623,630 between 2023 to 2024, contributing to a total spend of nearly $2m in four years.
CSIRO also failed to be more frugal inside its 37ha campus of buildings and labs, with documents revealing $136,000 was spent on indoor plants and flowers over the same period, working out to $34,000 per year for decor.
And the agency did not curb its spending abroad, with more than $53,000 dolled out for local landscapers to maintain the European laboratory at Montferrier-sur-Lez in southern France.
The spending on mowing, tree trimming and “floral arrangements” came as the CSIRO announced in November it would axe up to 350 jobs due to cost pressures, having already slashed 800 positions from its workforce of about 5600 full-time employees in the past 18 months.
It also comes as the government faces pressure on spending that has reached the highest level since 1986 outside the pandemic at 29.6 per cent of GDP, while the deficit has more than tripled in the past year.
Jim Chalmers said he did not “believe” public spending was to blame for economy woes with the inflation hike this week, but vowed before the mid-year financial outlook in December his war on waste would focus on “low priority spending, and how can we direct it to higher priority areas”.
Despite receiving a “short-term investment” of $233m in the mid-year budget, CSIRO bosses said the extra funding would not stop the job cuts.
The bailout came after the agency revealed it would need an additional $80m-135m per year for the next 10 years to keep its infrastructure, research equipment and technology up to scratch.
Job losses have been pinned down to the costs of running the agency, and the “cumulative impacts of an ageing property and infrastructure portfolio” across its 46 sites at home and abroad.
A CSIRO spokesman defended the landscape budget, saying the money had gone towards a “safe and functional work environment for staff” that included bushfire prevention at Black Mountain, where the campus borders bushland.
“The cost reflects the significant size of the site and is a necessary and proportionate investment in safety and asset protection,” the spokesman said.
“Removal of dead or at-risk trees across the site as well as repairs to a number of footpaths made unsafe by extruding tree roots and other damage resulted in an increase to grounds maintenance costs in Black Mountain between 2022-23 and 2023-24. These were temporary impacts, with costs and overall grounds maintenance expenditure reducing again in 2024–25.
“Indoor plants are maintained in some CSIRO buildings to improve site vibrancy and improve air quality, as is the standard in most workplaces.”
The spokesman also stressed the French site would not drain the budget for much longer, as research operations stopped in mid-2025 and the centre is “currently preparing” for sale.
Other than Dutton Park in Queensland, where the agency spent $26,000 to keep its lawns and trees trimmed, the CSIRO did not release the costs of maintenance at its 40 remaining sites. The agency also did not release whether the costs were in-house or fielded out to contractors.
CSIRO Staff Association secretary Susan Tonks said the agency’s spending should be front and centre at the upcoming Senate inquiry into the job cuts.
“It doesn’t pass the pub test at all,” Ms Tonks said.
“We are already 800 job cuts in and there will be another 350 from this year. Staff will be incredibly disappointed and frustrated to see something like this in the face of these cuts.”
And opposition finance spokesman James Paterson questioned Labor’s spending oversight, saying: “How the pot plants were spared while scientists were getting sacked this year boggles the mind.”
But a spokesman for Science Minister Tim Ayres, who oversees the CSIRO as part of his portfolio, rested blame for the spending squarely at the feet of the agency, which they said was “accountable for the management of its funds”.
“Government agencies receiving funding are expected to use it responsibly and for its intended purpose,” the spokesman said.
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By Rex Patrick, Michael West Media. 19 January 2026
CSIRO chief Doug Hilton announced he’s sacking 350 scientists, but the $965K pa head of the science body now refuses to have his own ‘sacking science’ publicly reviewed.
Back in April 2024, in the context of a newly announce ‘Made in Australia’ policy, MWM wrote about our flat-lined manufacturing as a percentage of GDP (5%) and our plummeting economic complexity world ranking (105th).
We did not blame the Albanese Government for this … it’s taken many governments, all focussed predominantly on exporting our rocks and fossil fuels, to get this to happen. With optimism we wrote of new opportunities to fix the manufacturing percentage and the economic complexity numbers.
Our optimism was caveated on the need for strong and effective leadership. The question was, did Albanese have what it takes? “I guess we’ll see, in due course”, we proposed.
Wrong course
On 18 November last year CSIRO’s Chief Executive, Dr Doug Hilton, issued a statement of intent for the organisation. Embedded in the announcement were the words, “the organisation will need to reduce roles in its Research Units by between 300 to 350 full-time equivalent …”
As we sit at 105th position in the world’s ranking of economic complexity, down from 62nd in 1995, and the Government’s response is to reduce the number of scientists looking to determine our future.
The move has, rightfully, drawn attention from the parliament, with Greens’ senators Barbara Pocock and Peter Whish-Wilson, and independent Senator David Pocock initiating a Senate inquiry into the CSIRO.
Don’t blame us
Responding to a question on job cuts when announcing the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook, Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the Government was not to blame, pointing the finger at CSIRO’s senior leadership.
“From the government’s point of view, we’ve been increasing their resourcing, $45 million extra last time, $233 million extra this time and that’s because we believe in the crucial role that science broadly and the CSIRO plays in the future of our economy.”
“How the CSIRO manages their budget is a matter for them and their Board, they’ve made it clear that the pressures on their budget have not come from Government cuts, on the contrary we’ve been increasing their budget,” Dr Chalmers said.
It was akin to Prime Minister Albanese suggesting that travel allowance abuse was not his responsibility, about a week before he was forced to refer the issue to the Remuneration Tribunal.
CSIRO is an organisation that contributes directly to the nation’s future, but the Government’s washing its hands of the manner in which it’s configured.
A Freedom Of Information (FIO) request by MWM has revealed the Government has been kept fully abreast of CSIRO’s plans, including a substantive brief that goes back as far as 2024.
Scientist secrecy
MWM’s FOI request was for ministerial briefs and any internal analysis on the effect of the sackings on Australia’s science capability. After initially threatening to not process the request on the grounds that it involved 2,586 pages of relevant information (which resulted in MWM narrowing the scope of the request), CSIRO has declared it has two ministerial briefs and Executive Team documents that it is not willing to share with the Australian public.
The million-dollar CSIRO top scientist doesn’t want his research peer or publicly reviewed.
The two briefs that are being withheld from the public are ministerial briefs, but that’s not stopping CSIRO from calling them cabinet documents. CSIRO acknowledged that the briefs have not been to Cabinet.
It appears CSIRO is good at science and awful at administrative law (perhaps being awful suits them). The reasoning provided in the FOI decision will fail on review.
Shrinking violets
Recognising the fragility (or perhaps, improperness) of their Cabinet exemption claim, CSIRO also asserts that disclosure of their work will take them from almost seven-digit salaried tall scientist to wilted violets unable to function.
It’s a case of “our advice is fearless, although we actually fear anyone but the minister seeing it’.
MWM will submit on appeal that this sort of advice is advice the minister should have no regard to. We will also ask under cross examination if the CEO thinks his salary allows him to do anything other than give the most candid advice.
Dehumanising
Another reason the public can’t see the documents is because doing so “could be reasonably expected to cause undue stress or other emotional or psychological harm to a large cohort of CSIRO staff (whether ultimately actually affected by the subject matter or not).”
CSIRO management thinks that announcing to their scientific team that 350 of them will lose their jobs won’t cause them undue stress or other emotional or psychological harm, but the pathway that management took to come to that decision will.
350 scientists will go, and CSIRO’s not saying who. The best information they have is that 130-150 will go from the 715 ‘Environment’ scientist pool, 100 -110 from the 329 scientists in ‘Health and Biosecurity’ and 25-35 from the scientists 364 ‘Minerals’.
They all got to spend Christmas lunch with their families contemplating their futures, yet somehow the giving of details of the sacking science will cause greater harm to them.
Perhaps the advice-cowards in Executive team weren’t listening when Senator Pocock told Hilton at Senate Estimates of a letter he’d received from a CSIRO employee writing ‘The system is not only dehumanised; it is now dehumanising.‘
Hunger Games … but not for AUKUS
Senator Whish-Wilson did have a minute at the end of the Estimates hearing to question whether ‘Hunger Games’ were now being played out inside the organisation, as reported by media.
Once can only imagine the laboratory atmosphere.
Meanwhile the Albanese ministry happily obfuscates. The Government needs to control the budget so that they can properly fund economic complexity in the AUKUS shipyards of the US (15th place for economic complexity) and UK (7th place).
Australia, in their view, don’t seem to appreciate the need for domestic manufacturing and diversity of exports. They clearly believe that our future lies in exporting fossil fuel – and are granting long term approvals accordingly.
And with 150 fewer environmental scientists around, there’ll be fewer hurdles standing in the way of their plans.
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CSIRO Staff Association media release, 17 December 2025
CSIRO Staff Association has welcomed the Albanese Labor Government’s announcement of an additional $233 million for the CSIRO.
This investment is desperately needed and will help stabilise immediate operational and infrastructure pressures at Australia’s national science agency.
In recent years, CSIRO has rolled out widespread and aggressive job cuts to science support, science and research roles across the organisation. These cuts have hit research units including CSIRO’s data and digital arm, Data61, Health and Biosecurity and Food and Agriculture. 818 jobs have been cut so far under the Albanese Government, with a further 350 cuts announced last month, exceeding the Abbott Government’s cuts. CSIRO management must do the right thing with this funding and ensure further job cuts are abandoned.
While the funding announced is significant and will address urgent pressures at the CSIRO, it is a one-off injection that will not address long-term funding issues.
The cost of doing science continues to rise, and ageing national research infrastructure requires sustained capital investment. Without a permanent increase to funding for Australia’s peak science agency, the CSIRO will continue to face uncertainty.
CSIRO Staff Association will continue to advocate for long term funding increase to ensure the future of the CSIRO, the important work it does and the critical staff who work there, are secure.
Quotes attributable to Susan Tonks, CSIRO Section Secretary
“The CSIRO Staff Association has advocated fiercely for this investment over the past 18 months. We know that our members will be pleased to see that the Albanese Labor Government has listened and acknowledged the importance of their work and publicly funded science.
“However, this funding injection does not address the long-term funding problems facing the CSIRO. CSIRO’s permanent funding arrangements have not kept pace with the cost of doing science. And as a percentage of GDP, their funding has gone backwards.
“We will continue to advocate for a permanent increase to CSIRO’s funding to secure the future of the CSIRO, its work and its staff.
“Unfortunately, CSIRO scientists across the country are still heading into Christmas not knowing if their job and research will be next to go under the announced cuts, but this investment must save jobs.
“CSIRO management must do the right thing with this funding and ensure further job cuts are abandoned.
“CSIRO’s contribution to Australia has been and will continue to be immense. This is the organisation that invented WiFi and Aeroguard, and we must support it to tackle the challenges of the future.
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CSIRO media statement, 17 December 2025
CSIRO welcomes the Australian Government’s short-term investment of $233 million, which enables us to take the first steps toward addressing our long-term sustainability challenges.
The significant funding announced today by the Minister for Industry and Innovation and Minister for Science Tim Ayres will enable CSIRO to continue to deliver research in priority areas, while we take immediate action to address urgent repairs and maintenance, strengthen cyber security and progress essential property consolidation planning. It will also allow us to maintain operations at the Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness.
We are grateful for this short-term support to commence these activities – ensuring we maintain safe and fit-for-purpose sites and technology while setting the course for long-term sustainability. However, achieving sustainability for CSIRO will require a sustained and significant investment over the next decade. CSIRO must retain the savings that will come from the recently announced changes to our research portfolio – which include an estimated reduction of 300-350 FTE roles – while also investing at least an additional $80-135 million per annum over the next 10 years into essential infrastructure and technology.
Changes to CSIRO’s Research Direction
As announced on 18 November 2025, CSIRO is making strategic science choices to evolve our research, focussing efforts where we can deliver the greatest national impact. This includes exiting research areas where we lack scale to achieve significant impact, or areas where others in the ecosystem are better placed to deliver.
CSIRO Chief Executive Dr Doug Hilton said that as Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO must always evolve its scientific focus to provide the research and development the nation needs.
“Over the past 100 years, we’ve evolved our scientific focus to help Australia thrive. We must continue to align our science to Australia’s most pressing challenges and focus our resources to tackle them at scale,” Dr Hilton said.
“These strategic changes are difficult but essential to ensure we can continue to deliver the science Australia needs in the years and decades ahead.”
Achieving long-term sustainability
Over the last 15 years CSIRO’s appropriation funding has risen by 1.3 per cent per annum with inflation rising by an average of 2.7 per cent over the same period. Our sustainability challenges are further compounded by steep rises in the cost of doing science and the cumulative impacts of an ageing property and infrastructure portfolio.
In addition to savings that will come from recently announced staffing changes, CSIRO needs to invest at least an additional $80-135 million per annum over the next 10 years to address these challenges. This includes funding critical repairs and maintenance to ensure safe and fit-for-purpose sites, and investing in the right research equipment, infrastructure and technology that best enables CSIRO’s researchers to invent and deploy solutions for national problems at scale.
Dr Hilton said this sustained investment is crucial to addressing CSIRO’s long-term financial sustainability challenge.
“As today’s stewards of CSIRO, we are determined to set up our organisation to thrive. This is not a choice, but an imperative, as scientific research and development are at the core of Australia’s future.” Dr Hilton said.
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ACS Information Age, 18 December 2025
Australia’s national science agency CSIRO says it welcomes a $233 million funding boost announced by the federal government on Wednesday, but maintains it still needs to cut more than 300 full-time roles.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers said he was “very proud” of the extra funds for CSIRO released in the government’s Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO), but added that how the agency decided to use the money was “a matter for them, and for their board”.
CSIRO, which announced in November it would cut up to 350 more roles, said while it welcomed the “significant” funding boost, keeping the agency sustainable amid rising costs “will require a sustained and significant investment over the next decade”.
“CSIRO must retain the savings that will come from the recently announced changes to our research portfolio – which include an estimated reduction of 300-350 [full-time] roles – while also investing at least an additional $80-135 million per annum over the next 10 years into essential infrastructure and technology,” the agency said in a statement.
CSIRO’s appropriation funding had risen by 1.3 per cent per annum over the last 15 years, it said, while inflation had risen by 2.7 per cent over the same period.
Chalmers argued the government had not cut CSIRO’s funding — which stands around $1 billion per annum — but acknowledged its costs had escalated.
“From the government’s point of view, we’ve been increasing their resourcing — $45 million extra last time, $233 million extra this time — and that’s because we believe in the crucial role that science broadly, and the CSIRO, plays in the future of our economy,” he said.
The government also used its mid-year budget update to confirm $225.2 million in funding over four years for its recently announced Australian Public Service AI Plan.
It includes $166.4 million to expand the commonwealth’s GovAI platform and build a secure AI chatbot dubbed GovAI Chat, as well as almost $59 million for other work on AI capability and establishing an AI Review Committee “to provide expert advice on high‑risk government AI use cases”.
CSIRO job losses don’t pass ‘pub test’, union says
The CSIRO Staff Association, which is part of the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU), welcomed the government’s funding announcement but urged CSIRO management to “ensure further job cuts are abandoned” following what it said has been 818 job losses under the Albanese government.
The association’s secretary, Susan Tonks, said the suggestion that a $233 million boost would not prevent even a single job cut “just fails to pass the pub test”.
“This funding injection does not address the long-term funding problems facing the CSIRO,” Tonks said.
“CSIRO’s permanent funding arrangements have not kept pace with the cost of doing science.
“And as a percentage of GDP, their funding has gone backwards.”
Information Age exclusively reported in November that the heads of CSIRO’s digital and manufacturing research arms — which have both seen job losses — decided to leave the agency simultaneously.
That was after the agency confirmed in August that “hundreds more” jobs were to be cut as CSIRO rearranged its research teams to do “fewer things, better”.
CSIRO Chief Executive Dr Doug Hilton said the agency needed to “continue to align our science to Australia’s most pressing challenges and focus our resources to tackle them at scale”.
“These strategic changes are difficult but essential to ensure we can continue to deliver the science Australia needs in the years and decades ahead,” he said.
Industry awaits R&D review
Peak body Science and Technology Australia (STA) said while it welcomed CSIRO’s increased funding, the nation’s investment in research and development (R&D) was “not keeping up with rising costs”.
CEO Ryan Winn said there was “a clear case for putting R&D at the heart of economic reform” given CSIRO’s economic benefits and discoveries, which have included technologies such as high-speed Wi-Fi and polymer banknotes.
“If you don’t invest in R&D, you don’t innovate, and you don’t create new products and services,” Winn said.
“You lose your best ideas to overseas and productivity will collapse.
“More than a decade of decline in national investment has flattened the batteries of the economy.”
The federal government is expected to release a major independent review of the nation’s R&D sector in 2026, which it commissioned Tesla chair Robyn Denholm to lead more than 12 months ago.
Australia’s “siloed” R&D system and “a business community that is largely indifferent” meant the nation’s economy was “unprepared to achieve sustained growth”, her expert panel said in a discussion paper released in February.
“R&D is essential to lifting Australia’s economic complexity, advancing our industrial base, boosting productivity, creating jobs, and addressing intergenerational inequity,” said STA’s Winn.
“This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to act with courage and invest in the economy-boosting power of research and development.”
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Government News, 19 December 2025
The federal government’s mid-year budget has gifted more than $200 million to the nation’s science agency.
CSIRO will receive an extra $233 million, the government has announced. The cash boost comes in the wake of a series of job cuts as the agency seeks to navigate a funding shortfall.
The latest job losses were flagged in November when CSIRO announced 350 roles would go. “These are difficult but necessary changes,” chief executive Doug Hilton said. “As stewards of the CSIRO, we have a responsibility to make decisions that ensure we can continue to deliver science that improves the lives of all Australians for generations to come,” he added.
In total, more than 1,000 jobs have been cut from the agency in the past 18 months, leaving remaining staff significantly impacted by higher workloads. According to a survey conducted by the CSIRO Staff Association, only 25 per cent of participants said their workload was manageable. The remaining three quarters described their duties as occasionally excessive (37 per cent), frequently excessive (29 per cent) or unsustainable (9 per cent).
As well as staff cuts, some CSIRO activities are to be “de-prioritised” to achieve a “sharpened research focus”.
After slamming the federal government “for being responsible for deep and devastating cuts to the CSIRO”, the Staff Association welcomed the additional funding, saying the investment “is desperately needed and will help stabilise immediate operational and infrastructure pressures”.
However, the one-off cash injection “will not address long-term funding issues”, said the union. Without a permanent funding increase the CSIRO “will continue to face uncertainty”.
“Unfortunately, CSIRO scientist across the country are still heading into Christmas not knowing if their job and research will be the next to go under the announced cuts,” CSIRO Secretary Susan Tonks said. She urged management to “do the right thing” with the funding “and ensure further job cuts are abandoned”.
Despite the agency’s funding woes, Treasurer Jim Chalmers told the ABC the government has been a “very substantial and very enthusiastic supporter” of the CSIRO. The science agency is viewed “as a crucial role in the way that we set ourselves up to succeed in the future economy”, he said.
Chalmers said the extra funding is “on top of the billion dollars a year that they get from the government, and on top of the extra $45 million we provided in the last budget”.
He told the ABC how the extra funding is managed is “a matter for the CSIRO and their board. They’ve made it clear that they’re rethinking some of their resourcing and some of the ways that they manage their budget.”
Chalmers also acknowledged that the science agency “would always like more resources, they would always like more funding”.
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ABC Online, 17 December 2025.
The CSIRO will receive an additional $233 million in federal funding but will still proceed with up to 350 job cuts announced last month.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers announced the funding boost as part of the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO).
The government said the funding would enable the CSIRO to continue expanding its work in areas including artificial intelligence, critical minerals, climate change adaptation, agricultural productivity and biosecurity.
“The Albanese Government backs the CSIRO and is supporting it to continue its vital work into the future,” the treasurer said.
“The future of our economy and our nation’s productivity depend on the pioneering research the CSIRO does in these fields, which is why this funding boost is so important.”
Last month, the CSIRO said its funding had failed to keep pace with rising costs and up to 350 jobs would need to go.
Up to 150 of those roles were to come from its environmental research unit, which focuses on topics including climate and adaptation science, water security and oceans.
Mr Chalmers said the CSIRO had to make decisions about how it managed its resources.
“How the CSIRO manages their budget is a matter for them,” he said.
In a statement, a CSIRO spokesperson welcomed the funding announcement but said it was short-term support.
“CSIRO must retain the savings that will come from the recently announced changes to our research portfolio — which include an estimated reduction of 300-350 [full time equivalent] roles,” the statement said.
The statement said CSIRO’s appropriation funding had risen by 1.3 per cent per year since 2010, while inflation had risen by an average of 2.7 per cent over the same period.
Science Minister Tim Ayers said the new funding would safeguard and strengthen research and innovation in areas critical to Australia’s prosperity and security.
“CSIRO is at the heart of our national effort to tackle the biggest challenges of our time from navigating global uncertainty and harnessing fast-changing technologies to driving the transition to a low-carbon economy,” Senator Ayers said.
The additional funding comes on top of nearly $1 billion in annual government appropriations and additional funding announced in this year’s federal budget.
Not a long-term solution
Science and Technology Australia Chief Executive Ryan Winn said the $233 million boost was “a good start”.
Ryan Winn says the announcement is not a long-term solution. (Supplied: Science and Technology Australia)
“It is just a one-off payment investment – which is great to see and it will help buffer some of the big questions that CSIRO is dealing with,” Mr Winn said.
“But it is not a sustainable, long-term solution, which is what we want to see for the science sector.
“We often get confused when we talk about budgets giving money to science, when rather it’s actually about investing in science.
“What I’d like to see is a really deliberate conversation around where are the areas that CSIRO can have the biggest impact … for the rest of the economy and create the jobs of now, create the jobs of the future.”
Community and Public Sector Union CSIRO section secretary Susan Tonks says CSIRO’s funding arrangement has not kept pace with the cost of doing science. (Supplied: Instagram)
Community and Public Sector Union CSIRO section secretary Susan Tonks said the one-off funding boost would help urgent pressures at the CSIRO, but would “not address long-term funding issues”.
“CSIRO management must do the right thing with this funding and ensure further job cuts are abandoned,” she said.
Retaining the best talent
Mr Winn said Australia was not a strong investor in research and development, which would lead to losing top scientific talent.
“If I heard my job was on the line, I would be looking at other options,” Mr Winn said.
He said Australia invested 1.68 per cent of gross domestic product into research and development, compared to South Korea which invested about 4.9 per cent.
The OECD average is 2.7 per cent.
“There are some countries around the world who are looking at investing significantly — and are,” Mr Winn said.
“We’re an amazing country and a great place to live but there are great jobs that are investing in smart people in other places in the world.”
Other national institutions receive funding boost
The federal government’s mid-year budget update also included hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for national institutions in Canberra.
The government will provide $220 million over five years to fix the leaking roof at the National Gallery of Australia.
Another $4.5 million will be spent replacing the heritage windows, doors and facade at the National Library.
The Australian War Memorial will also receive almost $120 million over four years to support its financial sustainability and the completion of its major redevelopment.
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Canberra Times, 17 December 2025
The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is getting a $233 million funding boost in the Albanese government’s mid-year budget update today.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers revealed the figure on Wednesday morning, a month after the national science agency announced plans to cut 350 jobs as it moves to reprioritise research areas while grappling with budget pressures.
“There will be an extra $233 million for the CSIRO, the science organisation,” Dr Chalmers told ABC radio.
The Canberra Times revealed last month that the government had decided to hand the CSIRO at least $100 million in additional funding, after it pleaded for extra cash to pay for building repairs and equipment.
Science Minister Tim Ayres said the additional $233 million for the CSIRO was to “safeguard and strengthen research and innovation in areas critical to Australia’s future prosperity and security.”
“We are backing the CSIRO to ensure its success and sustainability as our national science agency,” Mr Ayres said.
But the $233 million in extra funding is not expected to stop any of the 350 jobs, earmarked for the axe next year, from being cut.
Mr Ayres, who in October issued a statement of expectations to the CSIRO asking it to shift its priorities, said the agency was “at the heart of our national effort to tackle the biggest challenges of our time from navigating global uncertainty and harnessing fast-changing technologies to driving the transition to a low-carbon economy.”
The agency is consulting with staff on which jobs will go and has confirmed that up to 150 will be cut from its environmental research unit, as it pivots to focus on:
CSIRO chief executive Doug Hilton has said the agency was grappling with a $280 million repair and maintenance backlog, with more than 80 per cent of its 840 buildings “past their technical end of life”.
Repairs to one building alone – the Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness in Geelong – would cost about $1 billion, he said last month.
Dr Hilton said the agency also needed to invest between $80 million and $135 million a year for the next 10 years into maintenance and equipment upgrades, including cybersecurity.
The CSIRO’s budget allocation is about $1 billion a year and has been rising by about 1.3 per cent a year, below inflation, meaning it has been cut in real terms.
Dr Chalmers said the government was backing the CSIRO and “supporting it to continue its vital work into the future.”
“The additional funding in this mid-year budget update will support research into areas like AI, critical minerals, climate change resilience, and more productive farming,” he said.
“The future of our economy and our nation’s productivity depend on the pioneering research the CSIRO does in these fields, which is why this funding boost is so important.”
Mr Ayres said the new funding “underscores the Albanese Government’s unwavering commitment to Australian science.”
The government had already topped up the CSIRO’s operational funding with $45 million in the March budget.
On Wednesday, Dr Chalmers said MYEFO would not “a mini budget, there aren’t lots of new initiatives,” but contained “a couple of new elements.”
MYEFO will show a slightly smaller deficit than in the March budget, of $36.8 million for 2025-26.
The government has announced $1 billion worth of savings and reprioritisations across the Australian public service will be part of $20 billion of savings in MYEFO, to help it keep a lid on the deficit while funding its election commitments.
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Research Professional News, 8 December 2025
The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation has not ruled out further staff cuts as it tries to repair “underinvestment in infrastructure”, a Senate estimates session has heard.
At the hearing of the economics legislation committee on 4 December, CSIRO chief executive Doug Hilton said that after the 350 roles that are currently due to be cut, further decisions will “depend on our budget trajectory and we would look at all measures before we would embark on job cuts”.
Hilton said “Csiro requires to invest A$80 million to A$135m [annually] probably for the best part of a decade in order to ensure our facilities are safe, fit for purpose [and] modern…and we would look at all measures for finding that money”.
However, he said that reprioritisation of research areas is not causing the cuts. “The decision to review our science portfolio and the consequence to jobs is separate from our sustainability issue.”
Csiro chief operating officer Tom Munyard told the hearing that the agency is “working with the government around our budget parameters”.
Peter Mayfield, Csiro’s executive director for environment, energy and resources, said that managing the “underinvestment in infrastructure” has been an issue for years.
“We’ve probably adopted a scarcity, sustaining position for some time but that’s no longer tenable.”
Hilton told the hearing that he had his “eyes wide open” about the challenges when he took on the role in 2023.
He denied that staff had been asked to name areas for cuts to be made, saying there have instead been discussions with “300 of our most senior scientists” about the way forward.
Minister’s defence
Under questioning from independent senator David Pocock, science minister Tim Ayres said the cuts at Csiro are not about funding.
“Decisions have not been made for 15 years or so about…going through a proper prioritisation exercise. That is what is going on here. There are no funding cuts for Csiro,” he said.
“Part of the purpose of Csiro is to do the science that is required to drive investment in new technology and new industrial facilities,” Ayres continued. “That is the national interest question that they are there to serve.”
He said any extra injection of money for the agency would be announced “in due course”.
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Sky News, 5 December 2025
Australia’s peak scientific agency has not ruled out further job cuts as it looks to make large savings and bolster its financial position.
The CSIRO has revealed plans to cut up to 350 jobs from next year after making cuts of about 500 roles in August last year.
It comes as the agency revealed it faces “long-term financial sustainability challenges” as funding fails to keep pace with the rising costs necessary for its operations.
The cuts took the spotlight during a budget estimates on Thursday night.
Independent senator David Pocock, who has launched a petition opposing the cuts, questioned the CSIRO’s chief executive Doug Hilton on whether the agency has plans to sack more workers as it looks to fix its “financial sustainability” issues.
“As we’ve discussed, CSIRO requires to invest $80m to $135m probably for the best part of a decade in order to ensure our facilities are safe, fit for purpose, modern, the sort of facilities commensurate with a science agency tackling big problems for the country, and we would look at all measures for finding that money,” Mr Hilton said.
“We would look at all measures before we embark on job cuts.”
Mr Pocock continued to grill Mr Hilton about whether the CSIRO knew the government decided to hand it additional funding before the cuts were announced.
Labor is preparing to hand down a funding boost in its mid-year budget update that will include more than $100m for the agency, according to The Canberra Times.
Mr Hilton stressed there was no connection between these issues.
He also hit back at an allegation from senator Peter Whish-Wilson that staff were being asked to provide written summaries about their own work and where they think there could be cuts in their division.
“That’s not at all how I would characterise it at all, I think that’s a pretty unjust characterisation of the process,” Mr Hilton said.
“We spent four days with 300 out of our most senior scientists reviewing our portfolio … the use of the brains of some of the smartest people in the country to look at the portfolio and identify areas where we could come together to do things better, is exactly what I would hope any organisation would do.”
The job cuts sparked outcry from the CSIRO Staff Association which said the cuts under the Albanese government surpass those under former prime minister Tony Abbott.
“This is a very sad day for publicly funded science in this country, and the Albanese Government is just sitting back and watching it happen,” CSIRO Staff Association section secretary Susan Tonks said.
“They are now responsible for cuts to public science that exceed the Abbott Government – cuts that current Labor MPs rightly slammed at the time.
“These are some the worst cuts the CSIRO has ever seen, and they’re coming at a time when we should be investing in and building up public science.”
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Region Canberra, 5 December 2025
Jobs are set to be slashed at the Australian Research Council (ARC) as the Federal Government pushes ahead with its insistence that agencies achieve across-the-board budget efficiencies of up to 5 per cent.
ARC is a Commonwealth entity established as an independent body under the Australian Research Council Act 2001 and reports to the Education Minister, Jason Clare.
But its executives avoided scrutiny this week over the planned jobs cuts when the Senate’s Education and Employment Legislation Committee excused them from their scheduled Senate Estimates hearing.
That committee closed early on Thursday evening (4 December) despite having more witnesses listed on its program, and even though other committees held hearings late into the night.
The ARC has been secretly conducting an organisational restructure to meet the government’s demands, and it launched a witch hunt among its staff once the news got out.
Region has seen emails between bosses and staff flagging that there will be job losses.
The emails describe a consultation period until 9 December and an outcome that will result in “employees that will be excess”.
Staff meetings and focus groups were held over the issue in October, resulting in heated exchanges.
On 19 November, some staff were informed that their positions would be impacted by the restructure.
Once word started leaking, ARC management set about grilling individual staff members, demanding to know who was talking.
ACT independent Senator David Pocock has raised concerns over the ARC’s campaign to shed staff.
He has also demanded answers over why the ARC’s senior executives were allowed to skip Estimates and not be questioned about the plans.
Senator Pocock said he has been contacted by multiple ARC staff raising the alarm, and was sent copies of email correspondence confirming that consultation is underway on a proposed new organisational structure which, if implemented, “will result in a reduction in the number of roles” at the entity.
“I am deeply concerned that the Australian Research Council appears to be conducting an organisational restructure in secret and without adequate consultation with impacted staff or public oversight,” Senator Pocock said.
“It’s very disappointing that, given concerns have been raised with me, I wasn’t afforded the opportunity to ask questions at estimates.
“I have been contacted by multiple ARC staff alarmed at the prospect of losing their job as part of multiple positions reportedly under threat, and even more concerned about potential reprisals for seeking to shine a light on what’s happening behind closed doors.”
Senator Pocock said he had hoped to question officials from ARC at Senate Estimates on Thursday night; however, the committee released them earlier in the day, as they also did in the previous estimates in October.
“This feels like yet another attack on our research community that is already under siege,” he said.
“In recent months, we’ve seen more than 1000 jobs cut at the ANU on top of 1100 jobs being cut at CSIRO, NHMRC [National Health and Medical Research Council] grants with record low award rates and now potential job losses at the ARC.
“The CSIRO was unable to rule out further job cuts in Senate estimates last night [Thursday].
“Some of Canberra’s best and brightest are losing their jobs in what is a huge blow for our territory and its future, as well as the future of science and research in Australia.”
Senator Pocock said he would write to Minister Clare to raise his concerns.
ARC CEO Ute Roessner responded to Region’s enquiries with the following detailed statement.
“The Australian Research Council is undertaking an organisational review to ensure our structure aligns with our expanded responsibilities under amended legislation that took effect on 1 July 2024,” Professor Roessner said.
“The review focuses on aligning staffing levels with the APSC’s Optimal Management Structures to ensure we have the right people at the right level to support early-stage research for the benefit of all Australians.
“This organisation review has been a developed in consultation with staff:
“The ARC Senior Leadership team are regularly reviewing feedback throughout the consultation process. No final decisions have been made.
“The ARC encourages all staff to participate in consultation; feedback is integral to this process. It is intended that the final operating model and organisational structure will come into effect from 1 March 2026.”
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By Greg Jericho. The New Daily, 27 November 2025
The talk around Canberra at the moment is about the reports of the government asking departments to find 5 per cent cuts, or a “re-prioritisation” to use Finance Minister Katy Gallagher’s words.
The word use is quite pertinent, given the CSIRO’s announcement of its cuts last week contained the line that the cuts were a “sharpened focus” that meant “other research activities will need to be deprioritised”.
That re-prioritisation has ended up meaning the following job cuts by research area:
It is perhaps telling that in the same week the government pushed through a weakened EBPC (Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation) Act with the support of climate-change denying members of the LNP, it is also announcing the biggest cuts in the CSIRO are on environmental research.
Governing is about choices, and right now the Albanese government is making some rather bizarre ones about the environment.
But just how “bloated” is the Australian Public Service? Does it need to be cut?
According to the APS Commission, in June this year there were 184,442 ongoing employees and 14,087 non-ongoing employees in the APS. That total of 198,529 was a nearly 25 per cent increase on June 2022.
So, bloated? Nope.
What should not be forgotten is that the Abbot-Turnbull-Morrison governments gutted the APS and – as a result, service delivery such as call wait times and processing times for health claims rose.
And while the total number of public servants is much higher than in the past, Australia’s population has also grown.
As a result, the number of APS per 1000 residents is lower than it was in the final years of the Howard government. In June 2007 there were 7.45 APS employees per 1000 residents; in June this year, there were 7.21.
We need to not only have some context about the size of the public service, but we also need to realise that these cuts are not without cost – whether it be to service delivery or, in the case of the CSIRO, to vital research on matters that directly affect all Australians.
Dr Greg Jericho is chief economist at the Australia Institute and the Centre for Future Work.
—
ABC 7.30, 27 November 2025
MICHAEL ROWLAND, REPORTER: In the 1990’s, when CSIRO engineer John O’Sullivan and his team were experimenting with radio waves, little did they know they were about to change the world.
ANNOUNCER: This is the man who invented wi-fi.
MICHAEL ROWLAND: From connecting to the internet, to getting rid of insects.
(Extract from advertisement)
BOY: Have a good weekend Mr Walker.
MAX WALKER: You too son.
(End of extract)
MICHAEL ROWLAND: To durable dollars.
REPORTER: Let me introduce a masterpiece of Australian design and technology. Australia’s new five-dollar plastic note.
MICHAEL ROWLAND: The CSIRO has been responsible for some truly global innovations.
Now, Australia’s peak science agency is busily re-inventing itself through a round of savage job cuts.
PROFE. CHENNUPATI JAGADISH, AUSTRALIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCE: It is a terrible thing that the CSIRO had to go through these cuts. Whenever people lose their jobs it’s distressing for the staff and families.
MICHAEL ROWLAND: 350 research jobs have been axed on top of the more than 800 research and support positions that have been cut over the last 18 months.
DOUG HILTON, CSIRO CEO: The science we are doing now is very different to the science we were doing 50 years ago, so there’s always going to be a need to refine the skills of our workforce, to be able to change direction.
MICHAEL ROWLAND: This change of direction is stark. A staff presentation obtained by 7.30 talks of evolving and adapting, of financial sustainability challenges and the need to invest in the right problems.
The hardest areas of research include health and biosecurity, food and agriculture and the environment.
PROF. DAVID KAROLY, CLIMATE SCIENTIST: This is a significant cut in terms of the number of people and will adversely impact Australia’s capabilities in many different science research areas.
MICHAEL ROWLAND: David Karoly is one of Australia’s preeminent climate scientists. He’s held senior positions at the CSIRO and holds deep fears the job cuts will compromise the country’s ability to adapt to the changing climate.
DAVID KAROLY: It’s very likely to have major impacts in terms of climate change research because it’s cutting its staff in that area by more than 10 per cent, more like 20 per cent.
MICHAEL ROWLAND: 7.30 spoke to current and former CSIRO staff and the picture that emerges is one of an organisation reaching crisis point. A senior CSIRO scientist, who wanted to stay anonymous to speak freely, told me that morale is at rock bottom and it’s unfortunate areas like climate change research will suffer because of the job cuts, even though it’s a stated priority area.
The scientist also says many staff members are feeling duped by management over the true extent of the agency’s financial challenges.
Just who or what is responsible for this cash squeeze is the subject of dispute. The CSIRO says government funding hasn’t kept pace with the cost of doing science.
The science minister has pushed back.
TIM AYRES, SCIENCE, INDUSTRY AND INNOVATION MINISTER: It’s a billion dollars a year. There is no funding cut to the CSIRO.
MICHAEL ROWLAND: The minister confirmed to 7.30 there will be more money for the CSIRO in the coming mid-year budget update, but this won’t stop the job cuts.
TIM AYRES: These are tough decisions, but they are about allocating existing resources and making sure that every science dollar is spent on the national science priorities.
MICHAEL ROWLAND: CSIRO CEO Doug Hilton was unavailable for an interview. The agency says it remains committed to climate change research and addressing other critical national challenges.
Professor Chennupati Jagadish, the president of the Australian Academy of Science agrees the CSIRO needs to review where its money goes.
CHENNUPATI JAGADISH: National needs are changing. So, in those circumstances we need to make sure that our science is also adapting to national needs as well. So that is why it is important for organisations to really look at their programs and how relevant they are, are they fit for purpose and are they able to meet the current national needs.
MICHAEL ROWLAND: The CSIRO has been relying increasingly on commercial revenue in recent years to supplement its government funding. Its latest annual report shows 41 per cent of the CSIRO’s money last financial year came from external sources.
David Karoly argues this has turned the agency into an expensive consulting business that sometimes struggles to meet industry demands.
Does the CSIRO rely too much on external money?
DAVID KAROLY: I don’t think it relies too much, but it’s clear that the management of its budget has been inadequate and the expectations of external funding have not been met.
MICHAEL ROWLAND: The job cuts are having an impact far beyond the CSIRO.
PAULA TAYLOR, AUSTRALIAN SCIENCE TEACHERS ASSOCIATION: I thought it was a setback. A big setback that we should be ashamed about.
MICHAEL ROWLAND: Two weeks ago, Paula Taylor won the Prime Minister’s Prize for Excellence in Science Teaching in primary schools.
She thinks the cuts send an awful message to those dreaming of a career in science.
PAULA TAYLOR: This is going to really cast doubts in their choices. You know, if I was a student completing my studies, I’d be questioning what we value as a society, what we value as people.
MICHAEL ROWLAND: The CSIRO is not alone in its financial challenges. There’s been an across-the-board fall in research and development spending in Australia.
The Academy of Science estimates the government spends $1.8 billion less on R and D than the OECD average.
While Australian business spending falls short more than $30 billion.
CHENNUPATI JAGADISH: So, no wonder our businesses are struggling in terms of productivity issues. So that is why government and businesses need to look at research as an investment, not as a cost.
PAULA TAYLOR: If we don’t invest in research and development well, someone else will, and our students will go offshore.
—
By Maria Miller. Upper Yarra Star Mail, 30 November 2025.
This is again the time of the year when many young school leavers are thinking of what path to take next.
In recent years there has been a concerted campaign by government encouraging students to choose STEM subjects over humanities to the detriment of humanities teaching, both in schools and universities.
Protons, neutrons, electrons, fees
Spin, charm, and strange, all have their place
In one atom’s snug mysteries… Ode to the Atom by John Updike.
Last week it was announced that the CSIRO will slash up to 350 full time jobs to address rising costs. It comes on top of more than 800 positions already made redundant in the past 18 months.
It’s understandable that many feel frustrated, or even cynical, when they see cuts to revered scientific institutions like the CSIRO and when at the same time they had been steered towards careers in science, technology and research.
First, a question stirs the quiet air,
A tremor in the stillness of the mind.
A shape half-formed, a possibility
That waits for evidence to make it shine.
We guess—but guessing isn’t where we end.
We test. We measure. Doubt becomes a friend.
For only what survives the trial of truth
Can be the seed from which our knowledge grows.
The Hypothesis
Despite a relatively small population, Australia has made global-scale contributions in a number of domains: medicine, materials, communications.
Think medical application of penicillin; the black box flight recorder; spray on skin for burn victims; polymer banknotes; WIFI wireless networking components and cochlear implants.
One wonders how Donald Horne would have responded to the current cuts.
In Donald Horne’s The Lucky Country (1964), his main argument was that Australia’s success has come largely by luck, not by the skill, intelligence, or vision of its leaders. In his usually misunderstood and misused quote that Australia is a Lucky Country run mainly by second rate people who share its luck, he argued that Australia’s elites were complacent, unimaginative and resistant to innovation.
He may well have added lacking in vision beyond the next election.
He warned that unless Australia developed better leadership, cultural maturity, and economic planning, its luck would not last.
Horne would very likely have been strongly critical of the CSIRO cuts.
He’d have interpreted them not as a financial necessity, but as a worrying sign that the country is failing to invest in its future intellectual and scientific capacity and in its youth.
He would despair to see Australia relying again on its natural “luck,” instead of building the deep, resilient institutions that can sustain long-term national development.
He might even have changed his ironic ‘Lucky Country’ view of Australia to a blunter assessment of it being a Stupid Country that continues to follow short term goals at the expense of future generations.
Harsh as it sounds, we are indeed stupid to accept an economic model that relies heavily on exporting raw minerals we dig out of the ground, shipping them to where they are value added and then returned to us at a high price.
So we export iron ore rather than steel, lithium concentrate rather than batteries, raw agricultural products rather than manufactured food and gas for which we end up paying through the nose for the refined products.
Meanwhile our best and brightest follow that well-worn path to countries where their talents are welcomed.
What’s happening is better understood as a long-running tension between political priorities and investment in science, innovation, and other long-term planning.
Even before the cuts we were employing fewer people in STEM manufacturing and research than other comparable countries.
So what incentive is there for young school leavers to aspire to science and research?
In the crucible of time,
Where elements collide and combine,
The catalyst of change whispers,
And new paths unfold
The Catalyst
Moreover we are at the whim of what happens overseas and the health of budgets no matter what party is in power, is dictated by what we get for our raw materials.
Add to that the unhealthy presence of lobbyists from resource companies lurking in the corridors of our Parliament looking for favourable treatment from our elected representatives.
So when money tightens that’s when governments panic and start cutting back, Invariably, the first casualties are science, higher education, welfare and of course research.
There are few votes in research.
This vicious cycle has been repeated under multiple governments of both major parties.
And those newly minted school leavers struggling with decisions of what career path to follow may consider that we employ fewer people in STEM manufacturing and advance d technology than other countries.
It seems strange why we have managed our bountiful resources in such a profligate way and become captive to a cycle that repeats time and time again.
This aligns with Horne’s warning about over-reliance on what is immediately profitable or politically expedient, rather than building a mature, intellectually resilient nation.
And yet other resource rich countries have taken a different path.
When North Sea oil wealth was discovered, Norway established a sovereign wealth fund to channel surplus revenues into long-term savings rather than immediate consumption.
This allows its citizens a high standard of living without being exposed to volatile resource pricing.
Norway can afford to deliver strong public services in health, education, welfare, pensions.
Botswana was once among the world’s poorest nations but since Independence in 1966 as the world’s largest diamond producer has channelled the diamond revenue into education, healthcare, infrastructure, rather than purely consumption.
It has had current account surpluses over long periods and has transformed itself into a middle income nation.
A great example where the resource sector has not been allowed to distort politics or the economy.
This is directly in line with Horne’s belief that real national leadership should recognise that institutions like CSIRO are not just a line item — they are foundational to Australia’s future.
This keeps Australia dependent on exporting dirt while importing expensive finished goods — the opposite of how advanced economies build wealth.
This aligns with Horne’s warning about over-reliance on what is immediately profitable or politically expedient, rather than building a mature, intellectually resilient nation.
The cuts should not be seen just as cost-cutting, but as symptomatic of a broader strategic failure: not enough investment in institutions that matter.
And a dereliction of duty to the next generation.
—
By Binoy Kampmark. The Mandarin, 28 November 2025
The CSIRO cull has put fresh attention on decades of real-term funding decline and the pressure to fit research into narrow policy goals.
Things have been rocky at Australia’s primary scientific research body, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO).
On November 18, the agency confirmed 350 research redundancies following a staff and union meeting. This heralds the largest cull of permanent researchers since pandemic funding under the four-year “COVID safety measure” concluded. (818 temporary and support service positions have already been shed, resulting in purported savings of $120 million.) There was little surprise in the remarks by CSIRO Staff Association secretary Susan Tonks, who described the occasion as “a sad day for publicly funded science”.
Chief executive Doug Hilton called such trimming “necessary” in safeguarding “our national science agency so we can continue solving the challenges that matter to Australia and Australians.” An 18-month review of its research projects identified the need to de-emphasise certain areas in favour of favoured policy priorities: clean energy, climate resilience, and the emergence of new technologies.
Last month, it became clearer than ever that the Federal Government, whatever public statements may have been made about investing in science, had little appetite to provide additional funding to address the need for any cuts. In his statement of expectations to the CSIRO board, Science and Industry Minister Tim Ayres showed little interest in science as experimental, speculative, and necessary, preferring the managerial jargon of budgetary soundness and prudent project management. “I expect the CSIRO to demonstrate disciplined financial planning and work to monitor expenditure, identify inefficiencies and reduce operating costs, while ensuring appropriate levels of co-investment to maximise the impact from its research.”
That same month, a parliamentary library analysis commissioned by ACT Senator David Pocock on annual funding levels to the CSIRO since 1978 found a continuous, precipitous fall, bar a few exceptions. Using GDP, CPI, and population data to account for inflation, the agency’s funding has fallen from 0.16% of GDP in 1978-79 to 0.03% of GDP in 2024-25. Pocock tabled these figures at a Senate estimates hearing on October 10, setting the scene for probing questions from Pocock to Ayres.
Under questioning, Ayres was insistent “that nominal funding hasn’t changed over that period”, a fairly standard response from government ministers keen to justify a fall of funding in real terms. Indeed, he went on to say that, “Of course, you will assert that in real terms that’s a different story”. Having not seen the document prior to the hearing, the minister spoke to the agency’s evolving “approach to make sure that its programmes of effort are in line with the national science priorities of the country and what the country needs in order to solve the big national challenges in front of us.”
This formula, as anyone familiar with the methodologies of experimental science will know, is a recipe for narrowing and limiting, a case of forced alignments rather than imaginative exploration. As things stand, the redundancies are intended to cover positions within the research units covering health and biosecurity, agriculture and food and environment.
The cash-strapped, penny-pinching approach to funding the CSIRO is much in keeping with broader attitudes to forking out for Research and Development initiatives in the country. In terms of broader investment in R&D, Australia is an international laggard. “Australia invests less than 1.7% of GDP in R&D, compared with an OECD average of 2.7%,” Universities Australia Chief Executive Luke Sheehy stated in August. “Countries like South Korea and Germany are well above 3% and are reaping the productivity gains that come with it.”
As for the latest ills in CSIRO, the former Labor Science Minister Ed Husic has not been short of a word. Funding for the agency tended to be seen by the money-minded wonks in Treasury and finance (“some of the driest of the driest minds within the sphere of government”) as a budget cost rather than an invaluable investment for the future. He suggested getting “out of the jar of gumption and pry open the jaws of Treasury to make sure our national science agency is funded in a way that will be good for the country in the long term. If you want to find the money, you can find it.”
Funding for government projects and agencies can be a perplexing affair. The Defence Department can seemingly call upon an endless reserve in funding hypothetical projects that might fructify. (The AUKUS submarine deal is merely one example.) Former Labor senator Doug Cameron makes that very point, wondering why hundreds of jobs should be lost at CSIRO “while we subsidise the US and UK military industrial establishments with no guarantee of ever receiving nuclear-powered subs designed to attack China, our most important trading partner.” Husic himself muses that, if “$600m for a football team in Papua New Guinea” could be found, then he was “sure we’ll be able to find the money for our national science agency.” Ability, however, counts for little if the will is absent.
—
Region Canberra, 27 November 2025
CSIRO chief executive officer Doug Hilton. A Senate inquiry has been set up for the Federal Parliament to scrutinise the reasons behind the mass job losses at CSIRO.
A parliamentary inquiry will be held into the government’s intention to cut hundreds more jobs at the nation’s peak scientific research agency.
A Senate inquiry will scrutinise the rationale for the planned job and program cuts at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, announced last week.
The inquiry will also consider the impacts of the funding cuts, the importance of public funding for science, and CSIRO’s future funding and resourcing needs.
CSIRO chief executive officer Doug Hilton made the announcement on 18 November, signalling the organisation needed to adapt to a new research direction.
Up to 350 research roles will be abolished next financial year, which is on top of the 800 jobs already cut over the past 18 months.
“CSIRO’s reason for being is to deliver the greatest possible impact for the nation through our research,” Dr Hilton said.
“As today’s stewards of CSIRO, we have a responsibility to make decisions that ensure we can continue to deliver science that improves the lives of all Australians for generations to come.
“We must set up CSIRO for the decades ahead with a sharpened research focus that capitalises on our unique strengths, allows us to concentrate on the profound challenges we face as a nation and deliver solutions at scale.”
That announcement was met with significant political concern and outrage from employees and the Community and Public Sector Union.
In the Senate on Wednesday (26 November), the Greens successfully secured an inquiry into the matter.
Greens science spokesperson Peter Whish-Wilson said Labor had dealt CSIRO some of the most savage job cuts in the science agency’s entire history.
“It is reprehensible that the Albanese government has failed to address concerns that the job cuts disproportionately impact public good science, with the Environment Research Unit set to bear the brunt of proposed cuts,” Senator Whish-Wilson said.
“The government is either disregarding the biodiversity and climate crisis facing our nation, or it doesn’t care.
“Science is one of the best defences we have in tackling Australia’s biggest future challenges – from climate change, food security and health emergencies.
“The short-sightedness of the Albanese government’s job cuts to the CSIRO is negligent. Everybody needs science, and we need to defend it from attack. “
Senator Whish-Wilson said scientists deserve better treatment and answers as to why such action is being taken against them.
“It is critical the Senate examines how the CSIRO ended up in this position, who knew about the dire state of the agency and for how long, and why senior executives took bonuses while funding cliffs were obviously approaching,” he said.
Greens finance and public sector spokesperson Barbara Pocock said that at a time when investing in science and research has never been more important, it is “deeply concerning” that the nation’s leading research organisation is being forced to cut hundreds of jobs just to stay afloat.
“These are not just numbers; these are skilled workers whose expertise underpins Australia’s scientific future,” she said.
“Funding shortfalls and looming job cuts are untenable for the agency, its staff and scientific research – and it must be investigated through a Senate inquiry.
“In the face of a worsening climate crisis, the work of the CSIRO is vitally important to Australians and our future generations. We should be strengthening our research capacity, not running it into the ground.
“The Greens are deeply concerned about the CSIRO’s funding trajectory following funding cuts after funding cuts.
“We must do all we can to save the CSIRO before it sinks. That’s why we’ve secured a Senate inquiry.
“Science matters and it’s critical for it to be sufficiently resourced with public funds, to ensure science and research is independent and free of commercialisation.”
Labor backbencher and former science minister Ed Husic responded to the CSIRO job cuts announcement by saying his own government should “pry open the jaws of Treasury” to fund the agency’s ongoing research program.
“If you do value science, you need to stop looking at science and research as a cost, and see it as an investment in the future, well-being and capability of the country,” he said.
The Senate inquiry will report by 31 March 2026.
—
InnovationAus, 26 November 2025
More than 1,100 job cuts and plummeting funding at the CSIRO will be examined by a Senate inquiry over the summer as criticism mounts on the Albanese government’s refusal to lift its investment in the science agency.
The wide-ranging inquiry will also examine the CSIRO’s research commercialisation and the “independence of the CSIRO’s leadership” in making resourcing decisions.
The Greens, independents and the Coalition united to secure the inquiry and speak out against the cuts on Wednesday in the final sitting week of the year.
The CSIRO last week announced it will slash up to 350 research jobs, having already shred more than 800 roles and not renewed many non-ongoing roles in the last 18 months.
The hardest hit research units are expected to be environment (130-150 FTE roles), and health (100-110 FTE roles).
The Albanese government has backed the moves, saying they were difficult but necessary changes to “sharpen” the agency’s research priorities in line with national priorities.
Independent Senator David Pocock said the cuts have been especially outrageous under a Labor government that stridently opposed the Abbot government’s attack on the agency and has been willing to step in to save workers elsewhere this year, like steel plants.
“At the moment it seems that our Prime Minister and the Labor government is happy to write billion dollar cheques for manufacturing jobs in Whyalla and Tomago,” Senator Pocock said.
“Why not our scientists? Why not the people solving the problems of the future?”
Greens spokesperson for science Senator Peter Whish-Wilson said history shows that when the CSIRO restructures and retrenches it is typically the public good, or non-commercialised science, that suffers.
With the CSIRO’s current cuts targeting its environmental research division more than any other, Senator Whish-Wilson said he is concerned public good science and his home state of Tasmania, where hundreds of these scientists are based, will suffer again.
“We cannot afford to lose those jobs in Tasmania. We can’t afford to lose science jobs anywhere in this country,” he said.
“Science is under siege globally and there’s never been a more important time for this country to show that we value science and scientists by investing in scientific research.”
The government invests around $1 billion annually in the CSIRO, a figure that has remained mostly steady under Labor. But the agency’s funding as a share of GDP and per capita has fallen steadily for decades, while the cost of conducting scientific work has also risen.
“Over the last 15 years, our appropriation has increased by 1.3 per cent per year, with the average inflation rate at 2.7 per cent, and the costs of running a modern science agency are rising much faster,” CSIRO chief executive Doug Hilton told staff in an email seen by InnovationAus.com.
Dr Hilton also told staff he needs to find an extra $135 million a year for research infrastructure and technology on top of the job cuts.
Science minister Tim Ayres told the Senate on Wednesday there had been “no cuts” to funding by the Albanese government and he supported changes that would strengthen the CSIRO’s ability to meet national challenges.
“What is happening here is that the 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 is work going to either not continue or be altered,” Senator Ayres said.
“That is the truth. And I expect as the minister, every research dollar, every dollar that goes into science to be spent consistent with those national science priorities.”
The Senate’s inquiry will report by the end of March.
—
Canberra Times, 27 November 2025
A parliamentary inquiry will examine the latest round of job cuts at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), as staff wait to learn whether they will still be employed next year.
The CSIRO last week announced plans to scrap up to 350 jobs, which would represent 6 per cent of the agency’s 5800-strong workforce.
On Wednesday, the Senate passed a joint motion by Greens senators Barbara Pocock and Peter Whish-Wilson and independent ACT senator David Pocock to set up a committee inquiry to consider the CSIRO’s funding cuts, the agency’s future needs, and the importance of public funding for science, to report by March 31.
Senator Whish-Wilson said the Albanese government “has dealt the CSIRO some of the most savage job cuts in the science agency’s entire history” and had failed to address concerns that the cuts “disproportionately impact public good science”.
“The government is either disregarding the biodiversity and climate crisis facing our nation, or it doesn’t care,” he said.
ACM last week revealed that almost half the agency’s job cuts – between 130 and 150 roles – would be made to the environment unit, which conducts research on topics including climate change, pollution and resource management. There are 715 staff employed in that unit.
The agency has told staff it expects to cut between 100 and 110 roles from the existing 329 in the health and biosecurity unit, along with between 45 to 55 from agriculture and food, which has 644 employees.
A further 25 to 35 jobs would be scrapped from the 364-strong minerals unit.
The CSIRO Black Mountain research centre in Canberra has a large number of environment and agriculture researchers, whose fates are uncertain.
Negotiations with the union are continuing and could take several months to finalise.
The CSIRO staff association backed the inquiry, with a spokesperson telling The Canberra Times the Australian public were “dismayed at this attack on the CSIRO” and were “demanding answers”.
About 818 jobs at CSIRO have been shed over the past 18 months as part of a continuing restructure to save the science agency $120 million.
The government, which supported the motion to set up the inquiry, is preparing to unveil a funding boost to the CSIRO of more than $100 million in next month’s mid-year budget update.
“We always try to fund the sciences as best we can,” Treasurer Jim Chalmers told the ABC last week. “We are big believers and supporters of the CSIRO.”
But the CSIRO staff association spokesperson said the “real test of support” would be in how many jobs were saved as a result of the funding.
Science Minister Tim Ayres last month issued a statement of expectations asking the CSIRO to shift its priorities to focus on areas of research that would support Australia’s net zero transformation and tech economy, including artificial intelligence.
Labor has insisted that the agency’s job cuts and reprioritisation of research focus have been decided “independently of government.”
—
InnovationAus, 25 November 2025
Science minister Tim Ayres has defended the CSIRO’s move to cut up to 350 research jobs, telling Parliament it was a “necessary and important” change to the national science agency.
The CSIRO last week confirmed it was following more than 800 recent job cuts with another 300 to 350 research roles as part of a rebalancing of its research priorities.
It comes amid historical falls in government funding, an abrupt end to pandemic support and the rising cost of conducting research.
The agency is also managing ageing research infrastructure it says will cost an additional $80 to $135 million per year and bracing for generational reforms to national research policy.
But the extent of the cuts to scientific work — worse than any under the Abbott government, according to the CSIRO union — had been almost unthinkable for a Labor government, Greens spokesperson for Science Peter Whish-Wilson told the Senate on Monday.
“… These cuts are worse than under any anti science climate denying LNP government,” he said during question time.
“Genuinely minister, this is not something myself or anyone I know at CSIRO thought would be possible. Aren’t you ashamed of this?”
Senator Ayres said the cuts were part of a “necessary” review of the CSIRO’s research priorities but also distanced the government from the specific job losses.
“It is 15 years since the CSIRO has undertaken a proper strategic examination of its research priorities to make sure that every science dollar… is allocated to a program of research which is squarely within the national science priorities of the CSIRO and the government,” he said.
“And that is the exercise that the management and the board of the CSIRO have embarked upon… And we know that this is very difficult, but it is necessary and important work.”
Despite the opposition last week pledging to scrutinise the CSIRO cuts when Parliament returned this week, it used its question time blocks to ask about energy process and climate policy.
The CSIRO has said the review is about “sharpening” its research into fewer areas that can have large scale impact and has nominated: clean energy and critical minerals, climate change, advanced technologies, agricultural technologies, biosecurity and “disruptive science”.
The science agency has also abandoned its ‘missions’ research approach that saw it also conducting standalone challenge programs like ending plastic waste and achieving net zero.
The grounding of missions was partly driven by the imminent findings of the Albanese government’s Strategic Examination of Research And Development.
This review is yet to publish its final recommendations but has already proposed national scale missions that would likely supersede the CSIRO’s. It has also said the CSIRO and other publicly funded research institutions should have their scope refined and their objectives more aligned with national priorities.
—
Guardian Australia, 22 November 2025
Sweeping job cuts across the nation’s science agency this week have been foreshadowed for months, but the sheer scale of them has left many researchers within laboratories and offices across the country shocked.
Up to 350 research roles are on the cutting room floor across key areas – including environment, human health and minerals – as leaders of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) attempt to steer the agency from a steep funding cliff.
The CSIRO is a household name for many Australians, a national pride for its involvement in developing technologies like the total wellbeing diet, plastic banknotes, and even Twisties.
But over the next financial year, a number of its research and development units will cease to exist as the CSIRO looks to restructure and “narrow” its focus in line with the Albanese government’s priorities for Australia’s future technologies.
One former long-serving researcher, watching from outside the tent after being made redundant in 2024’s cuts, said the CSIRO now resembles the twisted up popular Australian snack it helped invent.
“It’s the most shortsighted lack of investment by a federal government since before the Abbott government. And they were stupid,” the researcher told Guardian Australia.
“Now, CSIRO itself is a Twistie.”
‘Musical chairs’ with declining funding
On Tuesday afternoon, when leaders of the CSIRO held a town hall to share the grim news, the mood was particularly sombre. Research staff learned that in the new year, hundreds would be losing their jobs and some research programs would be changed or cut entirely.
Several more town halls were held on Wednesday for staff in affected research units, including Data61, energy, manufacturing, health and biosecurity, agriculture and food, environment, and the Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness.
While early consultation is still under way, the town halls showed management already had an indication of which roles would be on the chopping block.
The environment unit, which has more than 700 full-time equivalent roles, will be reduced by 130 to 150. Four of its nine research focuses will not continue, while some of its activities will be relocated elsewhere within the CSIRO.
They include: climate intelligence and advice; unlocking net zero; waste; and valuing and restoring biodiversity, nature and healthy ecosystems.
A long-serving researcher within the unit told Guardian Australia, under the condition of anonymity, it was hard to see why such critical research programs were being reduced during a time of increasing biodiversity decline and broadening climate impacts.
“Refreshing structure? It can invigorate research, right? There’s no quibbling with refreshing structure,” they said.
“But what we’re talking about is basically playing musical chairs with those people who track and understand our environment on a national scale.
“I feel cynical … the direction appears to be, at the moment, that we are prepared to drop the ball on our extinction crisis, our global leadership in biodiversity science or in Southern Ocean science.”
The remainder of the anticipated job losses will be felt across health and biosecurity (between 100 and 110), agriculture and food (45 to 55) and minerals (25 to 35).
The agency’s chief executive, Doug Hilton, told staff on Tuesday it was too early to speculate on whose jobs were being lost at this stage of the consultation process.
But later on Tuesday, the science minister, Tim Ayres, singled out the nutrition team within the agriculture and food unit as an area being “pulled back” because “that work has matured, or it’s been undertaken by other scientific and research organisations in our university community”.
The nutrition team, whose major claim to fame is its work on the total wellbeing diet, was previously reduced in 2024. A former staff member with knowledge of the unit said the announcement was “inevitable” after its staff and funding had been cut significantly.
“Eventually you can’t sustain anything if you don’t have critical mass,” they said.
A number of research projects, such as looking at algae and seaweed as alternative sources of protein, or studying the nutritional value of some First Nations traditional foods for potential market ventures, were abandoned.
“Nobody has ever eaten [these new products] at scale. What’s the long-term implications from that? No idea,” they said.
“These are the things that CSIRO should be doing, in my opinion, because those small startup industries haven’t got the scale that CSIRO did. And now we don’t [have that].”
The former employee said the CSIRO team could be tackling a number of emerging research areas critical to the country’s health: just this week, a major global report found Australia has some of highest consumption rates of ultra-processed foods while the emergence of GLP-1 weight loss drugs is changing obesity rates at national levels overseas.
The political and academic reactions have come swiftly. Labor MP and former science minister Ed Husic, who oversaw job cuts to CSIRO administration and support teams last year, called upon his own party to “pry open the jaws of Treasury” to properly fund the agency. ACT senator David Pocock said Australia could not “build a prosperous future on managed decline in our scientists and researchers”.
The public sector union described the cuts as “the worst” CSIRO had ever seen and a “very sad day for publicly funded science in this country”.
But the cuts announced this week have not come in isolation. They add to the 818 roles lost since July 2024, which was confirmed by the CSIRO’s chief finance officer, Tom Munyard, at a Senate estimates hearing in October.
A funding cliff into the valley of death
Despite funding woes, the CSIRO is often described as punching above its weight. On the international stage, it consistently ranks in the top 1% of research laboratories across multiple fields.
Historically tasked with “public good” research that doesn’t necessarily have commercial benefit, the agency has also been successful at bridging what is known as the “valley of death” between research and application – we have the agency to thank for fast wifi and Aerogard, among other developments.
But funding for the organisation as a percentage of GDP has been steadily dropping, with few exceptions since 1978.
Prof David Karoly, an internationally eminent climate scientist who retired from the CSIRO in 2022, is more familiar than most with cuts at the agency. Karoly returned to the CSIRO in 2018 after deep cuts former executive Larry Marshall made to the organisation’s climate science capacity.
Karoly says this week’s news of staffing cuts “doesn’t surprise” him at all. Annual increases in funding are required to support the same number of people, he points out, and a decline in government investment as a proportion of GDP “may well be part of the problem”.
“For a number of years, they have been trying to generate more income … to support their research activities,” he says – an approach he has previously likened to a “very extravagant consulting company”.
It’s a point Hilton acknowledged in his speech to staff this week. The agency’s head said the CSIRO’s funding had increased 1.3% each year over the past 15 years while the average inflation rate sat at 2.7%.
“The cost of doing science is increasing faster than our appropriation funding,” Hilton said in a note to staff on Tuesday, noting a backlog of urgent refits for the CSIRO’s ageing laboratories and offices.
“And we are facing soaring computing costs, as greater amounts of data are generated, and the cost of protecting our data and people from cybersecurity threats has risen dramatically compared to just a few years ago.”
Research funding plummeting across nation
For those in the research sector, the cuts, though troubling, are a symptom of a wider decline in funding.
“We as a nation have not been investing enough in research,” Prof Chennupati Jagadish, president of the Australian Academy of Sciences (AAS), says.
Total research and development spend across the country as a proportion of GDP has declined from 2.25% in 2008-09 to 1.69% in 2021-22, the latest year for which figures are available. The AAS estimates that, in dollar terms, government investment in R&D is $1.8bn less than the OECD average.
“If we continue to decline at the rate at which we’re declining, we will be at the bottom of the OECD in five years’ time,” AAS’s chief executive, Anna-Maria Arabia. “That’s a worrying trend because science and technology is so central to all of our national interests and priorities.”
A review of R&D in Australia, announced in 2024, is due to hand down recommendations in the coming months.
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Canberra Times, 20 November 2025
One in five staff in the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)’s environmental research unit are set to lose their jobs, as the agency pushes ahead with a plan to cut up to 350 roles next year.
The embattled agency confirmed to The Canberra Times that between 130 and 150 full time equivalent roles would be cut from the unit, which conducts research on topics including climate change, pollution and resource management.
“We are exiting research where we lack scale to achieve significant impact, or areas where others in the sector are better placed to deliver,” a CSIRO spokesperson said.
“The environment research unit is reshaping its research portfolio to focus on better integrating our science across disciplines to more effectively address critical national challenges and deliver maximum science impact within available funding.”
Staff members have been told the decision to gut the unit is part of a shift in focus towards supporting the technology, mining, agriculture and manufacturing sectors.
“My concern is the short-sightedness of this decision,” one employee said in an email to ACT Independent Senator David Pocock, seen by this masthead.
“Apparently we are now focusing on money generation … To cut the little we do to invest specifically to environmental programs is shocking.”
Greens science spokesperson Peter Whish-Wilson said he was “deeply concerned” that the CSIRO’s planned cuts would “disproportionately impact public good science.”
“Scientists at the CSIRO have been under pressure for years to find revenues to justify their work, including researchers working on public good science such as climate, environment, and oceans research,” Senator Whish-Wilson said
“The work these scientists do is critical to each and every Australian, indeed much of their work is globally collaborative and significant … Now is the time to increase our capacity in environmental research – not withdraw from it.”
Senator Pocock said he did not understand “how anyone in 2025 can argue that the environment is not a national science priority.”
“I’m deeply concerned by the significant job cuts foreshadowed for the CSIRO’s environmental decision,” he said.
“We need the Science Minister to be loudly advocating for more investment in science, given we are at record low levels of investment as a percentage of GDP and per capita.”
This masthead revealed on Thursday that the Albanese government is preparing to hand more than $100 million in extra cash for the CSIRO in its mid-year budget update next month.
It is unclear if this will prompt a change in course from the CSIRO, which declined to comment on funding matters ahead of any announcement.
An analysis of budget data by the Parliamentary Library in September shows that the CSIRO’s Commonwealth funding fell 7 per cent in real terms during the first two financial years of the Albanese government.
Asked how much additional funding the agency needed to be sustainable, the CSIRO spokesperson said the agency, which receives about $1 billion a year in base funding from the government and also raises its own revenue, needed to invest “between $80 million and $135 million per annum over the next 10 years into essential infrastructure and technology.”
The CSIRO spokesperson said the agency was “actively engaging with staff and stakeholders to determine the best approach while maintaining national leadership in freshwater, marine, climate and adaptation science, and social sciences.”
“Specific areas affected will be confirmed once the process concludes next year, at which time the environment research unit will remain one of the organisation’s largest units.”
Science Minister Tim Ayres, who last month issued a statement of expectations asking the CSIRO to shift its priorities, on Thursday told the ABC: “Every program comes to an end at some point.”
A spokesperson for Mr Ayres said in a statement that the CSIRO had made “strategic choices to evolve its research … independently of government.”
“No program of research is being ‘singled out’, least of all by the government,” the spokesperson said.
The environmental research unit would shift to focus on “better integrating its science across disciplines [to] more more effectively address critical national challenges and deliver maximum science impact within available funding.”
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By Ian Bushnell. Region Canberra, 21 November 2025
The thing about science is you never know where it might lead.
Which is why prioritising some research areas over others can be an uncertain business.
But that’s what CSIRO is doing, and has been doing for some time.
The latest round of job cuts is nothing new. For as long as I can remember, CSIRO has been redefining its mission, adjusting to shrinking budgets and justifying having to let people go.
Its new list of national priorities includes what you’d expect – energy transition, climate change, advanced tech, including, of course, AI, boosting farm productivity through technology, and biosecurity.
There is also a vague one about applying disruptive science and engineering to unlock the unknown and solve unanswered questions.
Where does the environment fit in all this?
Apparently, that’s one of the areas that will take a hit, which is a worry for a country facing massive species and habitat loss.
What is disturbing about the latest announcement is that the language from a Labor Government is the same as its conservative predecessors.
There have been comments that these cuts are worse than those under Abbott in 2014.
The Albanese Government can throw some money at CSIRO the day after the cuts are announced, using the same pea-and-thimble trick used before to say how well science is being funded, but the reality is that funding has been falling for 40 years.
In 1982, CSIRO funding accounted for 0.16 per cent of Australia’s gross domestic product (GDP). By 2023–24, this had dropped to a new low of just 0.03 per cent.
CSIRO isn’t on its own; research funding in other organisations and universities has also decreased.
It’s 60 years since Donald Horne coined the ironic phrase “the lucky country”.
Australia continues to ride its luck, sitting on a diminishing mountain of riches as it outsources its future.
Despite this, Australia still manages to chalk up its share of inventions and innovations. CSIRO gave the world Wi-Fi.
One could only guess what else could have been achieved if our leaders had taken a longer-term view of the benefits of investment in science and research.
Australia should have been, and should still be, ploughing its wealth back into science, not penny-pinching.
Other countries that have prioritised research, such as China and South Korea, and are reaping obvious dividends.
If we want to be a smart country, cutting public science is a dumb way to go about it.
It is especially disappointing that a Labor government should continue to make the same mistakes, and it seems there are those on the inside who feel the same way, such as former science minister Ed Husic, who noted of government that “if you want to find the money, you can find it”.
He added, “We found $600 million for a football team in Papua New Guinea. I’m sure we’ll be able to find the money for our national science agency, because that is an investment … in our future capability as a country.”
In the background is the spectre of AUKUS, with its dubious defence benefits, as well as the sheer cost and the resources it will divert from other research investments.
The challenges facing the nation and the world are immense. We should be throwing all we can at the possible solutions. Not crying poor, and having this recurring conversation about cutbacks at CSIRO or the ANU or whatever other institution.
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SMH/Age, 22 November 2025
The CSIRO’s workforce is paying the price after management squandered a huge short-term government funding boost, former and current senior staff say.
The agency this week announced cuts, with up to 350 research jobs – about 10 per cent of the science workforce – on the chopping block. Management attributed the cuts to decades of government underinvestment that left the agency “fundamentally unsustainable”.
Most of those cuts will come from CSIRO’s environment, health and biosecurity research teams, this masthead can reveal.
The CSIRO received $459 million over four years from the Morrison government in 2020 to compensate for expected pandemic revenue downturns. Those downturns never eventuated, leaving the agency flush with cash – until the funding boost expired in 2024.
Government funding and private revenue increased by more than 28 per cent between 2018 and 2024, to more than $1.7 billion.
Management pledged to use the money to create a more sustainable CSIRO. But internally, they “had no idea what to do”, said a former senior staffer, granted anonymity to speak freely. “It then turned into a frenzy of bids and ideas by the science side.
“It made me sick to see what was happening. The sheer waste and nothing of substance delivered – it was soul-destroying. The majority of this situation has nothing to do with lack of government funding.
“Yet none of those responsible will ever feel the consequences of those decisions. The corporate side, and now the researchers, will pay for it. It’s not only sad, it’s soul-destroying to see.”
A current senior scientist, granted anonymity to speak freely, said staff had been told that CSIRO was “in the black” for years – until CEO Doug Hilton announced the organisation was financially unsustainable.
“I think Doug was correct – things have been ignored and papered over,” said the scientist. “We used short-term money to bring a lot of people on with a lot of promises. The COVID money was blown on vanity projects that committed money beyond the boost.”
Despite the one-time funding boost, Hilton revealed this week a $280 million maintenance backlog, with more than 80 per cent of the organisation’s buildings beyond end-of-life. “Effectively, I would say it was mismanaged. Especially when you consider the infrastructure issues it could have been spent on,” said the senior scientist.
A CSIRO spokesman rejected claims that the extra funding was wasted.
“CSIRO used this short-term funding to mitigate against the impact of COVID-19 on its commercial activities, while supporting Australia’s pandemic response,” the spokesman said.
“This included deploying CSIRO’s capability to support vaccine development, increase virus research, provide public health monitoring, including wastewater monitoring for COVID-19, and support domestic manufacturing to ensure the sovereign supply of protective surgical masks.”
After the funding boost, the CSIRO launched a huge campaign to recruit scientists in 2022. The agency’s total headcount swelled by 1397 people between 2020-21 and 2023-24.
Employee benefits, the CSIRO’s largest expense, have jumped 29 per cent since 2019.
The COVID funding boost expired in 2024. The CSIRO’s latest annual report reveals the organisation ran an operating deficit of nearly $60 million and failed to meet its key financial targets.
In October, new Science Minister Tim Ayres issued new directions to management, ordering the agency to clean up its books.
“They knew about the budgeting problem for years,” the former senior staff member said. “They did nothing until it was all too late. They have struggled with setting and executing a property strategy – which is drowning the organisation – then they wasted so much on corporate initiatives, meant to improve the science, that just never delivered.”
The CSIRO’s spokesman said government funding had not increased at the same rate as inflation, which squeezed the agency. “The cost of doing science and running a science agency has risen above inflation, which has led to a significant increase in operating costs,” he said.
In 2022, the CSIRO launched its “Impossible without you” campaign, which recruited 206 early-career researchers to “help solve seemingly impossible challenges for Australia”.
The roles were so broad that the CSIRO asked potential candidates to suggest what they could contribute, according to the former senior staff member. “There were no real projects for them to work on,” the former senior staffer said.
The CSIRO spokesman also rejected that claim. “The premise of the question fails to acknowledge the incredible dedication and contribution of the early-to-mid career researchers that joined as part of the IWY program.”
Ayres said the job cuts were not because of a funding shortfall.
“These are not spending-related cuts,” the minister said. “This is a reprioritisation exercise to make sure that the work that the CSIRO is doing, in every respect, is in line with national science priorities.”
He said it was natural for a systemic look to be taken at the CSIRO’s research priorities after 15 years and conceded there were pressures on the institute, including ageing facilities.
“That’s not a problem I’m going to walk past as the minister. [I’ll be] working closely with the CSIRO and my colleagues in government to make sure that, over time, we develop a sustainable, fit-for-purpose, modern CSIRO that’s delivering for Australia.”
Union, opposition call for bailout
This week, the union representing CSIRO scientists and the federal opposition called on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to bail out the venerable public research institute.
“The ALP is in government. They need to commit urgent funding that stops the cuts,” said Susan Tonks, secretary of the CSIRO Staff Association, which is part of the Community and Public Sector Union.
“Long term, you need more funding going forward. You can’t just keep saying, ‘You need to be sustainable’.”
The association said the cuts at the CSIRO were worse than those under Tony Abbott’s prime ministership – a claim Albanese rejected on Wednesday.
“That’s just nonsense,” Albanese said in Perth. “Tony Abbott gutted the CSIRO. We are supporting scientific research.
“What we’re making sure is that the funding is going in the right directions, and what the staff there will know is that there’s a substantial increase in staff, a substantial increase was made in previous budgets.
“We support science, and we support the CSIRO, and we want to make sure that every single dollar of funding for scientific research is going in the right direction.”
Australia’s spending on research and development has been in long-term decline as a percentage of the country’s GDP, even as other advanced economies boost their research budgets.
“The prime minister and science minister will spend billions fighting for manufacturing jobs at Tomago or Whyalla, but cut funding and silently sacrifice equally critical jobs at our national science and research agency,” said independent senator David Pocock.
“In opposition, Labor called for better funding, yet in government, they are delivering cuts. They must commit to long-term, stable investment in CSIRO, so our scientists have the tools they need to deliver the breakthroughs our country depends on.”
Alex Hawke, the opposition spokesman for industry and innovation, told the ABC he was shocked by the cuts.
“We’d like to see the government supporting the CSIRO,” Hawke said. “They’re certainly talking a big game on science, especially climate science … yet somehow, the CSIRO is shedding jobs and losing money. It doesn’t stack up, and the government does need to step up here.”
Calls for a bailout were echoed by the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences & Engineering and by Science and Technology Australia. The latter’s chief executive, Ryan Winn, said the CSIRO needed long-term, stable investment.
“We have been going backwards in research investment for more than 15 years. It’s time to turn that around,” Winn said.
Universities Australia chief executive Luke Sheehy called the cuts “a warning light for the entire research ecosystem”.
“If we continue to under-invest, we will lose the talent, infrastructure and breakthroughs that drive jobs, national security and technological strength,” Sheehy said.
Professor Chennupati Jagadish, the president of the Australian Academy of Science, told the ABC the job cuts were now widespread across the sector as funding shortfalls began to bite.
“[Funding] going backwards for the last 15 years or so means the entire research sector is struggling, not only CSIRO. Huge amounts of job cuts are taking place across the entire sector,” he said.
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ABC News, 19 November 2025
The CSIRO has announced it will slash up to 350 jobs as the national science agency grapples with long-term financial challenges.
The organisation said it had reached a “critical inflection point”, with funding failing to keep pace with the rising costs of running a modern science agency.
Chief executive Doug Hilton said the organisation would axe between 300 and 350 full-time equivalent roles across its research units, with conversations with staff to begin on Wednesday.
“These are difficult but necessary changes to safeguard our national science agency so we can continue solving the challenges that matter to Australia and Australians,” Dr Hilton said.
The CSIRO said an 18-month review of its research portfolio found it needed a sharper focus on areas like climate resilience, clean energy and advanced technologies.
In a statement, a spokesperson said other research activities would “need to be de-prioritised”, including in areas where the CSIRO lacked the scale to make a significant impact.
The organisation said the job losses would come from across the country but did not detail what positions were at risk.
It is the latest in the string of cuts at the CSIRO, with more than 800 positions slashed in the past 18 months.
‘Very sad day’
The CSIRO Staff Association (CSIROSA) has slammed the decision, describing it as a “very sad day” for publicly funded science in Australia.
In a statement, the association called for urgent federal funding to stop the cuts.
With more than 800 research and science support roles already lost, these cuts now surpass those delivered by the Abbott Government,” the statement said.
CSIROSA secretary Susan Tonks said the cuts came at a time when there should be more investment in public science.
“These are some of the worst cuts the CSIRO has ever seen,” she said.
“The Albanese Labor government needs to fix this mess by committing to urgent funding that halts the cuts and secures the future of CSIRO’s world-leading science and research.”
The organisation employs more than 5,800 people.
‘Reform is essential’
Federal Science Minister Tim Ayres said the cuts were aimed at refocusing the efforts of the CSIRO towards research priorities, such as critical minerals, iron and steel production in Australia.
“Reform is essential to make sure the facilities, research priorities and technologies of yesterday meet the needs of tomorrow,”
Mr Ayres said.
“It is obviously a difficult time for the organisation, but with prioritisation from a government that believes in the national science institution and its capacity to serve the national interest, that is a necessary process.”
He said the cuts were an important part in making the CSIRO “fit for purpose”, with a “modern forward-looking science agenda”.
When pressed on which areas would be cut, Senator Ayres said health disease research would continue while areas including nutrition would no longer be a priority.
“This review — the first of its kind in over 15 years — will mean that CSIRO exits or scales back research in areas where that work is being undertaken by other parts of the R&D system and builds the foundation for strengthening and focusing effort in areas of national industrial science priority,” he said.
Calls for job security
ACT senator David Pocock said he was incredibly disappointed the government had not provided the funding the national science agency needed.
“More than 1,000 Canberrans work at CSIRO, and they deserve better than ongoing job cuts and uncertainty,” Senator Pocock said.
“If we are serious about meeting the huge challenges ahead, from climate change to AI and robotics, the government must invest in the people doing the science.
“Australia can’t build a prosperous future on managed decline in our scientists and researchers.”
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ABC Science, 19 November 2025
Australian science is on life-support, and the government isn’t stepping up.
Up to 350 CSIRO researchers are set to go in the latest round of redundancies announced by Australia’s peak science agency, with cuts now a familiar occurrence at the organisation.
More than 800 jobs have already been slashed over the past 18 months in a workforce of approximately 6,000.
The issue is money and the writing has been on the wall for years.
In 1982, CSIRO made up 0.16 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in Australia. By 2023–24, this had dropped to a new low of just 0.03 per cent.
“The cost of doing science has gone up,” CSIRO CEO Doug Hilton told Sally Sara this morning on ABC Radio National Breakfast.
“We’re going through the same sort of cost-of-living crisis as every family and every household in Australia has gone through in the last five or 10 years.”
To try and keep the organisation “sustainable” it is slimming down its research portfolio, and in a statement a spokesperson told the ABC that some areas of science “need to be de-prioritised”.
But CSIRO is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Australia’s struggle to fund science.
An industry-wide problem
The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), which runs a large particle accelerator called the Australian Synchrotron, is also going through its own funding issues.
Last month, ANSTO announced the proposed closure of two scientifically-important instruments used with the synchrotron. These instruments attracted both national and international researchers to use them each year.
The scientists’ union, Professionals Australia, estimated job cuts of up to 10 per cent of the synchrotron staff would follow.
“This is not research that you will be able to do somewhere else,” researcher Marta Krasowska, who has worked closely with the synchrotron, said.
“If we allow for scientific infrastructure to be closed down, [it’s gone].”
While government organisations continue to find new cuts to try to wrangle their budgets under control, the university sector isn’t faring much better.
Universities around the country have sacked an estimated 3,500 staff in the past two years as international student numbers drop.
Much of the funding for science research comes from government grants from the Australian Research Council (ARC) and National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC).
According to the Australian Academy of Science — a science-focused not-for-profit — this funding has declined significantly, with a fall of 27 per cent over the past decade.
All of this is happening at a time when funding cuts in the US has seen researchers struggling to find funding internationally.
Australia prides itself as a country of innovators. From inventing wi-fi to developing life-saving polio treatment, Australia has made an outsized mark on science and research.
But today’s researchers argue they are in a glorified “gig economy” as they are constantly on rolling contracts and rely on winning grants to secure work. The time and effort it now takes to apply for grant applications takes them away from their scientific work.
Graduates also struggle to find long term jobs, and many end up moving overseas not long after they graduate, taking their knowledge and skills with them.
Even large science projects like the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory, which is set to open next year, has been funded in stops and starts, causing large delays in the project.
Compared to similar countries, Australia is significantly behind on how much it spends on science. The average OECD country spends about 0.73 per cent of their GDP on research, while Australia sits at about half that, at just 0.36 per cent.
A review to ‘recharge’ science
Former science minister Ed Husic launched a review into Australia’s Research and Development chaired by Tesla’s Robyn Denholm which closed last month.
CSIRO chief Hilton told Radio National Breakfast he was “really looking forward to seeing their recommendations for recharging science in Australia”.
With cuts across the entire industry, it’s unknown whether the review will be enough to restart the heart of Australia’s science sector.
The Australian Academy of Science has suggested it won’t.
“Despite decades of speeches, reviews and strategic papers, our investment in knowledge creation and its application has nose-dived,” Chennupati Jagadish, president of the Australian Academy of Science wrote in The Conversation earlier this year.
“We have gaps — in workforce, infrastructure and coordination — that will cripple our ability to secure a bright future for the next generation, unless we act now.”
Despite the Labor government noting last year that research and development has had “a decade of going backwards”, successive governments have failed to fix the problem.
The future of Australia’s science industry looks grim, and the warning signs have long been visible. But with continued cuts over so long, it would now take a large injection of money to jump start the system.
It’s yet to be seen if Tim Ayres, the new science minister who was sworn in earlier this year, is willing to help revive it.
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By Ryan Winn. SMH/Age, 19 November 2025
It was Paula Taylor who summed up the heartbreak of the CSIRO declaring it would have to sack 350 research staff. The news broke late on Tuesday. That night I received a message from Paula, the recipient of this year’s Prime Minister’s Prize for excellence in science teaching in primary schools. “How do I make a case for students to pursue science?” she asked me.
I wish I had an easy answer for her. But that remains one of my biggest concerns. Where will Australia find its future science leaders? Headlines about scientists at Australia’s national science agency losing their jobs do not make an encouraging story for our next generation of scientific trailblazers.
And of course, the CSIRO funding cuts are a terrible Christmas present for the staff who will be let go. But it’s not just about the human cost. When Australia loses talent and research programs, we lose the opportunity to make life-changing discoveries.
The CSIRO has been responsible for breakthroughs such as Wi-Fi, a transformational technology that brought high-speed wireless internet to the world, but started with radio astronomy research. The CSIRO was responsible for inventing the original formula for Aerogard, developed to protect troops from malaria during World War II. More recently, it developed a world-first barley grain with an ultra-low level of gluten. These kinds of discoveries are simply much less likely to happen with a smaller research and development capability.
We know the CSIRO will shift its priorities from some research and place emphasis on inventing and deploying technological solutions to tackle national problems. But where does that leave the unplanned, serendipitous discoveries? Or the capabilities we don’t think we need now but may need in years to come?
Take the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation as an example. Budget constraints have led to ANSTO announcing a series of proposed changes that could close parts of the Australian Synchrotron in Melbourne. That’s the same facility used to combat the COVID-19 virus and develop treatments for malaria.
The cuts at the CSIRO and ANSTO are just the tip of the iceberg of Australia’s declining research and development investment. It has been going backwards for more than 15 years. Our overall national investment in R&D is only 1.68 per cent of gross domestic product. That’s way below the average of 2.7 per cent among OECD nations. Meanwhile, South Korea invests 4.9 per cent of GDP in R&D, the United States and Japan 3.4 per cent.
This does not mean a blank cheque for scientists, and we need to be prudent in the context of real pressures that governments face. But let’s not tie our hands behind our backs in a global competition for ideas, industries and future jobs.
The federal government this year held an Economic Reform Roundtable. The STEM sector – covering science, technology, engineering and maths – was largely overlooked. Our greatest productivity shifts in history have all been driven by technology and industrial revolutions underpinned by research and innovation, and that’s where our next productivity jump will come from.
Each dollar invested in R&D returns $3 to $6 for the economy, so there’s a clear case for putting R&D at the heart of economic reform. If you don’t invest in R&D, you don’t innovate and you don’t create new products and services. You lose your best ideas to overseas and productivity will collapse. A decade of decline in national investment has flattened the batteries of the economy.
Before the end of the year, the federal government will receive a report from the independent panel tasked with undertaking a strategic examination of research and development (SERD). The government’s language around this, focusing on budget neutrality, reflects the penny-pinching that brings us the CSIRO and ANSTO dilemma, rather than boosting investment in the kind of discovery research that drives knowledge and innovation.
We need investment in the next steps along the R&D pathway, the applied and translational work, but without proper investment in foundational research we will have no ideas to translate and potentially commercialise. The nation needs the SERD process to deliver strong and actionable recommendations to government that deliver for our R&D sector. We need the government to listen – and act.
The sector has called for SERD to deliver transformational change to deliver a more cohesive, co-ordinated system that supports research all the way from discovery through to economic benefit to the nation. We’ve also called for a strong focus on the sophisticated research infrastructure that scientists depend upon to do their work – another component of our R&D system that needs long-term, sustained funding.
I come back to my sad call with Paula Taylor. We know there are already declining participation rates in higher level maths and physics in Year 12. Our children need role models and to be inspired by our science leaders – and aspire to be one themselves. That’s why Science and Technology Australia runs the Superstars of STEM program, supporting young scientists to be the next big thinkers. Where will they come from in the future?
Science doesn’t need a short-term bailout. It’s not enough to lurch from funding crisis to crisis. Australia needs long-term strategic investment with a clear vision that harnesses our strengths. We have so much talent and a long history of innovation, of which the whole nation can be proud. It’s time for the federal government to turn the backwards slide around and seriously support the depth and strength of our scientific capability.
Ryan Winn is the CEO of Science and Technology Australia.
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Guardian Australia, 19 November 2025
Ed Husic has challenged his own government to “pry open the jaws of Treasury” to boost funding for Australia’s national scientific agency after it announced up to 350 research jobs would be cut to deal with an imminent budgetary cliff.
The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) announced on Tuesday it would cut between 300 and 350 research unit roles as part of efforts to narrow its research scope and address an ageing property portfolio in need of urgent modernisation.
Husic, who oversaw job cuts to CSIRO administration and support teams as the former science minister last year, said “some of the driest of the driest minds within the sphere of government, notably Treasury and finance” saw CSIRO’s funding as a budget cost, rather than an investment in the future.
“If you do value science, you need to stop looking at science and research as a cost, and see it as an investment in the future, wellbeing and capability of the country,” Husic told ABC’s Afternoon Briefing.
“I think that the task at hand is to roll up the sleeves, get out the jar of gumption and pry open the jaws of Treasury to make sure that our national science agency is funded in the way that will be good for the country into the long term. If you want to find the money, you can find it.
“I mean, we found $600m for a football team in Papua New Guinea. I’m sure we’ll be able to find the money for our national science agency, because that is an investment, as I said, in our future capability as a country, really important.”
Guardian Australia understands many of the roles to be slashed will be within the health and biosecurity, agriculture and food and environment research units. The science minister, Tim Ayres, said nutrition researchers – a team within the health and biosecurity unit – had been identified as no longer needed.
A number of town halls were held with staff on Wednesday with sources Guardian Australia spoke to indicating up to half of the roles being “exited” could come from the environment unit.
The job cuts will add to at least 818 roles lost since July 2024, as CSIRO chief finance officer, Tom Munyard, confirmed in a Senate estimates hearing in October.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, defended the announcement on Wednesday, saying his government was a “friend of science” when a comparison was drawn to widely criticised job cuts in CSIRO under the former Abbott government.
Between the 2012-13 and 2015-16 federal budgets, CSIRO’s average head count dropped by 659 to 5,056 staff.
Under the Albanese government, the average headcount rose from 5,514 in 2022-23 to 6,050 the following year, before showing an expected 555-person reduction to 5,495 this financial year.
“The fact is that we support science, and we support the CSIRO, and we want to make sure that every single dollar of funding for scientific research is going in the right direction,” Albanese said.
Parliamentary library analysis commissioned by ACT senator David Pocock in October showed while nominal funding for the agency had remained relatively steady, its annual funding levels as a percentage of GDP has been falling with few exceptions over recent decades and is now at its lowest since 1978.
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, rebuffed suggestions that the Albanese government could look for more science funding in the mid-year economic and financial outlook to be released in December.
“I am a big believer in the CSIRO. I think it has an important role to play in not just our science base, but our industrial base more broadly as well. That’s why we do provide substantial funding, and we understand that people would like us to provide more,” he told ABC.
In a statement on Tuesday following the announcement, CSIRO’s chief executive, Doug Hilton, said the decision was required to set the agency up “for the decades ahead”.
Hilton told an estimates hearing in October the agency’s budget allocation “has not kept up with the cost of doing science”, pointing to increased costs associated with cybersecurity and a need to refit its ageing buildings.
About 80% of the CSIRO’s more than 800 buildings are approaching the end of their life cycles and Hilton said the agency would be looking for between $80m and $135m each year to replace or renovate them.
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By David Speers. ABC News, 20 November 2025
Sometimes, scientific breakthroughs can originate in the most unlikely of places. Curious and clever minds can come up with incredible ideas, given the right resources.
In 1930s Australia, flystrike was posing a serious threat to Australia’s sheep herd and the national economy. The CSIRO recruited scientist Doug Waterhouse to work on solutions. His research morphed into finding a way to protect troops from mosquitoes bearing malaria when World War II broke out.
The result was what we now know as Aerogard, one of the CSIRO’s greatest achievements.
In the early 1990s, a team of CSIRO scientists led by John O’Sullivan was trying to work out how to detect tiny radio signals hypothetically emanating from exploding black holes.
This research into theoretical deep space radio waves was almost certainly not considered a national priority at the time. Yet the team had the room to follow their curiosity and eventually came up with a technology now used in billions of devices every day — wi-fi.
‘Worse than Abbott’
Australians rightly feel proud of the CSIRO. It’s a respected public research institution.
This is one of the reasons why the Albanese government often leans heavily on its work to score political points. The CSIRO’s annual GenCost report, which details the cost of different types of energy generation, was cited endlessly by Labor to attack the Coalition’s plan for nuclear power before the election.
This week, the CSIRO announced up to 350 research positions would go at the organisation. That’s on top of more than 800 jobs cut over the past 18 months.
The CSIRO Staff Association issued a press release designed to hit Labor where it hurts. “Worse than Abbott,” read the headline, describing these job cuts as more devastating than those inflicted by the former Coalition government.
The prime minister, who in opposition accused the Coalition of “hollowing out” the CSIRO, rejected the slur.
“We’re friends of science,” he insisted.
These job cuts, Anthony Albanese claimed, were simply about making sure “every single dollar for scientific research is going in the right direction”.
A history of chronic underfunding
Governments certainly have an obligation to ensure taxpayers’ money is well spent, particularly with a budget stuck in structural deficit. If money is being wasted on unnecessary research, there’s a good argument for re-directing it to more productive areas.
But this is not about re-prioritising resources. At least not according to the CEO of the CSIRO, Doug Hilton.
“At the moment we’re not in a position to re-focus on other areas,” Hilton told Radio National. “We are looking to focus our portfolio on things like critical minerals, but the sustainability challenge means that we need to save money.”
The term “sustainability challenge” here, is a polite way of saying chronic underfunding.
While government funding has increased each year, it has not kept up with inflation. Far from it. According to Hilton, funding has grown by an average 1.3 per cent per annum over the past 15 years. That’s compared to an average inflation rate of 2.7 per cent. More than double.
In other words, funding is being cut in real terms.
In a blunt assessment, the CSIRO boss laid the blame at the feet of successive governments. Their level of below inflation funding, “just doesn’t keep up with the cost of doing science”.
No more ‘pure’ research
While the CSIRO still has capacity to focus on priority areas for “applied” research, including clean energy and artificial intelligence, there’s now less room for so-called “pure” research, which isn’t tied to finding practical solutions.
This is of deep concern to the scientific community.
“Amazing things come from amazing minds when they don’t have to follow the bouncing ball,” says Ryan Winn, the CEO of Science and Technology Australia, which represents the nation’s scientists.
“If we cut off curiosity and discovery, I’d hate to think of the things we lose,” he tells this column.
This year the government has gone to great lengths to protect the jobs of workers in existing metals manufacturing, on national interest grounds. The Whyalla steelworks, the Mt Isa copper smelter, the Nyrstar zinc and lead smelters have all received help. Talks are underway about saving the Tomago aluminium smelter.
Just down the road from the Tomago smelter near Newcastle is the CSIRO’s “Energy Centre”, where researchers work on renewable energy solutions and clean technology innovation. There’s been no sighting of political leaders standing in front of the building this week to defend their jobs.
Ryan Winn doesn’t criticise the effort to protect smelting jobs, but he does worry Australia is ignoring the opportunities for our kids and grandkids in new, emerging, and unknown industries of the future by consistently underfunding its lead public research organisation.
The government is under pressure to find budget savings wherever it can to offset spending growth elsewhere. It plays down the impact of the CSIRO job cuts by pointing to increased university research picking up the slack, a claim contested by others in the research community.
Either way, it’s clear Australia’s total spending on research and development by governments, universities and business, isn’t keeping up with comparable countries. As a percentage of GDP, Australia’s R&D spend sits at about 1.7 per cent, well below the OECD average of 2.7 per cent and way behind top performers including the US, Israel and South Korea.
A review into R&D spending, being chaired by the global chair of Tesla, Robyn Denholm, is looking at how to boost overall investment, deliver more bang for buck, and unlock growth. The report is due by the end of the year.
CSIRO boss Doug Hilton says he’s “really looking forward” to seeing the outcomes of the report. No doubt he’ll be flipping straight to the section on CSIRO funding and hoping it backs his call for funding that could lead to the next Aerogard or wi-fi breakthrough.
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Canberra Times, 20 November 2025
The Albanese government is preparing to unveil a funding boost to the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), after the science agency appealed for extra cash to pay for building repairs and equipment.
The Canberra Times can reveal that the mid-year budget update to be released next month will include more than $100 million for the science agency, which is struggling to stay within its budget and preparing to cut up to 350 more research jobs.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers told the ABC on Wednesday that the government had “continued to provide substantial funding, stable source of funding for the CSIRO, but their operating costs have been outstripping their revenue for some time now.”
“We always try to fund the sciences as best we can,” Dr Chalmers said. “We are big believers and supporters of the CSIRO.”
CSIRO chief executive Doug Hilton said the agency was grappling with a $280 million repair and maintenance backlog, with more than 80 per cent of its 840 buildings “past their technical end of life”.
Repairs to one building alone – the Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness in Geelong – would cost about $1 billion, he said.
Dr Hilton said the agency also needed to invest between $80 million and $135 million a year for the next 10 years into maintenance and equipment upgrades, including cybersecurity.
ACT independent senator David Pocock, who on Wednesday launched a petition calling for a significant funding increase to the CSIRO, said the agency had been “starved of the long-term funding needed to maintain essential infrastructure and build the capability modern science demands”.
“Years of delayed investment are now catching up with us, and the cost is not just financial, it’s human,” Senator Pocock said, calling for “long-term, stable funding for the people and infrastructure that underpin Australia’s research future.”
Since the latest round of job cuts was announced on Monday, he said, “my office has been inundated with messages of distress from affected staff and strong support from the ACT community for protecting the CSIRO”.
“The federal government’s funding for the CSIRO has eroded for decades, falling to less than half what it was per person in the 1980s and dropping 87.5 per cent as a share of GDP.”
Labor backbencher and former science minister Ed Husic also called on Wednesday for his government to “pry open the jaws of Treasury” to lift the CSIRO’s funding.
He said the job cuts would result in a “loss of research capacity,” telling the ABC he wanted the science agency to be “funded in a way that is good for the country in the long term.”
“If you want to find the money, you’ll find it,” Mr Husic said. “I mean, we found $600 million for a football team in Papua New Guinea, I’m sure we’ll be able to find the money for our national science agency.”
A spokesperson for Science Minister Tim Ayes said the government “wants to see CSIRO staff working in safe, technologically effective and rewarding research facilities that are fit for purpose”.
The CSIRO was an independent agency that made its own decisions about resource allocation “and the minister respects its independence,” the spokesperson said.
Opposition industry and innovation spokesperson Alex Hawke said Australians relied on “the innovative work done by our CSIRO researchers” and that the Coalition was concerned that the agency’s job cuts would “hurt Australia’s sovereign capabilities”.
Mr Hawke blamed the job losses on “Labor’s cuts” to the science agency.
The CSIRO’s budget allocation has been rising by about 1.3 per cent a year, below inflation, meaning it has been cut in real terms.
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Canberra Times, 20 November 2025
A unit specialising in food and agriculture, biosecurity, climate change and environmental research will bear the brunt of a massive round of sackings announced earlier this week by Australia’s national scientific agency.
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation chief executive Doug Hilton told staff gathered for a town hall meeting on Monday that up to 350 jobs would be on the chopping block but did not provide details of what division’s would be hardest hit at the time.
However, a spokesperson for Science Minister Tim Ayres has confirmed to ACM that the Environment Research Unit would likely lose up to 150 researchers, or 20 per cent of its current staffing allocation.
He said while no discipline was being singled out, the agency had made strategic choices to “exit research where it lacks scale to achieve significant impact”, or where others in the ecosystem are better placed to deliver.
“As part of this process the ERU is reshaping its research portfolio to focus on better integrating its science across disciplines,” he said.
“That means the ERU can more effectively address critical national challenges and deliver maximum science impact within available funding.
“This change is expected to result in a reduction of approximately 130-150 FTE roles within the unit.”
In a statement released on Wednesday, the CSIRO said it was focused on expanding research in areas including clean energy and AI technologies.
Meanwhile, Dr Hilton said that despite the agency’s budget allocation has been rising by about 1.3 per cent a year, it had failed to keep pace with inflation or the rising cost of doing science, meaning it has been cut in real terms.
The government on Thursday announced that it will add a further $100 million to the organisation’s $1 billion annual budget from next year.
However, the agency is unlikely to halt the job cuts while also grappling with a $280 million maintenance backlog with many of its ageing buildings across Australia in need of repair.
CSIRO’s choices were informed by a comprehensive 18-month review of its research portfolio and priorities – the first review of its kind in 15 years.
The new round of redundancies follow job cuts made earlier this year and in 2024.
The ERU is an essential cog for the agency that brings together its capabilities in marine, atmospheric, water and terrestrial environment disciplines, as well as significant social and economic research, “to align and support the nation in creating a better and more sustainable future”.
It has delivered a number of important benefits for agriculture, either directly, in areas like helping farmers build soil carbon, landscape and ecosystem programs, land-use planning, water health, crop yield breakthroughs, fire management and soil health, or indirectly where its environmental-research capability overlaps with areas such as agri-food systems and climate policy.
Its research also does not stay academic but drives policy in feeding into government mechanisms, like carbon accounting and land-management incentives.
The unit is also charged with examining the increasing pressures facing Australia’s natural and built environments from the combined effects of climate change, extreme events, non-sustainable use of natural resources and legacy activities,” the unit’s web page states.
The spokesperson for Mr Ayres said CSIRO leadership is engaging staff and stakeholders to work out the best way to shed the staff while maintaining “outstanding national capability in freshwater, marine, climate and adaptation science, and social sciences”.
“Specific areas affected will be confirmed once the process concludes next year at which time the Environment Research Unit will remain one of the organisation’s largest units,” he said.
The CSIRO employs 5800 staff, with the cutting of 350 jobs equates to six per cent of its total workforce, Greens science spokesman Peter Whish-Wilson said the party was “deeply concerned” at the scale of potential losses in the ERU.
“Scientists at the CSIRO have been under pressure for years to find revenues to justify their work, including researchers working on public good science such as climate, environment, and oceans research,” he said.
“The work these scientists do is critical to each and every Australian, indeed much of their work is globally collaborative and significant.
“With public good science funding under siege globally, it has never been more important to invest in this critical research.”
Meanwhile, global weather forecasting is predicted to be a major casualty of US President Donald Trump’s planned cuts to America’s climate science agencies, and that could be bad news for Australian farmers toiling away on one of the world’s most climate-vulnerable continents.
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Canberra Times, 20 November 2025
Science Minister Tim Ayres has defended the need for hundreds more jobs to be culled at the national science agency, while denying the Albanese government is to blame for failing to fund it adequately.
The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) on Tuesday announced a plan to axe up to 350 research jobs from next year, with staff to find about the future of their employment by the end of the week.
“The government provides the CSIRO with a very significant funding envelope, a billion dollars a year,” Mr Ayres told ABC Canberra on Thursday.
“Even if we doubled the funding or tripled it, people would still have a legitimate expectation that the CSIRO manage its resources in a way that was directed towards the national science priorities.”
While The Canberra Times revealed on Thursday that the federal government is planning to announce extra funding to CSIRO of more than $100 million, with the agency grappling with a $280 million repair and maintenance backlog, it is unclear if this will halt the job losses.
A petition by independent ACT senator David Pocock calling on the government to make “an urgent investment” to stop the latest CSIRO job cuts and “commit to long-term, sustainable funding” for the agency had attracted 5500 signatures by lunch time on Thursday.
“Australia cannot afford to lose hundreds more scientists and researchers,” the petition said. “We need the CSIRO at full strength, now more than ever.”
The coming job losses at the agency are on top of 800 position already lost in the past 18 months.
CSIRO chief executive Doug Hilton has said that while the agency’s budget allocation has been rising by about 1.3 per cent a year, this has not kept up with inflation or the rising cost of doing science, meaning it has been cut in real terms.
Mr Ayres said the scientists working in research areas that would be scaled back or abandoned were “terrific Australians who make a great contribution” and that the coming shift in program delivery was “not a reflection on the work that they have done”.
“Every program comes to an end, though, at some point,” he said.
“In some of these areas, the CSIRO will do more targeted research. In some of these areas, the CSIRO will not continue to do work in a particular focus area and will shift on to something else … That’s what people would expect. Not every line of inquiry goes forever.”
Senator Pocock’s petition said the job cuts “aren’t happening because the work isn’t needed.”
“They’re happening because the federal government’s funding for the CSIRO has eroded for decades,” it said.
“Australia now spends less of our economy on research and development than at any point in our history.”
Asked if he was “a true believer in what the CSIRO does” or happy to chip away at its funding and “hope for the best”, Mr Ayres said: “We’re absolutely committed to the organisation.”
As to whether the government felt the CSIRO’s management was to blame for not staying within its budget, he said, “finger pointing is not helpful”.
“The board and the management, the staff, the union [and] scientists … We’ve all got to work together to make sure that we’re building the strongest possible CSIRO.”
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News Corp, 18 November 2025
Australia’s leading science and research agency will cut hundreds of jobs across the nation as rising costs outpace funding.
The CSIRO has announced up to 350 science jobs will be lost as the organisation faces long-term financial sustainability challenges fuelled by the rising cost of running a modern science agency.
The 100-year-old organisation has stretched its resources for decades and has now reached a critical point where it can no longer maintain the breadth of its programs or workforce.
CSIRO chief executive Doug Hilton said the organisation had to adapt to achieve the right balance of research, capability, research infrastructure and safe and sustainable sites.
Dr Hilton said they were difficult but necessary changes to safeguard the national science agency so it could continue solving the challenges that matter to Australians.
“CSIRO’s reason for being is to deliver the greatest possible impact for the nation through our research,” he said.
“As today’s stewards of CSIRO, we have a responsibility to make decisions that ensure we can continue to deliver science that improves the lives of all Australians for generations to come.
“We must set up CSIRO for the decades ahead with a sharpened research focus that capitalises on our unique strengths, allows us to concentrate on the profound challenges we face as a nation and deliver solutions at scale.”
But the announcement has been slammed by the CSIRO Staff Association, which blamed the government for the “devastating cuts” that follow 800 research and science job losses in the past 18 months.
The association called on the government to urgently fund the organisation to secure vital work of the science agency.
CSIRO Staff Association section secretary Susan Tonks said it was “a very sad day for publicly funded science in this country”.
“The Albanese government is just sitting back and watching it happen,” she said.
“They are now responsible for cuts to public science that exceed the Abbott government – cuts that current Labor MPs rightly slammed at the time.
“These are some the worst cuts the CSIRO has ever seen, and they’re coming at a time when we should be investing in and building up public science.”
Minister for Industry and Innovation Tim Ayres said the government believed in science.
“There’s going to be a process working through over the coming weeks and months, as the CSIRO focuses on making sure that it is all of its effort is directed towards the research priorities of the CSIRO, and that includes focus on critical minerals, iron and steel production in Australia,” he told reporters in WA.
“This is a government that believes in science. We believe in investing in science. We will continue to invest in science.
“An important part of the CSIRO is making sure that it is fit for purpose, and it’s got a modern forward-looking science agenda.”
The Prime Minister said there were more jobs created before the round of redundancies.
The CSIRO will look at deprioritising research activities, including areas that lack the required scale to achieve significant impact or areas where others are better placed to deliver outcomes.
The organisation also estimate it will need to invest up to $135m each year over the next 10 years into essential infrastructure and technology, including repairs and maintenance on existing sites, research equipment, cyber protection and technology.
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InnovationAus, 19 November 2025
The CSIRO will make hundreds of scientists redundant in the lead up to Christmas while “sharpening” its research structure, as the agency reckons with a budget cliff and decades of declining funding.
Up to 350 CSIRO research redundancies were confirmed on Tuesday following an all staff and union meeting, but exactly which roles will go remain unclear.
It is the largest loss of permanent researchers resulting from the CSIRO’s one-off pandemic funding ending, which has already resulted in cuts to more than 800 temporary and support service roles.
The looming redundancies have raised warnings that staff already asked to do more with fewer support staff face increasing psychological risks at work.
It’s left morale and faith in CSIRO leadership close to rock bottom, one source told InnovationAus.com.
CSIRO Staff Association secretary Susan Tonks called it “a sad day for publicly funded science” and criticised the Albanese government for presiding over cuts it said exceeded the Abbot government.
“These are some the worst cuts the CSIRO has ever seen, and they’re coming at a time when we should be investing in and building up public science,” Ms Tonks said.
“CSIRO undertakes incredibly important work that benefits Australian families, communities, and the world. Our scientists are protecting crops from disease, building national resilience in the face of a changing climate, strengthening our defences against biosecurity risks, and driving innovation in health and technology.”
The agency’s chief executive Doug Hilton said “these are difficult but necessary changes” for the agency to survive.
“As today’s stewards of CSIRO, we have a responsibility to make decisions that ensure we can continue to deliver science that improves the lives of all Australians for generations to come,” Mr Hilton said in a statement.
“We must set up CSIRO for the decades ahead with a sharpened research focus that capitalises on our unique strengths, allows us to concentrate on the profound challenges we face as a nation and deliver solutions at scale.”
Between 300 and 350 full-time equivalent will be cut to achieve a “sharpened research focus”, a CSIRO statement said.
The changes will see CSIRO research conducted under six “key focus areas” of clean energy and critical minerals; climate change; advanced technologies like AI and quantum; agricultural technology; biosecurity; and “disruptive science and engineering” to solve unanswered questions.
The science agency has been operating under 11 research units and until last year had also used several standalone research missions like ending plastic waste and achieving net zero as well.
The planned changes appear to leave current standalone research units like manufacturing, space and astronomy, and marine science on the outer or needing to shoehorn into the new areas.
CSIRO would not provide additional information on the extent of the changes to its research units, with staff consultations on the redundancies to begin this week but take months.
The latest cuts come after the end of one-off pandemic funding awarded to the agency in 2020 to compensate for a predicted drop in external revenue.
But the CSIRO has also suffered from steadily declining government funding per capita and as a share of GDP.
The Albanese government has made only minor increases to CSIRO funding, mostly to upgrade decades old facilities and biosecurity research.
According to its union, the CSIRO is now operating with around 1100 fewer staff – around 17 per cent less — than under the Abbot government.
“The Albanese Labor Government needs to fix this mess by committing to urgent funding that halts the cuts and secures the future of CSIRO’s world-leading science and research,” Ms Tonks said.
On Tuesday, Science minister Tim Ayres said the redundancies follow an 18-month review of CSIRO’s research portfolio and other parts of the national research system will undertake the work CSIRO scales back on.
“Reform is essential to make sure the facilities, research priorities and technologies of yesterday meet the needs of tomorrow… Reprioritisation is difficult but essential to maintain Australia’s scientific and innovation leadership role for the benefit of Australians,” Mr Ayres said in a statement.
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Guardian Australia, 19 November 2025
Australia’s national scientific agency is expected to cut up to 350 more research roles from next year as it looks for savings and new sources of funding to plug budgetary shortfalls.
The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) held a town hall on Tuesday afternoon, when the agency’s leaders outlined the troubled times ahead.
A further 300 to 350 roles are expected to be cut, in addition to job losses earlier this year and in 2024, with the CSIRO adding it would be looking for between $80m and $135m each year to renovate its ageing property portfolio. About 80% of the CSIRO’s 800 buildings are closely approaching the end of their life cycles.
In a statement, the CSIRO’s chief executive, Doug Hilton, said the changes would set up the organisation “for the decades ahead with a sharpened research focus that capitalises on our unique strengths, allows us to concentrate on the profound challenges we face as a nation and deliver solutions at scale”.
Hilton told staff that the agency would prioritise some research areas – while deprioritising others – in line with an updated statement of expectations from the federal science minister, Tim Ayres. Guardian Australia understands the research areas affected by the latest round of job losses would include the health and biosecurity, agriculture and food and environment research units.
The CSIRO staff association secretary, Susan Tonks, said it was “a very sad day for publicly funded science in this country”, and that the cuts made under the Albanese government were worse than those under the Coalition government of Tony Abbott.
“They are now responsible for cuts to public science that exceed the Abbott government – cuts current Labor MPs rightly slammed at the time,” Tonks said.
“These are some of the worst cuts the CSIRO has ever seen, and they’re coming at a time when we should be investing in and building up public science.”
Ayres, the minister responsible for the CSIRO, acknowledged “reprioritisation is difficult”, but said it would help the CSIRO remain fit-for-purpose.
“Reform is essential to make sure the facilities, research priorities and technologies of yesterday meet the needs of tomorrow,” Ayres said.
“This review – the first of its kind in over 15 years – will mean that CSIRO exits or scales back research in areas where that work is being undertaken by other parts of the R&D system and builds the foundation for strengthening and focusing effort in areas of national industrial science priority.”
The ACT senator David Pocock said the announcement was “incredibly disappointing”.
“If we are serious about meeting the huge challenges ahead, from climate change to AI and robotics, the government must invest in the people doing the science,” he said.
“Australia can’t build a prosperous future on managed decline in our scientists and researchers.
“In opposition, Labor called for better funding, yet in government they are delivering cuts.”
The Greens’ spokesperson for science, Peter Whish-Wilson, said he was seeking an “urgent briefing” on the cuts.
“The minister must explain how the CSIRO has ended up cutting hundreds of jobs in order to find cost savings,” he said.
“Australian scientists are already warning of a crisis in Antarctic research due to the impact of an impending funding cliff. It’s time for the Albanese government to remove the uncertainty, protect jobs and increase funding to science.”
Addressing the media in Western Australia on Tuesday evening, Ayres said the government “believes in investing in science”.
“I’ve watched the management and leadership of the CSIRO working through these issues with their staff,” he said.
“There’s still more work to do, but they have come forward with that announcement … with prioritisation from a government that believes in our national science institution.”
The Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE) described the news as “disheartening” for the research community and the Australian economy.
“CSIRO is an incredibly important part of the Australian research landscape, and Australia and the world have greatly benefited from the work that CSIRO has done for more than a century,” the ATSE president, Dr Katherine Woodthorpe, said.
She said the move reflected dwindling funding for government research agencies over many years.
“It is part of an ongoing erosion of funding for government-funded research agencies such as CSIRO and [the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation] – all adding up to an incredibly tough time for our research community,” Woodthorpe said.
“We know that every dollar invested in CSIRO [returns] a threefold benefit to the economy over time, if you give it the time to do the work that it needs to do.”
Ryan Winn, the chief executive of peak body Science and Technology Australia, said the CSIRO needed “greater investment, not less”.
“These cuts are compounded by the fact that CSIRO also needs to invest an additional $80 to $130m per year to ensure essential research infrastructure and technology facilities can be maintained,” he said.
After an 18-month review, the CSIRO had decided to renew its “emphasis on inventing and deploying technological solutions” across six focus areas, according to a statement. These included the energy transition, climate change, advanced technologies such as AI, quantum and robotics, farming, biosecurity, and “disruptive science and engineering to unlock the unknown”.
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SMH/Age, 18 November 2025
Australia’s leading scientific research organisation has told staff it will slash hundreds of research jobs, in a major blow to publicly funded science.
The CSIRO told staff on Tuesday that between 300 and 350 research jobs would be axed. That equates to about 10 per cent of all scientists employed by the institution, the staff association estimates.
The news comes after about 800 research support jobs were cut last year, along with a number of contractors. Combined, the staff association estimates that equates to cutting the agency’s size by a third.
“It’s huge. That’s a lot of people’s jobs, and a big impact on science,” said Susan Tonks, secretary of the CSIRO Staff Association. She called it “a sad day for publicly funded science”.
CSIRO chief executive Doug Hilton told this masthead the cuts were required because the organisation was “fundamentally unsustainable”.
Government funding for the agency had increased on average 1.3 per cent a year over the past 15 years, he said, while inflation averaged 2.7 per cent a year, and the cost of doing research was higher again.
“We have a sustainability challenge that is really profound,” Hilton said. “We have to make some serious choices.”
The agency also said on Tuesday it needed to find a way to invest another $80 million to $135 million a year in essential infrastructure and technology upgrades. It is unclear how that money will be found, and staff fear further job cuts could be coming, though Hilton said that would be a last resort.
“My heart really goes out to staff,” he said. “These changes are going to be felt by everybody in the organisation. And that’s sobering as a leader.”
CSIRO has also flagged significant changes in research direction, with a renewed focus on climate change, the clean energy transition and AI.
Hilton would not say which areas of research faced cuts. Rumours have circulated about the areas that would be hit hardest since senior executives in CSIRO’s manufacturing and data science departments left the agency earlier this year.
The changes and cuts came as a shock because only two years ago staff were told CSIRO’s budget was “in the black”, a senior research scientist said. “Things have been ignored and papered over.”
CSIRO received a significant funding boost during COVID from the government. Much of the money was spent hiring young scientists, many of whom were then let go when the funding expired, the senior scientist said. “We used short-term money to bring a lot of people on with a lot of promises.”
The cuts would take staff levels back to where they were before COVID, said Hilton. But even excluding the COVID money, fundamental financial problems remained, he said.
The agency has more than 800 buildings across Australia, but with more than 80 per cent of these having reached the end of their technical life, the maintenance backlog has now reached $280 million. The Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness was 10 years overdue for a $1 billion refurbishment, Hilton said.
Peak body Science and Technology Australia said the cuts were “a step in the wrong direction for Australia’s research system”.
Tonks said staff were devastated by the latest round of cuts.
“This has been ongoing since the start of 2024,” she said. “It’s a long time to be in a state of not knowing what’s happening. It’s a very precarious situation for people working in CSIRO. I don’t think they have clarity on what the strategic direction is and how it’s moving forward.”
Shortly after the cuts were announced, Science Minister Tim Ayres said in a statement: “I know this news will be difficult for CSIRO staff.
“Reform is essential to make sure the facilities, research priorities and technologies of yesterday meet the needs of tomorrow. This review – the first of its kind in over 15 years – will mean that CSIRO exits or scales back research in areas where that work is being undertaken by other parts of the R&D [research and development] system and builds the foundation for strengthening and focusing effort in areas of national industrial science priority.
“Reprioritisation is difficult but essential to maintain Australia’s scientific and innovation leadership role for the benefit of Australians.”
Formal consultation with the workforce about the cuts won’t start until January, meaning many staff members will go on Christmas leave without knowing if they will have a job in the new year.
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Canberra Times, 18 November 2025
The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) will axe up to 350 research jobs from next year, with ACT jobs at risk, with staff to find about the future of their employment by the end of the week.
CSIRO chief executive Doug Hilton confirmed between 300 to 350 roles will be cut at an all-staff and union meeting on Tuesday, after additional job cuts were flagged in the May budget.
In addition to staffing changes, the agency will need to find $80 to $135 million on top of its current funding over the next decade to reach long-term financial sustainability, according to an internal staff email seen by The Canberra Times.
“While we have delivered extraordinary benefits for the nation, over time, our resources have become stretched, and we have reached a critical point,” Mr Hilton said.
About 818 jobs at CSIRO have been shed over the past 18 months as part of an ongoing restructure to save the science agency $120 million.
Staff at ten of CSIRO’s research units have been told they will be notified about the security of their roles by Friday, according to a source with knowledge of the matter.
“Right now, we still have no idea where the cuts are going to be and what the impacts are,” they said.
Independent ACT senator David Pocock expressed concerns for more than 1,000 staff based in Canberra who he argued deserved better than “ongoing jobs cuts and uncertainty”.
“It’s incredibly disappointing to hear that CSIRO may have to cut up to 350 jobs, including vital research roles, because the government isn’t providing the funding our national science agency needs,” Senator Pocock said.
The peak public sector union has written to Science Minister Tim Ayres, calling on the federal government to provide emergency funding to suspend the job cuts.
CSIRO Staff Association section secretary, Susan Tonks, said the recent round of job losses were some of the worst the agency had ever seen.
“This is a very sad day for publicly funded science in this country, and the Albanese government is just sitting back and watching it happen,” she said.
In a written statement, Mr Ayres said the CSIRO was a “deeply respected Australian institution” and acknowledged that the news will be “difficult for staff”.
“Reprioritisation is difficult but essential to maintain Australia’s scientific and innovation leadership role for the benefit of Australians,” he said.
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The Mandarin, 19 November 2025
The Albanese government has been accused of beating former prime minister Tony Abbott’s record downsizing of publicly-funded scientific research and development, after the CSIRO revealed another round of mass retrenchments.
This time, it’s 350 staff, bringing the total number of jobs eliminated to at least 800 since the change of government.
In an announcement on Tuesday that drew fire from almost every direction, CSIRO chief executive Dr Doug Hilton said that “after decades of stretching resources to maintain the breadth of its programs and size of its workforce”, the organisation had “reached a critical inflection point.”
It went down like a bucket.
“With more than 800 research and science support roles already lost, these cuts now surpass those delivered by the Abbott government,” the CSIRO Staff Association said in a statement.
“This is the latest in a series of cuts over the past 18 months. It started with the cutting of more than 400 science support roles, and more recently, 120 positions from CSIRO’s digital and data arm, Data61, were cut; the Agriculture and Food Research Unit has lost 30 staff, and Health and Biosecurity has lost 43.”
The cuts have come because, in plain terms, the CSIRO has again run out of money to keep operations running at their current size and scale, despite having previously chopped various programs and projects to try to trim budgets.
“The organisation needs to adapt to achieve the right balance of focused research, supported by aligned capability, quality research infrastructure, and safe and sustainable sites — where CSIRO researchers can make discoveries and apply them to change the world,” Hilton said, selling the latest clean-out of talent as a tough call precipitated by the national interest.
“CSIRO’s reason for being is to deliver the greatest possible impact for the nation through our research,” Hilton said. “As today’s stewards of CSIRO, we have a responsibility to make decisions that ensure we can continue to deliver science that improves the lives of all Australians for generations to come.”
Then there’s the policy and politics of science (and scientific research) that have become a football in the culture wars, locally and globally, with programs and priorities increasingly vulnerable to targeting and de-funding, depending on which direction the election pendulum swings.
The CSIRO on Tuesday put its latest catalogue on the catwalk, saying the organisation followed “a comprehensive 18-month review of its research portfolio” and “identified key focus areas to bring a renewed emphasis on inventing and deploying technological solutions to tackle national problems.”
They are:
Then there’s the small matter of the CSIRO’s decaying estate, physical and digital, which hasn’t had funding for a proper renovation for a decade or two. Its bill is now in the eight- to nine-digit range.
“In addition to its immediate staffing impacts, to put the organisation on a pathway to long-term sustainability, CSIRO will need to invest between $80 and $135 million per annum over the next 10 years into essential infrastructure and technology,” CSIRO said.
“This includes investment in critical repairs and maintenance to ensure safe and fit-for-purpose sites, as well as the research equipment, infrastructure, cyber protection, and technology that best enable CSIRO’s researchers to make discoveries and turn them into real-world impact.”
Susan Tonks, CSIRO Staff Association Section secretary, didn’t hold back.
“This is a very sad day for publicly funded science in this country, and the Albanese government is just sitting back and watching it happen. They are now responsible for cuts to public science that exceed the Abbott government — cuts that current Labor MPs rightly slammed at the time,” Tonks said.
“These are some of the worst cuts the CSIRO has ever seen, and they’re coming at a time when we should be investing in and building up public science.
“The Albanese Labor government needs to fix this mess by committing to urgent funding that halts the cuts and secures the future of CSIRO’s world-leading science and research,” Tonks said.
The Greens seized the funding cut gift with both hands.
“This government can find billions for controversial nuclear submarines and subsidising big mining companies, so why hasn’t it already committed to fixing funding gaps at our nation’s premier science, industry, and research organisation?” said Greens spokesperson for science Senator Peter Whish-Wilson.
“At a time when it has never been more important for governments to invest in science and research, it is shameful that our nation’s premier science and research organisation is cutting hundreds of jobs to make ends meet.”
Other stakeholders were not happy.
“CSIRO has announced a renewed emphasis on inventing and deploying technological solutions to tackle national problems. But without a continued investment in fundamental research and discovery, there will be no future innovations to deploy,” said Science & Technology Australia chief executive Ryan Winn.
“These cuts are compounded by the fact that CSIRO also needs to invest an additional $80 to 135 million per year to ensure essential research infrastructure and technology facilities can be maintained. It is crucial these facilities receive sustained funding to ensure they don’t fall into disrepair again.”
Even the Coalition opposition joined in, albeit judiciously.
“It’s becoming increasingly clear that Tim Ayres’ ‘mission-led’ science agenda is just code for cuts,” said shadow minister for industry and innovation Alex Hawke.
“In government, the Coalition established the CSIRO Innovation Fund and invested over $3.8 billion in the 2020-21 budget to support the CSIRO align with the Modern Manufacturing Strategy.
“The opposition will be closely examining this issue in December’s Senate estimates.”
The opposition also referenced the CSIRO Staff Association’s condemnation of the cuts.
“In comments to the media today, CSIRO Staff Association secretary Susan Tonks said, “These are some of the worst cuts the CSIRO has ever seen … ”.
Tony who?
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AAP, 18 November 2025
Hundreds of scientists and researchers will lose their jobs with Australia’s leading science agency blaming rising costs and funding gaps for the cuts.
The CSIRO has announced up to 350 full-time staff roles will be abolished as the agency embarks on a new research direction to remain sustainable over the coming decades.
But the union representing the agency’s workers has slammed the Albanese government for ‘devastating’ cuts, which it said were worse than under the former Abbott Coalition government.
The CSIRO said it was facing long-term financial sustainability challenges and it was at a “critical inflection point” due to funding not keeping pace with the rising costs of running a modern science agency.
After decades of stretching resources to maintain the breadth of its programs and size of its workforce, the agency’s chief executive Doug Hilton said the organisation needed to adapt to achieve the right balance.
“As today’s stewards of CSIRO, we have a responsibility to make decisions that ensure we can continue to deliver science that improves the lives of all Australians for generations to come,” Hilton said.
“We must set up CSIRO for the decades ahead with a sharpened research focus that capitalises on our unique strengths, allows us to concentrate on the profound challenges we face as a nation and deliver solutions at scale.”
The organisation has announced its key focus areas following an 18-month review, which includes supporting a clean, affordable energy transition, addressing climate change, applying advanced technologies such as AI and quantum, mitigating and eradicating biosecurity threats and applying disruptive science and engineering to solve unanswered questions.
The sharpened focus means other research activities would need to be de-prioritised leading to the job cuts, the agency said.
‘These cuts will hurt’
Over the past 18 months, 818 jobs have been cut from the agency, which CSIRO Staff Association secretary Susan Tonks said were deeper than the Abbott government-era cuts.
“These are some the worst cuts the CSIRO has ever seen, and they’re coming at a time when we should be investing in and building up public science,” Tonks said.
“We don’t need a crystal ball to know these cuts will hurt — they’ll hurt families, farmers and our future.”
The union has called on the government to commit extra funding to the agency to reverse the job losses.
Consultation with staff, the union and external stakeholders will occur throughout the period of change, with early engagement to commence this week.
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Government News, 18 November 2025
Staff at the national science agency have expressed concern over the impact of job cuts on workloads.
The CSIRO is undergoing a significant restructure, with over 800 roles already eliminated in the past 18 months, with more expected as the agency aims to save $120 million. “The value of the [government] appropriation has not kept up with the cost of doing science,” chief executive Dr Doug Hilton said.
According to a survey conducted by the CSIRO Staff Association, only 25 per cent of participants said their workload was manageable. The remaining three quarters described their duties as occasionally excessive (37 per cent), frequently excessive (29 per cent) or unsustainable (9 per cent).
In another union survey, CSIRO employees said achieving a decent pay rise was the top priority ahead of an upcoming bargaining round for a new enterprise agreement. The current agreement expires November 2026.
“Pay at CSIRO is not competitive, just compare it to the academic research sector,” one respondent said.
“It’s time for CSIRO to step up and pay according to industry standards,” said another.
In addition to wages, participants suggested the rate of superannuation should also rise, with some commenting that the increase in mandatory contributions makes the CSIRO offering less valuable, by comparison.
Elsewhere in the findings, more than a quarter (25.6 per cent) nominated improved job security as a top priority, with 22 per cent placing the issue in the top three.
“There needs to be improved job security for early to mid-career scientists, with indefinite employment the default rather than fixed-term appointments,” said a respondent.
“The research sector, broadly, is being shredded. From universities to our national organisations such as CSIRO – it’s deeply concerning,” added another.
Just below ten per cent (9.4) nominated safer workloads as the first priority for bargaining. However, across the top three choices, stronger working conditions joined safer workloads as the equal third priority overall.
The Staff Association’s bargaining position – developed and endorsed by hundreds of employees from CSIRO worksites across the country – sets out an agenda to boost pay, raise super, and improve workers’ rights.
“After more than a decade of cuts and neglect, it’s time to repair CSIRO pay and working conditions,” said the union.
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InnovationAus, 13 November 2025
The national science agency will not launch any more large scale research missions and is folding current ones like ending plastic waste and achieving net zero into its regular research portfolio, as it searches for budget savings.
The move – also driven by a looming government shakeup of national R&D — puts an end to a six-year model of research delivery that tried to coordinate partners and outcomes under grand challenges with clear time-bound goals.
CSIRO is now reverting to a single delivery approach for all its research, which it says will be more efficient and consistent for partners.
The missions model was made famous by the US space race and re-emerged in the 21st century as a way of addressing complex sociotechnical problems like climate change and public health.
CSIRO’s version has also seen it try to develop a clean hydrogen industry, stop antibacterial superbugs and strengthen biosecurity defences around the country.
Co-investment and CSIRO’s own government appropriations drove investment in the agency’s missions steadily up to $200 million annually by 2023/24.
But it fell to $158 million last year, around $72 million short of the CSIRO’s target, because of the funding being reduced as part of the change last year.
The move came amid wider changes at the science agency, including hundreds of job losses driven by a budget crunch.
“CSIRO is currently reshaping its research portfolio to ensure that it delivers impactful science aligned with national priorities and is financially sustainable,” a spokesperson for the agency told InnovationAus.com.
“Over the past 12 months, this has included transitioning research originally initiated within the Missions structure to be directly managed by Research Units in concert with other research activities.”
The spokesperson said the “key characteristics of missions” like impact at scale and collaboration will be embedded across the CSIRO research portfolio.
“This is an evolution of CSIRO’s portfolio management approach, to achieve a streamlined operating model with a single delivery approach for all research, enabling consistent collaboration, review, performance measurement and investment processes,” the spokesperson said.
The changes are also partly driven by the impending release of a generational review of Australia’s research and development system.
The strategic examination of R&D (SERD) has already proposed mission-style research and innovation programs, but at a larger scale than the CSIRO.
The SERD’s proposal would limit national missions to just five and have the backing and coordination of the federal government, with support from several portfolios.
The CSIRO spokesperson said its ending of standalone missions will allow it to “be responsive to prospective system changes” from the SERD.
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Region Canberra, 9 November 2025
CSIRO staff have taken their cause to Parliament House this week, calling on the Federal Government to commit to long-term funding for the nation’s peak science agency in order to secure jobs.
The national science agency lost more than 800 jobs in the past 18 months, with more slated to go in a “reshaping” of the organisation.
In September, CSIRO management staged a four-day workshop aimed at deciding the future direction of the organisation’s portfolios and staffing levels.
But it rejected suggestions from the workforce that the meetings were designed to pit sections of the agency against each other in a fight for survival.
With such uncertainty over their futures remaining, the CSIRO Staff Association section of the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) has gone straight to the top to ask for help.
It is calling on the Federal Government to step in to stop the cuts and fund CSIRO to be able to continue its world-leading science and research.
The section’s secretary Susan Tonks said CSIRO’s staff cuts came at a time when Australia’s investment in publicly funded science was already at historically low levels.
She pointed to recent research conducted by the Parliamentary Library showing funding of the CSIRO as a percentage of GDP is falling.
“We are at Parliament House this week making the case for the future of the CSIRO directly to decision makers,” she said.
“This is about ensuring they understand what’s at stake for their communities and for the nation if the future of publicly funded science is not protected and invested in.
“And we are calling on the Minister and the government to step in to stop the cuts and fund CSIRO to be able to continue its world-leading science and research.
“The CSIRO is the backbone of Australia’s scientific capability, and these cuts threaten important research, from climate resilience and health research through to food security.
“Our message to the government this week is that we need leadership that values science, not a government that sees it as a cost to be cut.”
Meanwhile, CSIRO has revealed it will cost $37.9 million to replace its Black Mountain greenhouse laboratories that were severely damaged in the 2020 hailstorms that hit Canberra.
That’s excluding GST, and would be partly covered by a $6.7 million indemnity settlement.
Three options had been considered, but CSIRO is seeking parliamentary approval for its costly preference.
In a submission to Parliament’s joint public works standing committee, CSIRO said its preferred option for redeveloping the site would cost that much, but would have an “accelerated delivery timeframe”.
“[That] enables the prioritised delivery of critical greenhouses to meet the immediate research need, while allowing future stages to be refined and submitted for separate approvals based on long-term strategic vision,” the submission said.
The hailstorm wrecked about 5000 square metres of greenhouses.
CSIRO lost almost 80 per cent per cent of the site’s greenhouse capability, vital to its nationally and internationally significant scientific, agricultural and biosecurity research.
The committee has called CSIRO executives and the project’s consultants to a public hearing on the matter.
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ACS Information Age, 7 November 2025
The directors of CSIRO’s digital and manufacturing research arms have resigned amid ongoing turmoil and job cuts at Australia’s national science agency.
The head of CSIRO’s digital research business Data61, Dr Jon Whittle, and the head of CSIRO’s manufacturing research unit, Dr Marcus Zipper, will leave their roles simultaneously on Friday, 14 November.
Their departures were announced in an email to staff on Wednesday, seen by Information Age.
Whittle, who has been at CSIRO for over five years, led hundreds of staff in data science and research spanning artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, robotics, and autonomous systems.
Zipper, who has spent over two decades at the agency, also previously held senior leadership roles across four different units of the organisation.
“CSIRO acknowledges the valuable individual contributions Dr Zipper and Dr Whittle have made to the organisation and wishes them well in the future,” a CSIRO spokesperson said when asked to comment.
The CSIRO Staff Association declined to comment, while Whittle and Zipper did not respond.
The departures come after the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) said Data61 had been “gutted” by budget restrictions, with around 20 per cent of its staff recently cut.
Whittle’s former deputy director of Data61, Aaron Quigley, also departed in October to join the Australian National University (ANU).
Fewer job losses have occurred in manufacturing, Information Age understands.
CSIRO’s deputy CEO Kirsten Rose left the agency earlier this year to join the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO), while CSIRO science director Paul Savage also left the organisation and retired.
CSIRO’s executive director of future industries, Dr Jen Taylor, and mineral resources director, Dr Rob Hough, told staff there was “a smooth transition plan already underway” following the departures of Whittle and Zipper.
Dr Katja Digweed would be acting director of manufacturing, they said, while Dr Liming Zhu would become acting director of Data61.
CSIRO’s job losses and budget pressures
Both research and supporting roles have been cut at CSIRO in recent years, as the agency has seen its federal funding dip.
Chief executive Doug Hilton announced in August 2024 that between 375 to 500 supporting roles would be axed as the agency attempted to save $100 million.
Hundreds of research job cuts were also expected to be cut across the organisation this year as part of major cost-saving measures.
Staff have been asked to review programs and research, and possibly merge some research units, Information Age understands.
CSIRO was provided $454 million as a one-off pandemic boost in the October 2020 budget, which ended in 2023-24.
The agency was to receive $916.5 million in funding for 2024-25, according to the 2024 federal budget papers, while the 2025 budget estimated its funding would return to closer to $1 billion in 2025-26.
In a statement of expectations sent to CSIRO chair Ming Long in October, Minister for Industry, Innovation, and Science, Tim Ayres, said CSIRO’s board and executive needed to “clearly prioritise activities and the allocation of resources” to make sure the agency was “financially sustainable over the long-term”.
“I expect CSIRO to demonstrate disciplined financial planning and work to monitor expenditure, identify efficiencies and reduce operating costs, while ensuring appropriate levels of co-investment to maximise the impact from its research,” he said.
“I expect CSIRO to look for opportunities to further consolidate its property portfolio, as part of efforts to strengthen long-term financial sustainability.
“Consolidation may also present opportunities to enhance research impact through co-location with industry and other partners.”
Ayres said CSIRO’s research should focus on the transition to net zero, as well as AI and quantum technologies.
The agency’s job cuts come amid new lows in domestic research and development (R&D) funding, which the government has asked a group of experts to review by the year’s end.
Whittle and Zipper’s contributions remembered
Whittle was honoured in Taylor and Hough’s email to CSIRO staff, for developing “a forward-looking strategy for Data61 that has seen the Unit become a leading voice in AI in Australia”.
“Jon led the creation of Australia’s National AI Centre and built Australia’s largest Responsible AI team, which has helped to shape government guidance around AI,” they wrote.
“… He is one of Australia’s trusted thought leaders in AI and he has educated, guided and mentored the next generation of researchers, business leaders, and the wider Australian public in how we can approach responsible and trusted AI.”
Zipper was honoured for “a rich and wide-ranging contribution to many parts of CSIRO”.
“Marcus established CSIRO Services (now Science Connect) to host impactful activities such an Indigenous STEM Education program and research facilitation services for SMEs,” they said.
“He was instrumental in the initial implementation of the CSIRO Missions program and acted as the Executive Director for Future Industries for most of 2020, a particularly challenging time due to the COVID pandemic.
“As Director of Manufacturing, he achieved greater focus on emerging industry challenges and opportunities, and the [research unit] now delivers on many strong external partnerships including Boeing, Department of Defence and ARENA.”
While Zipper will leave his role on 14 November, he is expected to take leave from CSIRO before formally leaving the organisation in February.
—
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Guardian Australia, 14 October 2025
The CSIRO will embark on further cost-cutting to research units in a bid to repair a multimillion-dollar budget shortfall, as Australia’s national science and research agency reckons with an ongoing decline in funding.
The institution’s annual funding level as a percentage of GDP has been falling with few exceptions over recent decades and is now at its lowest since 1978, a parliamentary library analysis commissioned by ACT senator David Pocock showed. Pocock requested data from 1980 in the analysis.
The analysis, which used GDP, CPI and population data to adjust for real figures, showed the CSIRO’s funding has dropped from 0.16% of GDP in 1978-79 to just 0.03% of GDP in 2024-25.
Under the Albanese government, the funding as a percentage of GDP has continued to decline after it briefly rose to 0.05% in 2020-21 as a result of a Covid-19 funding injection by the then Morrison government.
While the nominal funding figures have remained relatively steady, the adjusted figures represent real cuts to the agency over a nearly five-decade period.
Pocock said the CSIRO’s “value to our nation’s productivity, innovation and overall wellbeing cannot be overstated”.
“Successive governments need to stop asking it to do more with less and start once again investing in the kind of research that made us the lucky country back when the CSIRO was first established,” he said.
At a Senate estimates hearing on Friday, the CSIRO chief executive, Doug Hilton, acknowledged the agency’s budget allocation “has not kept up with the cost of doing science”.
Hilton said the CSIRO had to refit ageing buildings to “maintain safe, fit-for-purpose and, where appropriate and possible, cutting edge facilities”.
“We do have some challenging sustainability issues as an organisation,” he said.
The CSIRO’s funding cliff became apparent in recent years after the expiration of $454m provided in the October 2020 budget.
The agency’s budget statement in March showed there would be a $91m reduction in employee expenses for 2025-26 compared with the previous year.
The agency is undergoing a restructure in both research and non-research areas to fix its budget, which has so far led to a 12.7% headcount reduction since July 2024.
The CSIRO chief finance officer, Tom Munyard, told Senate estimates this amounted to about 818 jobs, with further job cuts expected to be revealed over the course of this financial year.
At a four-day workshop in Melbourne in September, research unit leaders met with management to determine where the CSIRO could “consolidate and focus” its research.
“Although we don’t know the details yet, I want to be clear: we will need to exit some research and do fewer things better, more deeply and more impactfully,” Hilton said in an email before the meeting.
The science minister, Tim Ayres, disputed Pocock’s suggestion that the CSIRO’s funding had fallen under Labor but acknowledged the difference between nominal and real funding.
Ayres told Senate estimates the government had given the CSIRO a “significant contribution” but he expected the institution to make sure it was “on a sustainable budget footing”.
“I also want to make sure, as the minister responsible for science in the commonwealth government, that CSIRO is continuing to evolve its approach to making sure that its programs of effort are in line with the national science priorities of the country and what the country needs in order to solve the big national challenges in front of us,” he said.
The main public sector union, the Community and Public Sector Union, said the government should be “backing the CSIRO to be taking risks and tackling challenges, not forcing them to be penny pinchers”.
“But funding shortfalls are forcing hundreds of scientists and their research out the door. We’ve already seen more than 700 jobs cut from CSIRO, and hundreds more are expected to go,” Susan Tonks, the CPSU’s CSIRO spokesperson, said.
“If we are going to be able to tackle the challenges of tomorrow, we need publicly funded science and scientists to feel empowered and supported. But right now, staff at the CSIRO are looking over their shoulders wondering if it is their job that’s next to go.
“The Albanese government needs to step in and secure the future of science in this country.”
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Guardian Australia, 10 October 2025
The mood in parts of Australia’s national scientific agency is low after a mystery number of AI, robotics and data researchers were quietly let go within the last year.
Since the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation announced it was “reshaping its research portfolio” to deal with an imminent funding cliff in 2024, speculation about whose jobs are on the line has spread like wildfire.
Hundreds of roles in the health and biosecurity teams, including roles like finance, business and legal that support them, have already been cut. Within the agriculture and food research unit, hundreds more jobs hang in the balance.
Despite being spruiked as a key area of investment for Australia, the science agency’s data research unit – responsible for advances in artificial intelligence, robotics and quantum computing – is the next to be put under the microscope.
Data research roles ‘cut by stealth’
The staff at Data61, the artificial intelligence and data innovation unit, have already seen about 100 of their colleagues leave in the last year, according to the Community and Public Sector Union.
CSIRO’s chief executive, Doug Hilton, told a Senate estimates hearings last year no job cuts were planned for the data research team, and there would be no additional cuts to research capacity in 2024-25
But the union says more than 100 full-time research roles on two or three-year contracts were not renewed, nor replaced, in the last year.
The job losses represent about 20% of the research unit’s total workforce.
The union’s CSIRO spokesperson, Susan Tonks, said management had “deliberately and systematically” chopped the roles behind closed doors to avoid scrutiny.
In September this year, CSIRO said Data61 now had too many administrative staff given the reduced number of research staff. It meant some of those roles would need to be “reduced”.
“These cuts by stealth, made without transparency and with the union shut out of the process, are now being used to justify even more job losses,” Tonks said.
Guardian Australia asked CSIRO a series of questions, including how many contract positions it had discontinued in the last financial year.
“CSIRO is reshaping its research portfolio to ensure we are focused on delivering the science Australia needs now and into the future,” a spokesperson said.
“This will be done in line with well-established processes, policies and our Enterprise Agreement, including our commitment to consult with staff prior to decisions being made.
“In addition, CSIRO research units, including Data61, routinely conduct workforce planning which may result in small-scale changes.”
Data61 morale ‘from light to dark on a whim’
One researcher within Data61, not authorised to speak publicly, said the past 18 months had been their most uncertain at the science agency.
After plans to “reshape” the agency were announced to staff, the long-serving Data61 researcher recalled staff assuming that meant some colleagues would have to be made redundant.
“It went like from light to dark on a whim,” they said.
CSIRO’s funding cliff had been on the horizon but in early 2024, reality hit.
The agency’s chief operating officer, Tom Munyard, explained in November 2024 $454m had been provided in the October 2020 budget. It was due to end in 2023-24.
The 2024 federal budget papers showed CSIRO would receive $916.5m for 2024-25, a $92m decrease from the previous year’s $1bn.
As a result, CSIRO looked to make savings in all areas, including reducing its property portfolio and limiting staff travel.
But between 375 and 500 support roles – including administration, finance and legal – were identified to be cut.
Another Data61 researcher said a number of contracted researchers were not offered permanent roles when their multi-year contracts expired.
In the years since the pandemic, CSIRO launched a recruitment campaign to attract “Australia’s next generation of inventors, innovators and change makers”.
The “impossible without you” campaign offered contract roles to postdoctoral researchers for between two and three years.
Few, if any, have been offered permanent positions with contracts beginning to expire, they said.
The ‘right time’ to re-evaluate?
Hilton invited research units to a four-day workshop in Melbourne in September to help management determine where it could “consolidate and focus” its research.
Those six areas of significance, Hilton said, were energy and minerals; food and fibre; nature; one health; tech economy and from wonder to discovery.
“Although we don’t know the details yet, I want to be clear: we will need to exit some research and do fewer things better, more deeply and more impactfully,” Hilton said in his invitation email.
But the researchers Guardian Australia spoke to say they felt unsure.
“I’m just generally not very convinced by the narrative that there’s a core master plan going,” one said.
“I can tell you what happens on the ground, and that is that we’re still a very skunkworks-heavy organisation.”
The independent ACT senator, David Pocock, said it wasn’t surprising CSIRO had to undergo cost-cutting exercises across the board due to budgetary constraints and the increasing cost of staff, research, IT and cybersecurity.
“The blame needs to sit at the feet of successive governments who have underfunded research, and the Albanese government who have known about the funding cliff CSIRO faces yet have not provided more funding,” he said.
The science minister, Tim Ayres, said staffing and prioritisation of resources were a matter for CSIRO, and that he respected their independence and work.
“This is the right time for CSIRO to be making sure that its activities are focused directly on Australia’s national industrial and strategic research priorities,” he said.
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CPSU media release, 1 September 2025.
The Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) has criticised the four-day workshop process underway at the CSIRO this week, where research portfolios are being asked to compete against each other for survival as another round of staff cuts gets underway.
Over the past 18 months, CSIRO has already shed hundreds of jobs across administration and science support roles. Now, the cuts have reached the core of the organisation – scientists, researchers and their critical research projects.
The workshops will see CSIRO research portfolios present their cases in a process that staff have likened to a ‘Survivor Tribal Council’, forced to argue why their science deserves to continue, while others face the axe.
The CPSU says these cuts are not just an attack on Australia’s world-class scientists and their work, but a direct threat to Australia’s future capacity to innovate, respond to national challenges and maintain its global leadership in science and research.
Quotes attributable to Susan Tonks, CPSU CSIRO Section Secretary:
“Over the last year and a half, we’ve seen science support roles cut to the bone. Now, the axe is swinging at the core of CSIRO – scientists, researchers and their projects.
“Now CSIRO’s research leaders have been dragged into a Survivor-style contest and made to pitch for the survival of projects in their research units.
“But this is not reality TV. This is the future of Australian science and innovation.
“When different parts of our publicly funded science institution are forced to battle each other for resources, it’s Australia that loses.
“The government must step in, stop pitting scientists against each other and properly fund the CSIRO so that our world-leading researchers can focus on science, not on fighting for survival.”
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Region Canberra, 2 September 2025.
The nation’s leading science and research agency is this week undertaking a four-day workshop aimed at deciding the future direction of its portfolios and staffing levels.
It has confirmed that research will be “exited” as part of the organisation’s “reshaping”.
However, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) has rejected suggestions from the workforce that the meetings are trying to pit sections of the agency against each other in a fight for survival.
The Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) has criticised the workshop process currently underway at the CSIRO as a blunt way of getting research portfolios to compete against each other in the face of another round of staffing cuts.
Susan Tonks, the union’s secretary for CSIRO matters, likened the workshops to popular reality television series Survivor, in which contestants try to outsmart and outlast each other in order to stay in the game.
“Over the last year and a half, we’ve seen science support roles cut to the bone,” she said.
“Now, the axe is swinging at the core of CSIRO – scientists, researchers and their projects.
“Now CSIRO’s research leaders have been dragged into a Survivor-style contest and made to pitch for the survival of projects in their research units.
“But this is not reality TV. This is the future of Australian science and innovation.
“When different parts of our publicly funded science institution are forced to battle each other for resources, it’s Australia that loses.
“The government must step in, stop pitting scientists against each other and properly fund the CSIRO so that our world-leading researchers can focus on science, not on fighting for survival.”
CSIRO lost 440 jobs in the last financial year, but more are slated to go as the agency talks about “reshaping” the organisation.
According to staff involved in the workshops, research portfolio leaders are having to present their cases and argue why their science deserves to continue over others.
The CPSU says the tactic is little more than a ‘Survivor Tribal Council’ to decide which research and jobs will be extinguished.
The union says the process poses a “direct threat” to Australia’s future capacity to innovate, respond to national challenges and maintain its global leadership in science and research.
A CSIRO spokesperson stated that the workshops had nothing to do with research areas competing for survival, but confirmed that the agency was undergoing a period of change.
Some research will be cut – or as CSIRO put it, “exited” – in that process.
“CSIRO is reshaping its research portfolio to ensure we are focused on delivering the science Australia needs now and into the future,” the spokesperson said.
“To achieve this, we must retain the distinct advantages we have as Australia’s national science agency, but we also need to become simpler and sustainable.
“The cost of running a modern science agency has rapidly increased over several years and our funding hasn’t kept pace.
“We must adapt to this challenge, ensuring we use the funding entrusted to us by the community in the best way for the community.
“We will need to evolve, becoming sharper in our focus, doing fewer things – including exiting some research – better and at scale.
“The workshop we are holding this week is an important step to inform these decisions.
“We’re bringing together research leaders and external advisors to collectively consider our research portfolio to make sure we are set up to tackle the challenges Australia faces.
“ We’ll also draw on a range of other relevant inputs to inform the shape of our research portfolio.
“The workshop is not about research areas competing against each other.
“Any proposed changes will be done in line with well-established processes, policies and our enterprise agreement, including our commitment to consult with staff prior to decisions being made.”
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AAP, 3 September 2025
Scientists at Australia’s peak research body are involved in a “Survivor-like” contest to keep their jobs, according to a union that fears core roles will be cut.
The CSIRO is this week undertaking a four-day workshop involving 300 of its most senior scientists to clarify the shape of its future research programs.
Chief executive Doug Hilton says the CSIRO is facing challenging financial sustainability issues and its government funding had not kept up with inflation or the cost of doing science.
In an email to staff, Dr Hilton said the CSIRO needed to “exit some research and do fewer things better, more deeply and more impactfully”.
CPSU CSIRO section secretary Susan Tonks said research leaders had been “dragged into a reality television Survivor-style contest” and made to pitch for the survival of their projects.
“That’s the sentiment that has been relayed back to us. These scientists deserve so much better than that,” she said.
May federal budget papers showed an expected 450-person reduction in CSIRO staff in the 2025/26 financial year, from a total 5945 employees in 2024/25.
More than 400 positions were cut last financial year and some 200 contracts left to expire.
“We don’t yet have a clear idea of what our financial position will be in 2026/27,” Dr Hilton told ABC radio.
“As that becomes clear we can make decisions about the size of the organisation we are capable of sustaining.”
In the staff email, Dr Hilton said the CSIRO wanted to sharpen its focus on six key areas: energy and minerals, food and fibre, nature, health, tech economy and “from wonder to discovery”.
The CSIRO faces growing costs and had underinvested in infrastructure and technology to the point where “many of our staff are working in facilities that are at end-of-life and using scientific equipment that is out-dated”, the email said.
The CSIRO also wants to “reimagine” itself with fewer sites across Australia, but ones that are modern and better equipped.
Ms Tonks said no timeline had been provided around the outcome of this week’s workshop.
“We’ve already seen deep cuts across CSIRO in the last 18 months,” she said.
“The axe is swinging toward the core of what CSIRO does. It’s a real concern.”
A CSIRO spokeswoman said any decisions would be made in line with policy and the organisation’s enterprise agreement, including a commitment to consult with staff.
The federal government, which has been contacted for comment, committed $1 billion to the CSIRO for FY 2025/26.
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CPSU media release, 7 August 2025
The Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) has warned that an ongoing agenda of aggressive cuts at the CSIRO is putting Australia’s long-term productivity and innovation capacity at risk.
Under the leadership of Doug Hilton, the CSIRO is enduring the organisations biggest job cuts in a decade. More than 440 staff have already been cut and approximately 200 contract jobs were left to expire, with hundreds more cuts expected to be made to research units later this year.
These cuts come at a time when Australia’s investment in research and development is already low by international standards.
In a submission to the Economic Reform Roundtable, the union has warned that Australia’s long-term productivity and innovation capacity is being actively undermined by aggressive job cuts and underinvestment in the public institution that powers research, science and economic growth.
Public investment in R&D is often what delivers innovation that lays the groundwork for commercial breakthroughs and increased productivity. The CSIRO has been responsible for some of the most important scientific innovations in Australia’s history, including the invention of Wi-Fi, plastic bank notes and aerogard.
The CPSU is calling on the federal government to step in, stop the cuts and commit to the long-term stability of Australia’s national science agency.
Quotes attributable to Susan Tonks, CSIRO Staff Association Section Secretary:
“The work of the CSIRO is essential to lifting national productivity and driving economic growth.
“Unfortunately, there’s a clear disconnect between the government’s talk about boosting productivity and their failure to support the very institution that helps deliver it.
“Publicly funded research and development is where some of the biggest gains in productivity have come from.
“But deep job cuts at the CSIRO are directly undermining Australia’s ability to innovate, compete and grow. And this will continue to be the case as long as this government sits on its hands while hundreds of staff at the CSIRO are shown the door with little to no explanation.
“If this government is serious about productivity, it must step in, stop the cuts, and back our country’s peak science institution.”
CPSU Submission excerpt:
The CSIRO has long been a world-leading public research institution and properly resourcing it is critical to Australia’s research and development capacity and, by extension, our national productivity. However, recent significant job cuts are undermining the capacity of the CSIRO, including in critical areas like agriculture, health, and digital technology.
CSIRO’s unique role in providing long-term, independent research – often in areas where the private sector has little incentive to invest – supports innovation across the economy. If Australia is serious about lifting productivity investing in world-leading R&D the Commonwealth must properly fund the CSIRO.
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Canberra Times, 11 August 2025
Confidence in senior leadership and their management of change is flagging at Australia’s key scientific research agency, after hundreds of job cuts and concerns about more to come.
Staff survey results for the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) show only 36 per cent of staff believe the senior executives are communicating a motivational vision for the agency.
The survey of 4294 staff, conducted between May 6 and May 20, 2025, also showed that just one-third of staff thought senior leaders consistently delivered on their accountabilities for CSIRO’s performance.
The message from staff comes about a year after senior leadership announced up to 500 jobs could be cut in response to budgetary pressures.
About 440 positions have been axed to date, the main public sector union says, largely from the agency’s enterprise services division, which includes jobs in IT, HR, communications, business development, facilities management and finance.
Susan Tonks, the Community and Public Sector Union representative for the CSIRO staff association, said survey results had been trending “in the wrong direction” since 2024.
“It indicates that there’s something really wrong there in how it’s all being communicated, and people understanding where it’s going or the direction coming from senior leaders,” Ms Tonks said.
The report, prepared for CSIRO by private firm Culture Amp, noted that job security and morale were key concerns for staff who provided written feedback.
“Employee comments show concerns regarding leadership accountability, a perceived lack of transparency in decision-making processes, and the negative impact of recent restructuring initiatives on staff morale and job security,” the summary reads.
“Many comments highlight excessive workloads, bureaucratic processes, and a perceived lack of support for collaboration across teams and units.
“Recurring themes include concerns about inconsistent application of policies, inadequate performance management, and a desire for improved communication.”
Staff’s understanding of CSIRO’s strategic direction has also been falling since 2024, with a little more than half of respondents saying they understood the agency’s strategic priorities (53 per cent).
The report identifies “meaningful declines” in attitudes to change management between 2022 and 2024, with only 29 per cent of staff confident the agency has the systems and processes to effectively manage change in 2025.
There were 36 per cent who said CSIRO had the culture and mindsets to effectively adapt to changes.
Other measures showed a more positive picture of the agency, with 86 per cent of staff considering it a safe place to work and 71 per cent recommending it as a great place to work.
CSIRO chief executive Doug Hilton told staff the agency had listened to them on “both the strengths and the areas that need greater attention”.
“Your voice through this survey is part of how we listen and learn, and we are committed to acting on what you have shared,” his foreword on the report reads.
While job cuts have been targeted mostly at the enterprise services division, Ms Tonks said there was a general anxiety in the agency that more cuts would need to be made.
The union has shifted its attention from senior leadership to the Albanese government, calling for more resources for the agency.
“If the government’s serious about lifting productivity, they need to commit to the long-term stability of CSIRO,” Ms Tonks said.
“It’s our national science agency, it’s the very institution that actually does lift productivity.”
In a statement last week on the job cuts, CSIRO said it was “reshaping its research portfolio” to refine its focus.
“As we continue to evolve our portfolio, we will undertake workforce planning to ensure we have the right scale and scientific capability in place to deliver against national priorities,” a spokesperson for the agency said.
“This will be done in line with well-established processes, policies and our enterprise agreement, including our commitment to consult with staff prior to decisions being made.”
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ABC Online, 7 August 2025
There are fears hundreds more Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) jobs could be axed this year, the union has warned.
The Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) issued a statement on Thursday morning saying that Australia’s national science agency was enduring its “biggest job cuts in a decade”.
Last year, 440 positions were slashed, and the CPSU said “approximately 200 contract jobs were left to expire, with hundreds more cuts expected to be made to research units later this year”.
The budget papers for this financial year suggest average staff levels at the organisation would be cut by 450.
The union said it had made a submission to the Economic Reform Roundtable, warning the nation’s capacity for productivity and innovation was being “actively undermined”.
The union is calling for the federal government to intervene to prevent further proposed cuts.
CSIRO Staff Association section secretary Susan Tonks said there was a “clear disconnect between the government’s talk about boosting productivity and their failure to support the very institution that helps deliver it”.
“Publicly funded research and development is where some of the biggest gains in productivity have come from,” Ms Tonks said.
“But deep job cuts at the CSIRO are directly undermining Australia’s ability to innovate, compete and grow. And this will continue to be the case as long as this government sits on its hands while hundreds of staff at the CSIRO are shown the door with little to no explanation.
“If this government is serious about productivity, it must step in, stop the cuts, and back our country’s peak science institution.”
In a statement, the CSIRO said it was “reshaping its research portfolio to ensure we are focused on delivering the science Australia needs now and into the future”.
“To achieve this, we must retain the distinct advantages we have as Australia’s national science agency. But we will also need to evolve, becoming sharper in our focus, doing fewer things, better and at scale.”
The spokesperson said they would be undertaking “workforce planning to ensure we have the right scale and scientific capability in place to deliver against national priorities”.
“This will be done in line with well-established processes, policies and our enterprise agreement, including our commitment to consult with staff prior to decisions being made,” they said.
The organisation said its 2025-26 budget papers showed a decrease in the average staffing level, which in part “reflects the reduction of our enterprise services (non-research) staff as a restructure in that area of the organisation — commenced last financial year — nears completion”.
‘Similar numbers’ could be cut to last year: union
Ms Tonks said concern among staff was high.
“If you’re looking at the May budget papers and the workshops … there’s workshops coming up to assess what science will be done, and what research will continue in September,” she said.
“And looking at all the numbers and everything that’s coming up, it’s looking highly likely that there will be similar numbers [to last year’s cuts] coming across the research portfolio.
“There’s still assessments to be done, but given what we’ve just come out of, the anxiety and the concern and anger from staff is high.”
She said it was “hard to say” which areas within the CSIRO would be targeted.
“But I think everything’s going to be looked at,” she said.
“Looking at recent conversations with staff in preparation for some of those that are going to go through, there’s quotes like, ‘We need to be simpler as an organisation, we need to exit some areas and do fewer things better.'”
She said it was “unsettling” for staff who had already been through recent changes, and warned some might not remain at the CSIRO if uncertainty lingered.
“It’s worth noting, public investment in research and development is what delivers innovation, it increases productivity,” Ms Tonks said.
“The CSIRO’s been behind some of the most important scientific innovations that we’ve had in Australia.
“We need to make sure that we back it.”
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Guardian Australia, 7 August 2025
Hundreds more jobs could be axed at Australia’s national science agency, sparking concerns the country is gutting its research capability just as the Trump administration makes deep cuts into the sector in the US.
The latest potential research job losses at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) follow 440 positions being cut last financial year and earlier deep reductions under the Coalition government, including 300 in 2016.
They coincide with the Trump administration slashing science agencies in the US, with warnings the loss of expertise could have global ramifications in health, climate science and weather forecasting.
The Community and Public Sector Union said the Australian cuts were at odds with the Albanese government’s promise to prioritise economic productivity and urged the government to instead increase investment in the CSIRO.
Susan Tonks, the union’s CSIRO spokesperson, said: “There’s a clear disconnect between the government’s talk about boosting productivity and their failure to support the very institution that helps deliver it.”
A CSIRO spokesperson confirmed the agency was “reshaping its research portfolio” with a goal of making it more financially sustainable, but did not indicate how many jobs might be lost. They said the changes were in part due to the end of Covid-19 “safety net” funding and other government savings measures, and would “ensure we are focused on delivering the science Australia needs now and into the future”.
David Karoly, a University of Melbourne emeritus professor who previously worked at CSIRO, said the cuts were not being offset elsewhere. He said Australia had lower levels of industry funding in research than comparable countries.
“There’s a dilemma as to whether Australia wants to support the research infrastructure that’s needed to support ongoing research activities in science,” he said. “The simple answer is Australia doesn’t appear to want to do that.”
The latest cuts were understood to primarily affect the CSIRO’s agriculture and food research unit, with reductions in health and safety, IT and business development. Research unit staff were expected to be informed about funding and staffing changes by October.
The May federal budget papers showed an expected 450-person reduction in CSIRO staff, from 5,945 in 2024-25 to 5,495 this financial year.
The union said the cuts were the worst since 2014, when the Abbott government oversaw an estimated 20% reduction in staff.
Tonks said the agency’s staff were experiencing “deep anxiety” over the CSIRO’s strategic direction and the cuts were “directly undermining Australia’s ability to innovate, compete and grow”.
“This will continue to be the case as long as this government sits on its hands while hundreds of staff at the CSIRO are shown the door with little to no explanation,” she said. “If this government is serious about productivity, it must step in, stop the cuts, and back our country’s peak science institution.”
The CSIRO also confirmed it would sell its stake in the Indian Ocean Marine Research Centre, in Perth’s northern suburbs, by the end of 2025. The agency said it was a “small partner”, owning about 15% of the Watermans Bay site.
A spokesperson said the agency remained “committed to the Indian Ocean Marine Research Centre partnership”.
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Canberra Times, 7 August 2025
The main public sector union has warned the Albanese government that job cuts at its key science agency will undermine Australia’s long-term productivity and innovation capacity, ahead of the economic roundtable.
The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) flagged it would look at job cuts in April 2024, citing “a need to simplify” in order to support the delivery of research.
CSIRO chief executive officer Doug Hilton later told staff the agency needed to reduce costs across its enterprise services division by 25 per cent, or at least $100 million.
The division comprises jobs in corporate functions such as IT, HR, communications, business development, facilities management and finance.
In a submission to the Economic Reform Roundtable, the Community and Public Sector Union hit out at agency leadership for axing 440 staff and allowing about 200 contract jobs to expire.
The union wants the government to intervene and stop the restructure within the agency.
“The work of the CSIRO is essential to lifting national productivity and driving economic growth,” CSIRO staff association section secretary Susan Tonks said in a statement.
“Unfortunately, there’s a clear disconnect between the government’s talk about boosting productivity and their failure to support the very institution that helps deliver it.”
Ms Tonks said despite publicly funded research and development driving productivity, the job cuts “are directly undermining Australia’s ability to innovate, compete and grow”.
“This will continue to be the case as long as this government sits on its hands while hundreds of staff at the CSIRO are shown the door with little to no explanation.”
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InnovationAUS, 7 August 2025
The national science agency has confirmed it is “reshaping” its research portfolio to do “fewer things, better”, after the staff union warned hundreds of job will be cut later this year.
The looming job losses come despite a $45 million research resourcing boost this year and follow a brief stay on cuts to research roles last year, when the CSIRO was slashing hundreds of staff from enterprise services to meet an earlier funding crunch.
The CSIRO Staff Association on Thursday called on the Albanese government to step in to stop some of the agency’s biggest job cuts in a decade or risk undermining its own productivity and innovation agenda.
“Unfortunately, there’s a clear disconnect between the government’s talk about boosting productivity and their failure to support the very institution that helps deliver it,” CSIRO Staff Association Section Secretary Susan Tonks said.
“Publicly funded research and development is where some of the biggest gains in productivity have come from.”
The CSIRO union said hundreds more job losses loom even after 440 staff had lost jobs last financial year and approximately 200 contract jobs were left to expire under new agency head Doug Hilton.
Dr Hilton joined the agency in late 2023 as the CSIRO lost its one-off pandemic funding of $454 million, triggering a search for saving that has also included non-labour costs and around 80 research roles.
But research roles had been safe for most of last year, with Dr Hilton telling a November Senate estimates hearing “it was important to retain our research capability” while the portfolio was reviewed.
But that stay appears to have ended, with the CSIRO no longer ruling out research job losses.
“CSIRO is reshaping its research portfolio to ensure we are focused on delivering the science Australia needs now and into the future,” a spokesperson told InnovationAus.com.
“To achieve this, we must retain the distinct advantages we have as Australia’s national science agency. But we will also need to evolve, becoming sharper in our focus, doing fewer things, better and at scale.”
The spokesperson did not say where the research jobs would be cut or how many are likely but said workforce planning will “ensure we have the right scale and scientific capability in place to deliver against national priorities”.
“This will be done in line with well-established processes, policies and our Enterprise Agreement, including our commitment to consult with staff prior to decisions being made.”
In the last federal Budget, the CSIRO received a $45 million boost to “maintain its world-leading research capability”.
The budget papers show the CSIRO will lose around 450 staff this year, but the figure includes some non-research roles and reflects the enterprise services cuts that began last year.
The science agency is losing staff at a time when the public and private investment in research and development is at record low levels. The government will receive a review of Australia’s research and development system later this year that is expected to trigger major reforms, but not until 2026 at the earliest.
When the CSIRO union last called on the Albanese government to intervene to stop job cuts, then Science minister Ed Husic declined to do so.
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ABC Tasmania Statewide Drive, 7 August 2025
Kylie Baxter: This is Drive with Kylie Baxter on 936 ABC Radio Hobart and ABC Northern Tasmania. I wonder if you know anyone that works for the CSIRO or maybe you personally work there. It wouldn’t be completely surprising. If you do, it’s one of the largest science and technology organisations, I believe, in the world. Now, you might remember last year, more than 400 jobs were slashed at the research organisation. Well, the Community and Public Sector Union says staff at the CSIRO are worried that more job cuts are going to be announced. The union is calling on the federal government to intervene to cuts. Susan Tonks is the secretary of the CSIRO Staff Association and joins me. Susan, good evening.
Susan Tonks: Kylie. Thanks for talking to me.
KB: How worried are staff? What are you hearing?
ST: Look, we’re hearing, look, staff members, they’re angry and they stress that, again, it looks like they’re facing what looks like a second round of job cuts, this time across research portfolios. The research portfolios are set to be re-evaluated at a September workshop and together with what we already know out of the May budget statement, indications are for more staff reductions, you know, know, on those numbers, similar to what we’ve seen in 2024. This has created a real anxiety among staff on CSIRO’s strategic direction against, you know, the potential of these further job cuts.
KB: And so you’re saying that we could see up to 400 jobs or more cut in this financial year?
ST: That’s what the numbers indicate, yes. And so surely more job cuts would be a serious blow on so many levels. I mean, not just to staff morale, but clearly to, you know, the organisation itself. That’s the feedback we’re getting from members. As you’ve said, as you’ve already you know, CSIRO management already have seen off over 440 key scientific support roles since mid-2024 to date. That doesn’t include, you know, hundreds of contract positions that are not renewed. And this is happening all while the Albanese government says we need to lift Australia’s productivity. But it’s sitting on its hands while CSIRO job cuts look like they’re going to continue. CSIRO is the very institution that keeps delivering better productivity. So, yeah, we really are concerned for CSIRO staff and our members going forward.
KB: My guest is Susan Tonks, the Secretary of the CSIRO Staff. So when will you have more clarity on whether there are going to be job cuts?
ST: I would say following the September workshops, we’ll have more clarity around that probably October, early October.
KB: And what about Tasmania specifically? Any idea as to the possibility of job numbers?
ST: We don’t have, well, you know, we know how many, sorry, jobs are already within Tasmania, of course, sitting around the 335 mark across a couple of sites at Battery Point and Sandy Bay. Tasmania, I don’t have like specifics too early to know where, the impact would be for Tasmania. We’re too well aware that the impact in regions like Tasmania are always, you know, it’s a strong impact for areas like that are small. The main research unit in Tasmania is the Environment Group. That Environment Group encompasses, you know, atmosphere, oceans, biodiversity, natural resources, quite specific areas around climate change, water resources, marine environment and other environmental impacts. So, you know, like it’s a big unit. It wasn’t affected in 2024. So there is a fear from staff that, you know, it’s not going to miss this round of cuts.
KB: And so would jobs be, in your opinion, more likely to be research jobs or could they be any jobs?
ST: Well, with the 440 coming out already from the scientific support roles, it’s hard to say that they would be coming from somewhere else, and it’s particularly with that assessment, you know, being done in September.
KB: And so is this now a case of staff have to just simply wait until those workshops, as you referred to them, are held in September? Is there anything that they can do to proactively do anything?
ST: Look, they will. It’s not they won’t have input into that, but I imagine there will be a leadership group there working out what they need to do. But they will have have to wait to see. CSIRO is saying they have got budget sustainability issues and if the government is is serious about lifting productivity, they need to step in, commit to long-term stability and secure funding and stop the job cuts for our National Science Agency.
KB: And just finally, will you continue to lobby the federal government to intervene to prevent further cuts?
ST: Yes, we will.
KB: Susan Tonks, thank you for joining me on the programme and providing this information. Great. Thank you so much. Susan Tonks, as I said, is the Secretary of the CSIRO Staff Association. It must be very concerning for staff. And, yeah, we do fully understand that. We’ll keep you up to date with the situation.
PS News, 8 August 2025
Hundreds more CSIRO jobs are on the line, sparking criticism of the Federal Government that it can’t be serious about improving productivity if it’s going to hamstring the nation’s science and research agency.
The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation lost 440 jobs in the last financial year, but more are slated to go as the agency talks about “reshaping” the organisation.
CSIRO has confirmed more jobs are in the firing line, but it won’t say how many.
The Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) says losses will be in the hundreds and warns “ongoing aggressive cuts” at the CSIRO is putting Australia’s long-term productivity and innovation capacity at risk.
CPSU’s spokesperson for CSIRO staff issues, Susan Tonks, said the government was turning a blind eye to the “biggest job cuts in a decade” under the leadership of Doug Hilton who has been chief executive since 2023.
“The work of the CSIRO is essential to lifting national productivity and driving economic growth,” Ms Tonks said.
“Unfortunately, there’s a clear disconnect between the government’s talk about boosting productivity and their failure to support the very institution that helps deliver it.
“Publicly funded research and development is where some of the biggest gains in productivity have come from.”
She said deep job cuts at the CSIRO were directly undermining Australia’s ability to innovate, compete and grow.
“And this will continue to be the case as long as this government sits on its hands while hundreds of staff at the CSIRO are shown the door with little to no explanation.
“If this government is serious about productivity, it must step in, stop the cuts, and back our country’s peak science institution.”
The CPSU said in addition to the 440 staff already cut, about 200 contract jobs were left to expire.
Now hundreds more jobs are anticipated to go later this year.
A CSIRO spokesperson said the organisation needed to evolve and sharpen its focus.
An ongoing staffing restructure is part of that process.
“CSIRO is reshaping its research portfolio to ensure we are focused on delivering the science Australia needs now and into the future,” the spokesperson said.
“To achieve this, we must retain the distinct advantages we have as Australia’s national science agency.
“But we will also need to evolve, becoming sharper in our focus, doing fewer things, better and at scale.”
The spokesperson said as CSIRO continued to evolve its portfolio, it would undertake workforce planning to ensure it had the right scale and scientific capability in place to deliver against national priorities.
“This will be done in line with well-established processes, policies and our enterprise agreement, including our commitment to consult with staff prior to decisions being made.
“The 2025-26 Budget papers include a figure called the average staffing level (ASL), calculated based on an estimate of staffing levels over the financial year.
“The decrease in ASL in part reflects the reduction of our enterprise services (non-research) staff as a restructure in that area of the organisation – commenced last financial year – nears completion.”
The CPSU said the cuts came at a time when Australia’s investment in research and development was already low by international standards.
In a submission to the government’s upcoming productivity roundtable, the union warned Australia’s long-term productivity and innovation capacity was being actively undermined by aggressive job cuts and underinvestment in the public institution that powered research, science and economic growth.
It said CSIRO had been responsible for some of the most important scientific innovations in Australia’s history, including the invention of Wi-Fi, plastic bank notes and Aerogard.
The CPSU is calling on the Federal Government to step in, stop the cuts and commit to the long-term stability of Australia’s national science agency.
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ABC Online, 14 August 2025
Millions of irreplaceable biodiversity specimens have been re-homed at a new CSIRO facility that the agency says will support research to better understand and manage Australia’s natural environment.
Named ‘Diversity’, the $90 million National Research Collections building in Canberra features temperature-controlled vaults that are bushfire and pest-resistant while designed to preserve 13 million specimens for future generations.
Among the specimens, which have been collected over 150 years, are 55,000 birds, 17,000 orchids, 2.4 million moths and seven million beetles.
Dr Clare Holleley, who is the director of vertebrate collections, says the facility serves as a “time machine for Australia’s biodiversity”.
“What this building captures is the full diversity of Australian fauna and flora,”she said.
“It’s taken snapshots of specimens over time, and when we put all of those little snapshots together, it puts together a picture of how Australia’s biodiversity is changing.
“We can learn from those trends and potentially predict what is going to happen in the future.”
‘A library of our biodiversity’
The collections include 99 per cent of Australia’s native birds, as well as exotic bird species, skeletons, mammals, reptiles stored in ethanol, eggs and frozen tissue.
Relocating the specimens took about a year.
The official opening of the facility coincides with National Science Week, described by CSIRO chief executive Doug Hilton as an “exciting” moment.
“It’s a little bit like a gallery or a museum that holds our national heritage … it’s a library of our biodiversity,” he said.
Dr Hilton described the facility as “cutting-edge”, featuring new genomics laboratories and digitisation facilities that will allow scientists to extract and share more information from research specimens.
“If we can’t understand how things are changing over time, it’s very hard to conserve things for the future,” he said.
“What we have here is a facility that holds specimens in a highly secure way and allows us to digitise and automate digitisation in a way that is just the envy of the world.”
‘Our science has to adapt’
While there was celebration at the opening of the building, concern remains about the potential of job cuts at the agency, with the Community and Public Sector Union warning that hundreds of jobs could be axed this year.
In responding to those concerns, Dr Hilton said: “Our science has to adapt”.
“We have to be able to shape our workforce and choose the programs of research that we think will give the best impact to the Australian community for the problems that face us today and over the next 10 years,” he said.
“There are programs of research that we may have to stop in order for us to be able to do new programs of research to tackle those big problems like productivity, sustainability and our sovereign science capacity.”
He said the agency would be reviewing its whole portfolio of science next month and then would need to make “hard choices”, but wouldn’t say how many jobs could be affected.
“We need to be thinking about the programs of research that we do. We have to be refining those to make sure we are working on the big problems. I think the Australian community would expect us to do that,” he said.
The new National Research Collections building was jointly funded by the CSIRO and the Department of Education through the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy.
While the building won’t be open to the public, the collections will be accessible to researchers, governments, and citizen scientists worldwide.
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Jenna Price for The Canberra Times, 13 August 2025
I didn’t think much about deepfakes. What would any lunatic monster want with me? I mean, no one would believe anything these guys come up with when it comes to ancient naked women.
But there is a huge risk to the young, the Gen Zs, and the millennials. And these people are clearly the targets of these malevolent forces. Blackmail, bullying, treachery. Terrible.
What is a deepfake? I asked Cam Wilson, Crikey’s tech reporter and editor of tech newsletter, The Sizzle.
“Deepfake is AI-generated fake content, [usually] non-consensual explicit images and videos,” he explains.
Apparently, it arrived in the mid-to-late 2010s. “But it’s been brought into the mainstream … from people making sexual images of celebrities.”
For a while, says Wilson, “it mostly meant to put someone’s face on someone else’s body, but now the term (and the practice) includes completely new generated AI content.”
Wilson says that there are laws which criminalise creation of deepfakes – but also innovation on the horizon. Which brings me to the CSIRO.
The absolutely brilliant scientists at the CSIRO have brought Australians a truckload of goodies. The most famous invention? That’d be wifi without which most of us couldn’t exist. At least I couldn’t.
Now the CSIRO’s team is on the verge of an extraordinary breakthrough, developing an algorithm that can block images from being used to create deepfakes.
Sounds complicated but amazing – and god knows if I’ve got this very technical explanation right, but the algorithm can change the pixels on an image and make it unrecognisable for AI.
Oh my god, can they do that for art and journalism and books, too? How good! Thieves and monsters foiled at the start.
Now, about CSIRO. A new CEO, Doug Hilton, was appointed in late 2023. He announced 500 jobs would go in key support services. They’ve all gone.
Now there are fears CSIRO may cut another 400 research positions in this financial year.
CSIRO staff association secretary Susan Tonks says the breakthrough on deepfakes is enormously exciting.
“Everyone’s talking about safer spaces,” she says. Meanwhile, there are concerns that Hilton may preside over job cuts in this area. The team responsible for the new research, Data 61, could be at risk, says Tonks.
“We can’t retain bright new talent at this rate,” she says.
So you only cut jobs if you’ve got no money. And essential organisations like the CSIRO should be funded to the hilt. This particular discovery could protect the lives of so many. Think that’s an exaggeration? Read this and freak out.
Earlier this year, the Australian Institute of Criminology published a report which explained that AI technologies are increasingly playing a role in the creation of child sexual abuse material, including “deepfakes, ‘nudifying’ pictures of clothed children, and manipulating images or videos to depict known or unknown children in sexually abusive scenarios”.
It also says “offenders are using AI to alter photos from victims’ social media and other online posts and using these altered images to sexually extort the victims”.
So, I am a bit puzzled about the government’s priorities. I thought a Labor government would back the science, back the research, recognise that whatever it puts in, Australia gets back in spades.
Now the government is treating the CSIRO the way it is treating universities. Not a good sign for a country that needs a bright future.