Australia’s national science agency has defended its ability to deliver research and technology, as it confirmed plans for almost a quarter of job losses to come from a key environmental unit.
The CSIRO last November said up to 350 research positions would be slashed as the “cost of doing science has gone up”.
Originally, almost half of those jobs were expected to come from the agency’s environmental research unit, which includes climate adaption science.
But executives from the agency confirmed during budget estimates on Tuesday evening that while 92 staff from the unit are affected, 86 roles will be redundancies.
CSIRO acting chief executive Elanor Huntington said there had been a change in the “composition” of the job cuts.
“We’ve received a very significant amount of feedback through that process, all of which we’ve read and thought about very carefully,” she told the public hearing.
“We have a six-stage major change process. We have now reached step five … we have confirmed with all of the affected research units the final sets of changes.”
Professor Huntington said the organisation would need to find an additional $135 million each year over the next decade to keep it financially sustainable.
The cuts attracted widespread criticism including from senior climate scientists and experts internationally who claimed the CSIRO’s science capability would be severely impacted.
Peter Mayfield, CSIRO’s executive director for environment, said management had been “very careful” with where reductions were made.
He said the agency remained comfortable it could deliver on the obligations for a key project providing projections on climate change.
“We’re not walking away from anything. We’re actively trying to make sure we do well around climate science,” Dr Mayfield said.
The federal budget handed down in May set aside more than $387 million for the CSIRO over the next four years.
The Community and Public Sector Union warned the extra funding was not enough to stop the science agency from shedding staff.
Since February 2024, 1150 jobs have been cut from the CSIRO, union secretary Susan Tonks previously said.
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