Australia backflips on climate science approach but the damage may be done
Australian scientists may be suffering from a case of whiplash.
After deep funding cuts to the country's peak science body provoked international outcry in early 2016, the first move of the new science minister is something of a reversal.
On Thursday, Minister Greg Hunt appeared to encourage the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) to renew its focus on climate science.
You May Also Like
"Climate science is important, it's significant, it's critical to our long-term planning," he told ABC radio. "We have laid down a position of a new government, a new focus, a clear focus, and a clear support for CSIRO growing, clear support for climate science as a bedrock choice."
His remarks seem targeted at the new CSIRO CEO Larry Marshall who has made no secret of his belief that the organisation should concentrate on science that can be commercialised.
In the ABC interview, Hunt said the government had "clearly but respectfully" made its opinion known to the CSIRO.
In February, reports that the CSIRO would lose hundreds of climate science jobs were met with international recrimination. At the time, around 2,800 climate scientists sent the Australian government a letter voicing their concern that the cuts would undermine climate research vital to understanding the effects of climate change.
The letter deplored the "lack of insight, and a misunderstanding of the importance of the depth and significance of Australian contributions to global and regional climate research."
The government is not reversing the job cuts already made at the CSIRO. It is however adding 15 climate science jobs amounting to A$3.7 million ($2.8 million) per year in salaries and support. Hunt said Thursday the current number of climate science staff was 100, and would become 115 with the new additions.
In an email provided to Mashable Australia, the CSIRO's head of environment Alex Wonhas told staff the organisation has been working with Hunt as part of "the focus on public good research."
"As a consequence we will be giving greater emphasis to climate science as a core responsibility over the next decade through the national climate science centre," he said.
According to the Guardian, 35 climate scientists will still lose their jobs. The 15 new hires mean 20 positions will be lost.
"You don't need to be a scientist to realise that employing 15 climate researchers when you're in the process of sacking more than fifty doesn't add up."
The government's change of heart won't fix the damage according to the union representing CSIRO staff, which told Mashable Australia in a statement the government's "backflip" did not go far enough. The association believes 296 positions will still be lost across the organisation, with 40 percent to be forced redundancies.
CSIRO Staff Association Secretary Sam Popovski characterised Hunt's proposal a "bandaid" solution and called for the CSIRO to end its redundancy program.
"You don't need to be a scientist to realise that employing 15 climate researchers when you're in the process of sacking more than fifty doesn't add up," he said. "It's not going to restore CSIRO’s research capacity or repair Australia's global reputation."
For his part, Hunt rejected the idea that Australia's reputation had been damaged by the CSIRO management's actions and voiced support for the embattled Marshall.
"Look, I don't accept that but I do accept that our job is to take where we are now and to strengthen science and to strengthen our reputation, to attract great scientists from around the world," he said.
Hunt himself has not been exactly beloved by environmentalists. As the former environmental minister he criticised the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, a government-created investment organisation for renewable energy, for putting funds into existing wind farms.
When he was still minister, more than 2,000 scientists also addressed the Australian government in a letter accusing it of shirking its responsibilities as steward of the Great Barrier Reef.
"Australia is currently perceived as a laggard compared to other developed countries in pursuing the urgent pathway to a low carbon economy, and committing to deep action on climate change," it said.
The CSIRO declined to comment.
Ariel Bogle was an associate editor with Mashable in Australia covering technology. Previously, Ariel was associate editor at Future Tense in Washington DC, an editorial initiative between Slate and New America.
