Contributed by Ben Wilson

The cutting 500 non-research support jobs at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is disturbing. It adds to the loss of 200 research jobs already announced. This is the latest cut in a series of earlier ones by previous governments. The CSIRO is already much less than it once was. Weakening it further means a bleaker future and the repercussions that come along with it.

Over more than a century, the CSIRO, since it began life as the Advisory Council of Science and Industry in 1916, has been responsible for a long list of scientific breakthroughs and inventions, which brought it international acclaim. These include advances in medicine, astronomy, biosecurity, manufacturing, and mineral resources The CSIRO played a major role in the early development on W-Fi technology.

In recent times, the CSIRO has contributed greatly towards environmental protection, research on global warming, and in the development of alternative renewable energy.

Photo by John Englart

The capacity to continue at this level no longer exists, and there is a direct link between this and the fall in the level of Australia’s research and development.

Government funding for both research and training has been essential. This not only allowed the CSIRO to continue its own internal work. It assisted the forming of direct links to a range of industries and partnership initiatives. These provided a major contribution to the economy and society. Australia’s advance into the post Second World War industrial age would not have been a reality without the CSIRO.

Detractors have always existed. Their view has been that a government funded agency interfering in scientific research and the economy has no business existing, for it tampers with their idea of a “free’ market. Economic troubles and the rise of the neoliberal ideology gave the detractors a new life, and the funding of the CSIRO began to wind back. The loss of another jobs is a continuation of this.

The new cut is part of a reorganisation. The aim of this reorganisation is not to improve the quality or research. The stated purpose is to cut costs by at least $100. This is a major proportion of its 2023 budget on $916.5 million, a figure that is really a pittance, compared to the multi-billion handouts handed out directly to private sector corporations with little accountability.

An adequate tram of support staff is essential if to free those carrying out research to get on with the job, freed as much as possible from the burden of administrative work. The private sector is not capable of carrying out this work because there is not much guarantee of a quick return on investment. Scientific discovery, testing, and the reality of trial and error before success, takes time.

Diminishing the CSIRO means a negative impact on the economy. Advance is held back. Local products are swamped by imports from countries that do fund their own research, and Australia falls further and further behind.

There is no way Australia can move forward, economically, and socially, without an adequate level of research, and this depends on sufficient government funding. Failure to deliver on this is a betrayal of Australia.