2016-04-26
Greens Senator for Tasmania and Chair of the Senate Select Committee into the Scrutiny of Government Budget Measures, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson, will use tomorrow’s hearing into CSIRO cuts to get to the bottom of the supposed final job loss numbers announced today.
Senator Whish-Wilson said, “Today’s announcement sounds like the Government has merely softened the blow for devastating job losses across the climate and environmental science functions within the CSIRO. The majority of the planned job losses will still go ahead.
“It is hard to understand how the Government thought that securing 40 jobs in Hobart in a facility that currently houses 193 staff could be painted as a win.
“Tomorrow I will be quizzing management on how many jobs are expected to be lost in each facility and what long-term security CSIRO will provide for the other climate scientists in CSIRO that have been left outside of the core unit.
“From the outset of this bungled process, CSIRO management and the government have sought to play down the impact on Australia’s climate science capabilities and throughout the hearings CSIRO management has struggled to explain what functions it will maintain and in what form. Now that this announcement has been made it is reasonable for the Senators participating in this hearing to expect that CSIRO management will be able to answer these questions properly,” he concluded.