2016-04-27
Chairman of the Senate Select Committee into the Scrutiny of Government Budget Measures, and Greens Senator for Tasmania, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson, offers the following comments on today's Senate Hearing.
Senator Whish-Wilson said, "Today we finally have a small sense of clarity about the final numbers of CSIRO environmental and climate scientists that will lose their jobs as a result of the cuts put in place by the Liberal Government.
"No clear rationale was provided as to why the decision about final job figures and the climate centre was expedited, given the government caretaker period is only weeks away.
"Forty of the one-hundred and forty climate scientists have been slated to lose their jobs. Of the one hundred that remain, only forty have been provided with ongoing security of funding within the new climate centre.
"Today we heard that the total likely savings for the loss of 28% of CSIROs climate science capacity is a meagre $6 million per annum. It is unthinkable in such a rapidly changing climate that we are cutting our capacity and not growing it, all to make measly savings.
"We also heard that 15 jobs are likely to be lost in Hobart, despite Hobart becoming the base of the new climate centre. This continues the trend of year on year job losses from Hobart's climate and Antarctic research hub.
"The Committee will meet soon to discuss the production timetable for a report into the CSIRO decisions," he concluded.
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