CSIRO Black Mountain Laboratories, Canberra, 2020. Photo: Tinytornado007
On Tuesday November 18 CSIRO announced changes to its research direction and a workforce reduction as part of 'a broader strategy to ensure a sustainable and enduring national science agency – one that can continue delivering the science Australia needs to meet the challenges of the decades ahead'.
In an issued statement CSIRO said
'For 100 years, CSIRO has evolved its scientific focus to help drive Australia’s progress and adapted to shifting financial circumstances. However, CSIRO is now facing long-term financial sustainability challenges, with funding not keeping pace with the rising costs of running a modern science agency.
After decades of stretching resources to maintain the breadth of its programs and size of its workforce, CSIRO has reached a critical inflection point.'
CSIRO Chief Executive Dr Doug Hilton said the organisation needs to adapt to achieve the right balance of focussed research, supported by aligned capability, quality research infrastructure and safe and sustainable sites – where CSIRO researchers can make discoveries and apply them to change the world.
“CSIRO’s reason for being is to deliver the greatest possible impact for the nation through our research,” Dr Hilton said.
“As today’s stewards of CSIRO, we have a responsibility to make decisions that ensure we can continue to deliver science that improves the lives of all Australians for generations to come.
“We must set up CSIRO for the decades ahead with a sharpened research focus that capitalises on our unique strengths, allows us to concentrate on the profound challenges we face as a nation and deliver solutions at scale.”
Following a comprehensive 18-month review of its research portfolio, CSIRO has identified key focus areas to bring a renewed emphasis on inventing and deploying technological solutions to tackle national problems.
These include:
- Supporting a clean, affordable energy transition, including transforming our critical minerals to materials
- Addressing the pressing problem of climate change, with a renewed focus on adaptation and resilience
- Applying advanced technologies (including AI, quantum, sensing, robotics and manufacturing) to drive the next wave of innovation in core Australian industries
- Increasing the productivity and resilience of Australian farms by focusing on the deployment of technological solutions
- Mitigating and eradicating biosecurity threats to Australian industries, landscapes and communities
- Applying disruptive science and engineering to unlock the unknown and solve unanswered questions.
'This sharpened focus means other research activities will need to be deprioritised, including areas where CSIRO lacks the required scale to achieve significant impact or areas where others in the ecosystem are better placed to deliver.
While CSIRO will seek to minimise the impact on staff, the organisation will need to reduce roles in its Research Units by between 300 to 350 full-time equivalent (FTE) to achieve this sharpened research focus.' the statement reads
'In addition to its immediate staffing impacts, to put the organisation on a pathway to long-term sustainability, CSIRO will need to invest between $80 and $135 million per annum over the next 10 years into essential infrastructure and technology. This includes investment in critical repairs and maintenance to ensure safe and fit-for-purpose sites, as well as the research equipment, infrastructure, cyber protection and technology that best enables CSIRO's researchers to make discoveries and turn them into real-world impact.
Early engagement with staff on the implementation of this focussed research direction will commence this week. The organisation remains committed to engaging with staff, keeping them informed, consulted and supported throughout this period of change, with wellbeing a priority and support services available. CSIRO will also be engaging with the CSIRO Staff Association and external stakeholders throughout this process.'
“These are difficult but necessary changes to safeguard our national science agency so we can continue solving the challenges that matter to Australia and Australians,” Dr Hilton said.
The following day, November 19, CSIRO Chief Executive Dr Doug Hilton further addressed the changes at CSIRO in an article penned by him, 'We have to protect our future. This is why we're making some hard choices at CSIRO' which ran in The Canberra Times.
This stated:
While we have delivered extraordinary benefits, over time, our resources have become stretched, and we have reached a critical point.
As today's stewards of CSIRO, we are determined to again evolve and adapt. This is not a choice, it's an imperative because scientific research and development are at the core of Australia's future.
In recent decades, CSIRO has been managing budgets year-to-year while trying to maintain the breadth of our programs and the size of our dedicated workforce, currently 5600 people.
We are now at a point where that is not possible within our existing budget.
Over the past 15 years, our appropriation has increased by 1.3 per cent per year, with the average inflation rate at 2.7 per cent, and the costs of running a modern science agency are rising much faster.
For example, the cost of computing has soared as greater amounts of data are generated, and the cost of protecting our data and people from cyber security threats has risen dramatically compared to just a few years ago.
CSIRO is not unique in facing financial pressures - every household in Australia understands the cost-of-living crisis and how it drives extraordinarily difficult choices to be made.
What is unique is the scale of CSIRO's challenge, which has grown over time.
As the national agency, we have 45 sites across every state and territory in metropolitan, rural and remote areas.
We have more than 800 buildings and scientific facilities that we run on behalf of the nation.
These include labs, telescopes, farms, offices, a marine research vessel, experimental bushfire tunnel, vaults holding 13 million biodiversity specimens and the Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness (ACDP) which protects our agriculture and community from biosecurity threats.
Over the past decade, as our financial position has become tighter, we have prioritised doing everything we can to maintain the size of our workforce over spending money on maintaining our scientific facilities.
We can no longer continue on this path.
More than 80 per cent of our 840 buildings are past their technical end of life, we have a $280 million backlog of repair and maintenance and the cost of refurbishing a single facility like ACDP, which is a decade overdue, will be around a billion dollars.
This is neither supporting our science nor serving Australians well and, if left unchecked, will pose an unacceptable safety risk for staff.
We need a new mindset.
Over the past 18 months, our focus has shifted to ensuring CSIRO can be sustainable, safe, vibrant and deliver the incredible impact that Australians expect, irrespective of our budget.
To do this we are making the hard choices the community expect us to make.
Following a comprehensive review of our entire research portfolio, we will focus our science on those areas where we can deliver impact at scale. Some of those areas include transitioning to net zero with clean, reliable and affordable energy; finding clean and green ways of processing critical minerals into critical materials that can be used to further develop advanced manufacturing in Australia, and ensuring we can adapt and become resilient to climate change and protect our agricultural sector, environment and communities against biosecurity threats.
Focusing means we will also deprioritise some research areas where we don't have the scale to achieve significant impact, or areas where others in the research ecosystem are better placed to deliver.
These are difficult decisions that profoundly impact talented and passionate colleagues and their families. We'll seek to mitigate impacts as much as possible; however, the reality is that to focus our research portfolio, between 300 and 350 staff will potentially be impacted.
In addition to these immediate staffing impacts, to put us on a pathway to longer term sustainability, where our facilities are universally well maintained and remain safe, our equipment is fit for purpose and we are cyber secure, we also need to invest between $80 million and $135 million per annum for the next 10 years.
Despite these challenging times, I am optimistic about the future. The widespread support for CSIRO and the community's trust in science gives me confidence that we will provide the research Australia so desperately needs to flourish in the decades ahead.
Worse Than Abbott… CSIRO Faces Deeper Cuts: CSIRO Staff Association
On November 18 the CSIRO Staff Association pointed to the Albanese Labor Government as responsible for 'deep and devastating cuts to the CSIRO', after it was announced more than 300 more jobs would be cut from Australia’s peak science agency.
With more than 800 research and science support roles already lost, these cuts now surpass those delivered by the Abbott Government, the Association said
This is the latest in a series of cuts over the past 18 months. It started with the cutting of more than 400 science support roles, and more recently, 120 positions from CSIRO’s digital and data arm, Data61, were cut; the Agriculture and Food Research Unit has lost 30 staff, and Health and Biosecurity has lost 43.
It was confirmed in the CSIRO’s most recent Senate Estimates appearance that a total of 818 jobs had already been cut across the whole organisation.
''The CSIRO Staff Association is calling on the Federal Government to act now. Urgent funding is needed to stop these cuts and secure the vital work of our national science agency.'' the Association stated
Susan Tonks, CSIRO Staff Association Section Secretary, said:
“This is a very sad day for publicly funded science in this country, and the Albanese Government is just sitting back and watching it happen.
“They are now responsible for cuts to public science that exceed the Abbott Government – cuts that current Labor MPs rightly slammed at the time.
“These are some the worst cuts the CSIRO has ever seen, and they’re coming at a time when we should be investing in and building up public science.
“CSIRO undertakes incredibly important work that benefits Australian families, communities, and the world. Our scientists are protecting crops from disease, building national resilience in the face of a changing climate, strengthening our defences against biosecurity risks, and driving innovation in health and technology.
“We don’t need a crystal ball to know these cuts will hurt – they’ll hurt families, farmers and our future.
“The Albanese Labor Government needs to fix this mess by committing to urgent funding that halts the cuts and secures the future of CSIRO’s world-leading science and research.”
A petition has been launched calling on the Albanese Government to secure the future of CSIRO’s world-leading science and research.
Loss of 20% of CSIRO Workforce in just 18 months
CSIRO employed 6,618 staff as of 2024. The prior cuts and the cuts announced this week represent a loss of around 20% of CSIRO's workforce in just 18 months.
The areas stated to be losing workforce members include Health and Biosecurity, Agriculture and Food, Manufacturing, Data 61, enterprise support and research positions.
Independent MP for Mackellar Dr Sophie Scamps has expressed deep concern over the announcement of job cuts at CSIRO, warning that Australia’s future prosperity and security are at risk if science continues to be undervalued.
“Science is the foundation for the jobs of the future,” Dr Scamps said. “It underpins the technologies we need to tackle the climate crisis and energy transition and drive innovation across medicine, agriculture, minerals processing and recycling. Building sovereign capability in these areas is essential for our well-being, national security, future prosperity and economic competitiveness. During this era of unprecedented technology transition, it is essential that Australia invests and boosts our scientific capacity and workforce. Cutting it back will quite simply mean that Australia is left behind”
Dr Scamps said the cuts are the result of decades of underinvestment in Australia’s national science agency.
“Successive governments have failed to adequately fund CSIRO, and these job losses are the inevitable fallout. CSIRO should be leading the way in innovation, but chronic funding shortfalls have left our leading scientific institution vulnerable.”
The MP for Mackellar also called for urgent investment in STEM education from the earliest years.
“If we want to secure a strong future for Australian science, we must start with our youngest learners. High-quality, evidence-based STEM education in early childhood is vital. STEM is multifaceted - it teaches collaboration, creativity and critical thinking.
Making early STEM education a national priority is the crucial first step in building the talent pipeline Australia needs.”
On Thursday November 20 the Greens stated they were deeply concerned the job cuts at the CSIRO will disproportionately impact public good science, with sources warning the CSIRO’s Environment Research Unit (ERU) will bear the brunt of proposed cuts.
The CSIRO employs 5800 staff, with the cutting of a further 350 jobs equating to 6% of its total workforce. On Thursday morning the Greens were told the ERU will cop 150 of the 350 job cuts, which equates to 20% of the unit’s staff.
'This begs the question: why is it being singled out for much bigger job losses?' the greens stated
Greens spokesperson for Science, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson, said:
“Scientists at the CSIRO have been under pressure for years to find revenues to justify their work, including researchers working on public good science such as climate, environment, and oceans research.
“The work these scientists do is critical to each and every Australian, indeed much of their work is globally collaborative and significant.
“With public good science funding under siege globally, it has never been more important to invest in this critical research.
“Now is the time to increase our capacity in environmental research – not withdraw from it.
“Minister Tim Ayres must rule out that the CSIRO’s Environmental Research Unit will have to cut staff by 20% or more because the government is prioritising monetised research capabilities – or it simply doesn’t care about the environment.
“Minister Watt can try to convince Australians that Labor cares about the environment, but in the same week he wants the Senate to support environmental law reform, his government appears to be sanctioning deep and disproportionate cuts to our nation's environmental research capability at the CSIRO.”
Data 61 head office, Eveleigh, New South Wales. Photo: StartUpWeek Sydney