$63m cut sends CSIRO research to the ‘slaughter’

$63m cut sends CSIRO research to the 'slaughter'

The CSIRO will shed 100 jobs and close two major research laboratories to absorb the first- round of a $63 million budget cut imposed by the Federal Government.

But the CSIRO Staff Association has warned as many as 300 jobs both in science and research support services could be lost. Agriculture has borne the brunt of the first $15million round of research cuts, with the closure of Australia's biggest livestock research laboratory at Rockhampton in north Queensland. The Rendel Laboratory which provides vital support for Australia's $4.6billion beef industry will close less than two years after it received a $3million upgrade to boost its genetic research capability.

The CSIRO will also close its Merbein grape and citrus research laboratory at Mildura in northern Victoria. The historic laboratory, established in 1919, developed two wine industry innovations light mechanical pruning and nematode tolerant grape rootstocks that are worth an estimated $150million a year.

Farm groups say the closures will cripple Australia's capacity to manage the impacts of climate change on food production, reducing export earnings and undermining regional economies. Australian Citrus Growers chief executive Judith Damiani said it was disappointing to lose the research capacity for the industry as well as the jobs it brought to rural towns. CSIRO Staff Association president Michael Borgas said the laboratory closures would affect 85 staff 35 in Rockhampton and 50 at Merbein ''slaughtering'' food research programs. ''The cuts are much bigger than we thought they would be,'' Mr Borgas said.

''We are back on the treadmill, begging for our supper and trying to convince the Government we are worth investing in.'' Other cuts include the loss of two CSIRO research divisions forestry and textiles which will be merged across five other divisions to reduce administration costs, closure of a newly established tropical forestry research site at Cooroy in northern Queensland, and the loss of the wool scour research plant at Geelong. The plant is the only facility that can process alpaca fibre and cashmere.

In an email to all staff yesterday CSIRO chief executive Geoff Garrett said management had tried to ''focus on reducing fixed costs and overheads to minimise the impact on our direct science capability and activity''. Research staff at Rockhampton will be offered transfers to animal genomics research in Brisbane or tropical science in Townsville, but support jobs will be lost. Wine research will be transferred from Mildura to Adelaide, but CSIRO will scale back all horticultural research, including citrus, with a view to ''a staged exit''.

Already struggling with a level of Government funding that has not kept pace with inflation, CSIRO was hit earlier this year with a $23.6million cut from the Rudd Government's increased efficiency dividend, and took an additional $40million cut in this month's federal budget. This means CSIRO must find savings of $15million a year over the next four years. Former CSIRO divisional chief, Dr Max Whitten, said the budget cuts showed ''an airhead mentality'' toward science by the Rudd Government.

''Previous Labor governments realised it was moronic to impose an efficiency dividend on CSIRO because of the impact on its research capacity. They agreed to scrap it, yet here we have a Government imposing and increasing this so- called efficiency dividend. It is gross stupidity and an insult to science,''

Dr Whitten said. Federal Science and Innovation Minister Kim Carr said the Government was ''fighting a war on inflation'' and had been forced to take tough decisions, including applying the efficiency dividend ''across CSIRO's full range of activities''.

He said the Rudd Government recognised CSIRO's role as a great Australian institution doing vital work in the national interest ''that's why there's a specific commitment of $25million for CSIRO research into clean coal and further funding likely to come its way for solar research''. Greens science spokeswoman Christine Milne said cutting research funding ''should surely be a last resort in fighting inflation''. Queensland's peak farm body AgForce is angry it wasn't consulted over the fate of the Rockhampton laboratory and vowed to ''do whatever it takes'' to fight the closure. Queensland Nationals Senator Ron Boswell said the closure of the world-class research facility was ''dumb'' and a blow to Queensland's scientific research and one of its largest industries.

[Sourced from The Canberra Times: http://canberra.yourguide.com.au/news/local/news/general/63m-cut-sends-csiro-research-to-the-slaughter/774880.aspx]