Gai Brodtmann (Canberra, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Calling the Abbott-Turnbull government's cuts to the CSIRO's climate science division a restructure is like demolishing a house and calling it a renovation. The Abbott-Turnbull government's $111 million worth of cuts have not only threatened the CSIRO's reputation as a premier scientific institution; they have also threatened Australia's reputation as a world-leading contributor to the science of climate change. The jobs of 350 climate scientists may be affected by this cut. With them goes our capacity to research and monitor the effects of climate change.

It is no surprise that these cuts have been met with universal condemnatio More than 3,000 scientists around the world signed an open letter calling for the decision to be reversed. The co-chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has criticised the cuts, as has the World Meteorological Organisation. The New York Times editorial labelled the cuts 'a deplorable misunderstanding of the importance of basic research into what is arguably the greatest challenge facing the planet'. And now the former president of Ireland, Mary Robinson, has added her voice to the chorus of condemnation. She told a Melbourne audience last night: 'Research is an investment in our shared future. It is not a luxury.' There is universal opposition to this cut and yet, not for the first time, the Abbott-Turnbull government seems determined— (Time expired)