Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to support this reference of a matter to the Senate Employment, Workplace Relations and Education References Committee proposed by Senator Marshall. I believe that the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, CSIRO, is an important institution that has played a critical role in developing and maintaining a culture of excellence in research and technological development in Australia. It has been central to the advancement of Australian industry and plays a fundamental role in ensuring the innovation that is critical to developing a place for Australia in the emerging knowledge economy.

If we are concerned about the future of our nation, if we want to look at developing beyond our economic reliance on exploiting our infinite primary resources and develop a more sustainable and value added economy, and if we want to maintain an international competitiveness then we need to take the issue of science and technology policy seriously and ensure that we are investing in both research and innovation and also fostering a culture of private investment in its development and application. We need both—public and private. The degree of excellence and expertise contained within CSIRO in research leadership makes it an essential and cost-effective part of our efforts to invest in national R&D.

If we are concerned about the long-term sustainability of Australia we need to be investing more in R&D and education and encouraging the development of new industries that make the most of Australia’s unique resources, expertise and position in the world. If we are concerned about the long-term sustainability of our environment we need to continue to back CSIRO’s world-leading research in environmental, ecological and agricultural science. CSIRO as a research institution has punched, in the past, well beyond its weight on the international stage. It is ranked in the top one per cent of world scientific institutions in 12 of the 22 research fields. For example, it is ranked sixth worldwide in plant and animal science and in agricultural science. It is ranked eighth in environmental and ecological science. It is a partner in international research activities in more than 85 countries in over 740 ongoing international collaborative research projects. At present it is the largest employer of scientists in Australia and the role that it plays in supporting professional development is critical in maintaining our R&D capacity and in keeping our technological edge. Through a pivotal role CSIRO plays in industry partnerships such as the cooperative research programs, commonly known as CRCs, it plays a catalytic role in the development of new industries and technologies.

I am concerned that funding for Australian R&D in general, and for CSIRO in particular, is not keeping up with the needs for the development of our future economy. I am concerned that the need to balance restricted funding is forcing CSIRO to make bad decisions as it attempts to balance the need for ongoing R&D programs and areas of excellence with the need to develop into new areas of innovation. With limited resources and increasing demands, something has to give. The need to balance these tensions and the culture of research leadership was clearly demonstrated by the recent strategic planning process that CSIRO has undergone. This has led, on one hand, to the identification of six national research flagships and a four-stage plan to take CSIRO up to 2012. On the other hand, the need to develop new areas on limited and diminishing resources has meant some difficult decisions have had to be made, including the announcement of significant job cuts in some established areas.

The budgetary problems were highlighted during estimates, with indications that CSIRO has sought permission to run a $14.5 million budget deficit in 2005-06. Then we heard late last year the announcement of 200 jobs being cut in research support areas with the potential for up to 400 positions going. We have heard talk of a brain drain, with a number of brilliant researchers recently being made redundant on very short notice. These include international climate expert Dr Graeme Pearman, leading wildlife ecologist Dr Jeff Short and federal pest control expert Dr Roger Pech. All are leaders in their field, undertaking high-quality research of truly national significance.

Now we have just had the release of the research investment direction paper. We are hearing more signals of job losses and funding cuts to agriculture, manufacturing and renewable energy. There have been rumblings from a number of areas that increased emphasis on external earnings has meant that more time is being spent chasing money than undertaking research and there is a move from doing public good research to being a client-driven research consultancy. The research investment direction paper confirms the real impact that the need to chase external funding is having. Quite simply, the philosophy of ‘partner or perish’ means in practice going where the money is rather than pursuing Australian innovation.

CSIRO no longer has the luxury of being able to think strategically or to plan for the long term because of the imperative to chase external funding to make up for the shortfall in government appropriations. Despite the rhetoric about the Australian economy being in transition from extractive industries towards those based on knowledge, technology and innovation, the new focus in the new paper is on mining, mineral resource development and clean coal. We are going back to Australia as the international mine. At a time when we should be building our future and making the most of our diminishing technological edge, CSIRO is being forced by the short-sightedness of government priorities to hitch its wagon to the fate of 20th-century energy dinosaurs, abandoning its lead in renewable energy. Once again, as reported just recently in the Canberra Times, the developers of the next innovation in solar energy are having to go overseas for funding. How many times has Australia lost major innovations and the major leading edge in industry because we have not been able to find finance in this country?

Make no mistake: as we are all aware, our neighbours know that the future is in building technology and are investing heavily in building knowledge based industries. Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, South Korea and China are all focusing heavily on building their capacity and producing science and engineering graduates. Our government’s inability to provide a supportive and nurturing environment for science and scientists in our universities and premier research institutions paints an unenticing picture for our school leavers contemplating a career in science or in engineering. CSIRO’s latest transformation has all the hallmarks of an inability to listen to the scientific community and a failure to take a long-term visionary approach to Australia’s research and development strategies. It is based on a naive belief that a growing reliance on private sector funding will not have adverse impacts on our research capacities. At the very same time CSIRO’s value as rated by its external investors has decreased steadily over the past year. The very people it is chasing for more money are saying that they feel that they are getting fewer bangs for their buck.

Government expenditure levels on R&D are at their lowest levels for 25 years as a percentage of GDP. There is no sign of a nation that is powering forward. Not only are our government’s social policies taking us back to the 1950s; their science policies are heading back that way too. Science once had a world-class institution in climate change research. According to climate experts it is now falling so far behind that it is not even on the international radar. Management is so caught up with lapping up the propaganda of the coal industry about how good the new clean coal is going to be that it has all but abandoned its vision for a new national energy model based on distributed renewable energies and sources. Energy efficiency technologies and demand reduction strategies have dropped off the scope just like our climate change commitments. Rather than pursuing, as has been reported extensively in the past, big hairy audacious goals—as CSIRO’s then new chief executive urged a few years back—researchers are now being urged to follow the big hairy mining industry and coal executives to hit them up for a few extra bucks.

All these factors are raising very real concerns in the R&D sphere and in the public arena about management and culture within CSIRO. CSIRO is an important national institution which has played a critical role in developing and maintaining a culture of excellence in research and technology development within Australia. I believe that there are very good reasons for us as a Senate to look at the evolving role of CSIRO, its place in the wider issues of competition and collaboration in the research sector, the challenges of R&D commercialisation, the management and exploitation of intellectual property and the wider culture of research and development within Australia. If Australia is to maintain its leading edge in technological development and innovation, it is critical that we have a strong CSIRO. That is not the way, unfortunately, that our national research organisation is heading. It is a tragedy for this country, one that I believe needs to be averted and one that this Senate needs to take a careful and close look at so that we can reverse this unfortunate trend.