Grant Chapman (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I likewise take note of the answer given by Minister Carr to the question asked by my opposition colleague Senator Sandy Macdonald in relation to funding and job cuts in the nation’s premier research body, the CSIRO. In that question, the minister was asked to confirm whether 85 people were to lose their jobs as a result of the government’s decision to slash $44 million from CSIRO’s budget—not a modest increase, as Senator Crossin just claimed, with typical government spin; a $44 million slashing of funding from CSIRO’s budget. Of course, as we no doubt have come to expect from this minister in the few weeks that parliament has sat, he failed to answer Senator Macdonald’s question. Instead, he chose to run the Labor Party’s standard line about cutting inflation.