Michael Forshaw (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

with Defence, as Senator Collins, who did such a sterling job on that committee, reminds me, in some of the misleading statements and downright lies that were told to the Australian public at that time. The then Howard government refused to allow those ministerial advisers to give evidence before a committee. That is what I call censorship.

If you are going to make a claim about censorship, you have to have some hard evidence. I have not heard one skerrick of evidence today that the Rudd government has, according to this supposed matter of public importance, engaged in censorship. In fact, the evidence is quite to the contrary. I must note also that Senator Abetz in his opening speech, with all his usual flourish, hyperbole and exaggeration, did actually note that the CSIRO was established by the Bruce government in 1926. I do pay credit to Prime Minister Stanley Bruce. It was a significant thing that he did. The other significant thing he did, of course, was lose his seat, just as the previous Prime Minister did in the election two years ago.

I am very pleased to be able to participate in this debate today, and I wish I had more time because over the years I have had a fair amount of contact with the CSIRO. In my years working as an official of the Australian Workers Union, and eventually as general secretary of that union, I had, on a number of occasions, reason to consult the CSIRO. I did so because our union had significant coverage in the agricultural and mining sectors, and I always found them to be first-class people, scientists and researchers. They provided independent advice to us and certainly, I am sure, to the National Farmers Federation, on important issues to do with those industries.

I also had the great privilege—but only for about four months, I think—of serving on the board of the CSIRO. I was appointed in January 1994 as the board’s ACTU representative. I had to resign before I took up my seat in the Senate in May 1994 to fill a casual vacancy. During that short time I had the great privilege to meet people such as Professor Adrienne Clarke, who was the chair of the CSIRO, and that eminent internationally recognised medical expert Dr Gus Nossal, a man who has done so much for this country. I believe the independence of the CSIRO board that I saw in action at the time still remains today, and I actually believe it has been enhanced by current minister Kim Carr and the Rudd government.

I have also had the opportunity to see the work being performed over many years at the facilities the CSIRO has at Lucas Heights. A lot of people do not realise that Lucas Heights is not just a nuclear reactor. It has a significant CSIRO presence. So that is another connection. Finally, I invite people to Google the name Joseph M. Forshaw. They might find something interesting about the CSIRO there. That is not me; it is another Forshaw.

But I want to get on to this debate—