Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Cabinet Secretary (Senator Sinodinos) to a question without notice asked by Senator Whish-Wilson today relating to the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation.

You know my state of Tasmania well, Mr Acting Deputy President Back, but you may not have been down there this summer. We have seen a summer like no other. Half the state has been burning from unprecedented dry lightning strikes—which are extremely rare. While the west coast was burning, the other half of the state received record rainfalls. We have seen warming water temperatures—the highest on record. The salmon industry is struggling with the warming waters and issues with oxygen. The oyster industry has experienced viruses they have never seen before. That could potentially decimate 90 per cent of the oysters in Tasmania.

We have seen drought reduce our dams, lakes and hydro to the lowest levels we have ever seen. We have seen bushfire smoke threaten the wine industry and the bee industry. We could not pick a worse time to renege on our climate change research in Australia. To back up what every Tasmanian and no doubt other Australians have seen this summer, yesterday it was reported that data released by NASA shows that February was the hottest month on record, ever, by a significantly larger margin than was forecast. Eminent scientists all around the world have called this 'stunning', 'completely unprecedented', 'a true shocker' and 'a climate emergency'. This is the global response to new data that is being released.

Why are CSIRO and its new CEO, who has been appointed to a two-year term, gutting the oceans and atmosphere division by cutting 350 jobs of the world's best climate scientists? I have looked them in the eye in the last week, as they have rolled through to tell their evidence to the Senate committee, and I have seen how devalued they feel that their life's work is being thrown in the dustbin by a new CEO at CSIRO and a government that claims that it cannot do anything about it because of political interference. These scientists have worked for years—since well before we acknowledged the existence of climate change. The work they do is absolutely critical to the adaptation and mitigation work we need to do to survive in a world of runaway climate change. Anyone who does not think it is running away is either hiding under a rock or they have got rocks in their head.

I asked questions today around the process that CSIRO have gone through, using private emails to conduct so-called restructuring or reprioritisation within CSIRO. The Senate heard that they had used private emails and they only admitted this when asked. When asked why they were using private emails, we did not get an adequate explanation. The reason that they have now provided those private emails back to the CSIRO—this is presumably the CEO and the executive team—is because an order for the production of documents came through from the Senate. We are doing our job, scrutinising the process that is leading to some of the world's best climate scientists being made redundant and being told their work is no longer necessary or important.

How could you look at the headlines today and axe 350 of the world's best scientists in the oceans and atmosphere division? They are the ones who monitor, who have their finger on the pulse. How can you manage what you do not monitor, model and measure? In my four years in the Senate I cannot think of a more stupid decision by a government department, to make an ideological decision—

Senator Cameron interjecting—

This is very serious, Senator Cameron—to cut climate research and our contribution to global climate science at a time when the world is facing dangerous climate change and we need to do something about it. It will ruin the Tasmanian economy. These climate scientists are the backbone of the community in Hobart, and they are big contributors to the economy but also to our research efforts all around the world.

There was an editorial in the New York Times on CSIRO's cuts. That is how serious this issue is. That is how much the world is disgusted with our lack of commitment following Paris. We have to reverse these cuts, and we can start by getting an explanation from CSIRO about the process they have taken to sack some of the best climate scientists in this country. (Time expired)

Question agreed to.