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

I think those workers and scientists at the Australian Antarctic Division watching us today would be hoping that we can put the politics aside just for a minute on something this important. Senator Brown says there have been no budget cuts or the government hasn't implemented any budget cuts, and that is true. But what Senator Brown and the government know is that the Antarctic Division is having to find $25 million in budget savings because $25 million has gone missing from its budget. I have seen the internal email from the CEO saying they had to cut their operating budget—cut their operating budget—by 16 per cent in every division to find these savings. You're being a little bit cute with the language, but can we just focus on what the workers and scientists are facing?

The government says it is committed to funding critical science programs, but underline the word 'critical'. We also know from that division that a number of science programs, potentially many dozens of them, are being cancelled because somehow under this new regime they're not considered critical. Go tell that to an early career scientist, potentially a young woman who's been waiting for her turn to get down there on the ice in the very brief six-week window they had this summer to conduct a program she's probably working with scientists around the world on. No, been canned because we have to find $25 million. We will get to the bottom of what happened, whether it was mismanagement or whatever it was, but we know the reality is the Antarctic Division is having to cut its budget, including its operating budget. If we support science and we prioritise science, surely we can find the $25 million to make sure that all these scientists can actually have the funding they need to do the work at one of the most critical times, may I say also, in human history.

There was an excellent article in the international Guardian today asking, 'Is the climate crisis finally catching up with Antarctica? Finding the answer has never been more pressing.' This is talking about mapping the sea floor around Antarctica. Do you know we've only mapped 12 per cent of our Antarctic territory? Until we do that, we can't estimate the impacts that sea ice melting will have on sea level rise. Apparently—and I have seen the spreadsheet—that is one of programs that's been canned, Senator Brown, mapping the sea floor off Antarctica. This is critical. We come in here and play politics and use semantics or what's commonly called 'spin' to try to avoid responsibility. Can we please all work together on getting a solution for the Australian Antarctic Division, so they have funding certainty and they can hire more people, including many young women who have been waiting in that boys' club down there to have their turn to do their science programs?