Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull presents himself as a leader who is different to former prime minister Tony Abbott in substance as well as style. But on the issues that most marked Abbott's tenure — his head-in-the-sand attitude to climate change and his "stop the boats" approach to asylum seekers — there have been no changes.
The Turnbull government says it accepts there is a genuine risk of runaway climate change and that the consequences could be catastrophic. But it persists, against all expert advice, with the fiction that "direct action" — payments to encourage polluters to pollute less — is an efficient way to reduce emissions.
The recent restructure of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) that has gutted its renowned climate research capacity is symptomatic of this contrary thinking. The plan for CSIRO involves removing funding from vital climate research to bolster areas that support business and industry needs more directly.
The problem with this approach to research funding is that picking winners in science is almost impossible. The CSIRO's biggest commercial success, Wi-Fi, was a serendipitous innovation developed during radioastronomy research. In the history of science, great discoveries are often born from pure research.
More importantly, the cuts involve alarming reductions to climate science programs. They follow previous job losses in 2014–15 and will particularly affect the CSIRO's Oceans and Atmosphere and Land and Water divisions.
In a statement concerned scientists said the cuts to CSIRO would "seriously undermine Australia's capacity to respond to the challenges posed by climate change [and] will leave Australia unable to meet certain international research commitments, including commitments stemming from the Paris climate conference.
"Without committing to the development of next generation climate modelling and climate monitoring, billions of dollars of public investment on long-term infrastructure will be based on guesswork rather than on strategic and informed science-driven policy."
CSIRO staff have begun a campaign to challenge the cuts. The CSIRO Staff Association — represented by the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) — has lodged a dispute with the Fair Work Commission, claiming the organisation has not adequately consulted with staff over the changes.
In its submission the association said: "CSIRO has not discussed the introduction of the change, the effect the change is likely to have, or measures CSIRO is taking to avert or mitigate the adverse effects of the change."
The staff association wants the Fair Work Commission to prevent any changes "until a consultation process is completed".
In a notice to employees, staff association secretary Sam Popovski said: "CSIRO workplaces across Australia have condemned this awful plan to attack jobs and research at the organisation."
"The staff association has a responsibility to do everything we can do to protect these jobs and that includes using the legally enforceable provisions of our Enterprise Agreement."
CPSU national secretary Nadine Flood said: "Government cuts to the CSIRO have already done untold damage, with critical research halted in Alzheimer's disease and dementia, bowel cancer, geothermal energy and liquid fuels. This latest body blow to climate science shows the government and CSIRO management have their priorities fundamentally wrong.
"Taxpayer spending on science should be about improving Australian lives now and in the future, not moving CSIRO to a business model based on speculative investment rather than real science."
Professor Will Steffen, executive director of the ANU's Climate Change Institute, said: "It is deeply disturbing that we are destroying our world-class science capability that has taken decades to build. As climate change continues apace, ravaging Australia with bushfires and bleaching our world-class coral reefs, it belies common sense to be cutting climate science and monitoring capabilities."
About 3000 scientists from nearly 60 countries have appealed to Turnbull to halt the cuts to CSIRO. They said the decision to cut 100 full-time positions out of about 140 staff from two units of the Oceans and Atmospheric division "alarmed the global research community".
"The decision to decimate a vibrant and world-leading research program shows a lack of insight, and a misunderstanding of the importance of the depth and significance of Australian contributions to global and regional climate research.
"The capacity of Australia to assess future risks and plan for climate change adaptation crucially depends on maintaining and augmenting this research capacity."
Former US vice-president and climate campaigner Al Gore also added his protest at the proposed job cuts to CSIRO, a large number of which would be in Hobart.
"Further development of climate modelling and observations by CSIRO and colleague scientific organisation is essential to planning for climate mitigation and adaptation to global warming," he said.
"This effort needs strengthening, not weakening, after the Paris Agreement in December. The decision to cut this effort from the CSIRO should be revisited at the highest levels of the Australian government.”
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