CSIRO announces 300+ job cuts as part of restructure

Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, yesterday announced what it described as “changes to its research direction and a workforce reduction as part of a broader strategy to ensure a sustainable and enduring national science agency — one that can continue delivering the science Australia needs to meet the challenges of the decades ahead”.

In a statement, the organisation said it was facing long-term financial sustainability challenges, with funding not keeping pace with the rising costs of running a modern science agency. After decades of stretching resources to maintain the breadth of its programs and the size of its workforce, the organisation said it had reached a critical inflection point and needed to adapt.

“As today’s stewards of CSIRO, we have a responsibility to make decisions that ensure we can continue to deliver science that improves the lives of all Australians for generations to come,” said CSIRO Chief Executive Dr Doug Hilton.

“We must set up CSIRO for the decades ahead with a sharpened research focus that capitalises on our unique strengths, allows us to concentrate on the profound challenges we face as a nation, and deliver solutions at scale.”

Following an 18-month review of its research portfolio, CSIRO said it has identified several key focus areas to bring a renewed emphasis on inventing and deploying technological solutions to tackle national problems. These include supporting a clean, affordable energy transition; addressing climate change; applying advanced technologies (including AI, quantum, sensing, robotics and manufacturing) to drive the next wave of innovation in core Australian industries; increasing the productivity and resilience of Australian farms; mitigating and eradicating biosecurity threats; and applying disruptive science and engineering to solve unanswered questions.

This sharpened focus means other research activities will need to be deprioritised, CSIRO said, including areas where the organisation lacks the required scale to achieve significant impact or where others are better placed to deliver. CSIRO will also need to reduce roles in its Research Units by 300–350 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff.

Furthermore, in order to achieve long-term sustainability, CSIRO said it will need to invest between $80 and $135 million per annum over the next 10 years in essential infrastructure and technology. This includes investment in critical repairs and maintenance to ensure safe and fit-for-purpose sites, as well as the research equipment, infrastructure, cyber protection and technology that best enables CSIRO’s researchers to make discoveries and turn them into real-world impact.

The CSIRO Staff Association has since noted that, with over 800 jobs already cut across the organisation over the past 18 months, the addition of these latest cuts will total more than those that were infamously delivered by the Abbott government. The association is thus calling on the Albanese government to act now, stating that urgent funding is needed to stop these cuts and secure the vital work of our national science agency.

“This is a very sad day for publicly funded science in this country, and the Albanese government is just sitting back and watching it happen,” said CSIRO Staff Association Section Secretary Susan Tonks.

“These are some the worst cuts the CSIRO has ever seen, and they’re coming at a time when we should be investing in and building up public science.

“The Albanese Labor government needs to fix this mess by committing to urgent funding that halts the cuts and secures the future of CSIRO’s world-leading science and research.”

The Greens have also called on the government to commit funding to the organisation, with science spokesperson Senator Peter Whish-Wilson saying that Minister for Science Tim Ayres must explain how CSIRO has ended up cutting hundreds of jobs in order to find cost savings.

“This government can find billions for controversial nuclear submarines and subsidising big mining companies, so why hasn’t it already committed to fixing funding gaps at our nation’s premier science, industry and research organisation?” Whish-Wilson said.

“Australian scientists are already warning of a crisis in Antarctic research due to the impact of an impending funding cliff. It’s time for the Albanese government to remove the uncertainty, protect jobs and increase funding to science.

“The Greens have written to Minister Ayres to seek an urgent briefing on this critical matter.”

Universities Australia has meanwhile sounded a warning that the restructure and workforce reduction underscore the very real risks of chronic under-funding in the nation’s entire research ecosystem.

“When our national flagship science agency is forced to shed hundreds of jobs and narrow its research focus, it sends a clear message: Australia’s research engine is running short of fuel,” Universities Australia CEO Luke Sheehy said.

“Australia currently invests 1.69% of GDP in R&D — well below the OECD average of 2.7% and far behind innovation leaders like South Korea and Germany who invest over 3%.

“If we continue to under-invest, we will lose the talent, infrastructure and breakthroughs that drive jobs, national security and technological strength.

“The government’s Strategic Examination of R&D is a crucial opportunity to fix these structural problems, but it must lead to real reform, not another layer of complexity.”

Universities Australia is thus calling on the government to lift investment; simplify and better coordinate the research system; develop a whole-of-government research workforce strategy; support better collaboration with industry; and support a coordinated approach to international collaboration.

“Australia doesn’t lack talent or ideas — we lack a system and investment level that match our ambition,” Sheehy said. “This is the moment to fix that.”

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