HUSIC LASHES LABOR’S CSIRO CUTS

The Hon Alex Hawke MP
Shadow Minister for Industry and Innovation
Manager of Opposition Business in the House

HUSIC LASHES LABOR’S CSIRO CUTS

Dumped Industry Minister Ed Husic has lashed the Albanese Labor Government’s CSIRO cuts.

On the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing yesterday, the Member for Chifley refused to defend Labor’s science job cuts and conceded there were concerns the shock changes would result in a “loss of research capacity.”

Mr Husic said the “task at hand” was to “… prize open the jaws of Treasury and make sure that our national science agency is funded in a way that is good for the country in the long term. If you want to find the money, you’ll find it. I mean, we found $600 million for a football team in Papua New Guinea, I’m sure we’ll be able to find the money for our national science agency …”.

There is mounting confusion about exactly which CSIRO Research Units would be hit by Labor’s cuts.

On Tuesday, Industry and Innovation Minister Tim Ayres said CSIRO CEO Doug Hilton’s statement had specified that jobs connected to nutrition research would be impacted, but Mr Hilton’s statement made no such reference, stating only that up to 350 jobs would be axed.

Shadow Minister for Industry and Innovation, Alex Hawke, again called on Minister Tim Ayres to front up.

“Minister Ayres has gone MIA while basic details of Labor’s CSIRO cuts go unexplained,” Mr Hawke said.

“Labor’s cuts to the CSIRO will not only hurt Australia’s research ecosystem, they will harm productivity and undermine the capacity of industry to compete.

“Aussie manufacturers are already struggling with unaffordable energy, now they have to deal with an innovation brain drain.

“Labor's so-called 'Future Made in Australia’ agenda is simply an empty slogan.”

The Coalition established the CSIRO Innovation Fund and invested over $3.8 billion in the 2020-21 Budget to support the CSIRO align with the Modern Manufacturing Strategy.

ENDS