Agriculture, biosecurity research workforce to be slashed in CSIRO job cuts

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation chief executive Doug Hilton told staff gathered for a town hall meeting on Monday that up to 350 jobs would be on the chopping block, but did not provide details of what division's would be hardest hit at the time.

However, a spokesperson for Science Minister Tim Ayres has confirmed to ACM that the Environment Research Unit would likely lose up to 150 researchers, or 20 per cent of its current staffing allocation.

He said while no discipline was being singled out, the agency had made strategic choices to "exit research where it lacks scale to achieve significant impact", or where others in the ecosystem are better placed to deliver.

"As part of this process the ERU is reshaping its research portfolio to focus on better integrating its science across disciplines," he said.

"That means the ERU can more effectively address critical national challenges and deliver maximum science impact within available funding.

"This change is expected to result in a reduction of approximately 130-150 FTE roles within the unit."

In a statement released on Wednesday, the CSIRO said it was focused on expanding research in areas including clean energy and AI technologies.

Meanwhile, Dr Hilton said that despite the agency's budget allocation has been rising by about 1.3 per cent a year, it had failed to keep pace with inflation or the rising cost of doing science, meaning it has been cut in real terms.

The government on Thursday announced that it will add a further $100 million to the organisation's $1 billion annual budget from next year.

However, the agency is unlikely to halt the job cuts while also grappling with a $280 million maintenance backlog with many of its ageing buildings across Australia in need of repair.

CSIRO's choices were informed by a comprehensive 18-month review of its research portfolio and priorities - the first review of its kind in 15 years.

The new round of redundancies follow job cuts made earlier this year and in 2024.

The ERU is an essential cog for the agency that brings together its capabilities in marine, atmospheric, water and terrestrial environment disciplines, as well as significant social and economic research, "to align and support the nation in creating a better and more sustainable future".

It has delivered a number of important benefits for agriculture, either directly, in areas like helping farmers build soil carbon, landscape and ecosystem programs, land-use planning, water health, crop yield breakthroughs, fire management and soil health, or indirectly where its environmental-research capability overlaps with areas such as agri-food systems and climate policy.

Its research also does not stay academic but drives policy in feeding into government mechanisms, like carbon accounting and land-management incentives.

The unit is also charged with examining the increasing pressures facing Australia's natural and built environments from the combined effects of climate change, extreme events, non-sustainable use of natural resources and legacy activities," the unit's web page states.

The spokesperson for Mr Ayres said CSIRO leadership is engaging staff and stakeholders to work out the best way to shed the staff while maintaining "outstanding national capability in freshwater, marine, climate and adaptation science, and social sciences".

"Specific areas affected will be confirmed once the process concludes next year at which time the Environment Research Unit will remain one of the organisation's largest units," he said.

The CSIRO employs 5800 staff, with the cutting of 350 jobs equates to six per cent of its total workforce, Greens science spokesman Peter Whish-Wilson said the party was "deeply concerned" at the scale of potential losses in the ERU.

"Scientists at the CSIRO have been under pressure for years to find revenues to justify their work, including researchers working on public good science such as climate, environment, and oceans research," he said.

"The work these scientists do is critical to each and every Australian, indeed much of their work is globally collaborative and significant.

"With public good science funding under siege globally, it has never been more important to invest in this critical research."

Meanwhile, global weather forecasting is predicted to be a major casualty of US President Donald Trump's planned cuts to America's climate science agencies, and that could be bad news for Australian farmers toiling away on one of the world's most climate-vulnerable continents.