I can’t see how the government’s budget decision to slash CSIRO funding by $63 million can be anything but:

a) Bad policy and bad for Australia;
b) A slap in the face for science in Australia; and
c) An admission that the Labor policy to “revitalise” the CSIRO was non-core.

It is widely held that Australia is suffering a science and technology “brain drain” due to pitiful funding of research in this country, yet the Rudd government talks endlessly about things like strengthening industry, protecting agriculture from the effects of drought, and battling climate change through smarter energy generation. Unless we want to import the knowledge and technology required to meet these sort of challenges we must ensure that the CSIRO is generously resourced. And while corporate dollars should make up a portion of total funding the bulk of the money must inevitably come from the taxpayer purse unless government introduces serious incentives for corporations to invest serious money (while ensuring that commercial interests do not impact on the integrity of the research, of course.)

The CSIRO receives total funding of far less than a billion clams per year — pocket change for the kind of work they do — and the Rudd Labor government just tightened the belt even more despite promises to do otherwise. Very disappointing, Kevin.