CSIRO job cuts: Greens MP Adam Bandt turns to spin

Updated

A hiring freeze at the CSIRO could mean a quarter of staff are let go within a year and it's all because of the Federal Government's anti-science bias, Greens MP Adam Bandt says.

"First we had Tony Abbott say the science of climate change was crap, then they failed to appoint a science minister and then he abolished the climate commission - because apparently you can look up all the information that you need on Wikipedia - and now we are about to see maybe a quarter of the jobs at CSIRO go," Mr Bandt said on November 8.

"This is a direct attack on Australia's ability to conduct world leading research and to set ourselves up for the 21st century.

"The Government's come in and said we're going to impose a blanket rule that you're not allowed to hire any new staff and the problem is for organisations like CSIRO that could mean within a year or so they lose a quarter of their staff."

The claim: Adam Bandt says a recruitment freeze at the CSIRO is part of the Abbott Government's anti-science bias and that a quarter of jobs could be lost within a year.

Adam Bandt says a recruitment freeze at the CSIRO is part of the Abbott Government's anti-science bias and that a quarter of jobs could be lost within a year. The verdict: A quarter of jobs at the CSIRO cannot be lost within a year and Mr Bandt did not substantiate his claim that the Government is behind the jobs freeze.

In a media release, Mr Bandt said the job cuts "again prove the anti-science bias of the Government".

Prime Minister Tony Abbott denies his Government has made any cutbacks to the CSIRO, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation.

"The management of the CSIRO and the employment of staff inside the CSIRO and the management of contractors for the CSIRO is a matter for the CSIRO itself," he said.

ABC Fact Check investigates whether a quarter of CSIRO staff are at risk of losing their jobs within a year and whether the Government is behind the hiring freeze.

577 CSIRO jobs at risk next year

As of November 6, 2013, the CSIRO employed 6,299 staff in total, with 1,363 of those non-ongoing. That means non-ongoing staff make up 22 per cent of the organisation's workforce, slightly less than a quarter. Fact Check asked the CSIRO when its non-ongoing employees' contracts are due to finish. It provided the following table:

Year Number of term contracts finishing Number of casual contracts finishing Percentage of total employees at November 6, 2013 2013-14 315 262 9.2% 2014-15 349 167 8.2% 2015-16 187 1 3% 2016-17 70 0 1.1% 2017-18 12 0 0.2%

The table shows 9 per cent of employees' contracts are due to end in 2013-14. Twenty-two per cent of employees jobs would be at only risk if the CSIRO's hiring freeze remains in place until 2017-18.

Fact Check asked the CSIRO how long its current recruitment freeze would continue for, but it did not specify a timeframe. "The CSIRO executive team will review this matter regularly and has not set an end date for the revised approach at this time," a spokesman said.

CSRIO chief executive Dr Megan Clark says: "In normal circumstances, a proportion of these terms are not renewed in any given year, however we recognise that this temporary suspension will result in a higher than usual number of non-renewals.

"I want to remind everyone that, with approval, we can still renew contracts and recruit to positions that are critical for our work."

CSIRO deputy chief executive Craig Roy says it's not appropriate to estimate the number of job losses until each contract has been reviewed.

"We have people who are on term contracts... Some of those will go on, others won't go on," he said.

Australia is not "about to see" a quarter of the jobs at CSIRO go and a quarter cannot be lost "within a year" as Mr Bandt suggests.

Sorry, this video has expired Video: Adam Bandt on the CSIRO jobs freeze (ABC News)

CSIRO not part of the public service

Mr Bandt's figures are wrong, but what about his claim that the Government is behind the CSIRO jobs freeze?

The Federal Government has pledged to reduce the public service by 12,000 employees. Parliamentary Budget Office costings released on October 18 say the cuts will save the Government a total of $5.2 billion over the next four years.

On October 31, Employment Minister Eric Abetz announced Interim Arrangements for APS (Australian Public Service) Recruitment, designed to "help meet the Government's election commitment". The guidelines ensure that "existing non-ongoing employment arrangements cease at the end of their current term" and ask agencies to "refrain from entering new arrangements". New contracts or contract extensions can only be made where it is considered "critical to meeting business demand", and the Australian Public Service Commissioner must be advised.

On the same day as Senator Abetz's announcement, the CSIRO's Dr Clark also advised staff about "changes to recruitment processes at the organisation". The changes, very similar to the Government's public service ones, include the temporary suspension of external recruitment and contract renewals "except in exceptional circumstances".

"Following review by the executive team, and in line with the announcement by the Government today regarding APS recruitment, I announce an immediate recruitment freeze...," Dr Clark said in an all staff email.

Mr Bandt referred to this memo when he raised the issue again in an interview published in The Canberra Times on November 9, in which he said Mr Abbott was misleading the public on the CSIRO job cuts.

"The CSIRO job cuts are a direct result of Tony Abbott's decision to cut back the public service and a Government directive to the CSIRO to implement these cutbacks was made clear in a CSIRO management memo to staff," Mr Bandt said.

However, the CSIRO is not part of the Australian Public Service and is not subject to the Government's 'Interim Arrangements for APS Recruitment'.

The CSIRO has told Fact Check its decision to put a freeze on hiring and contract renewals was made "entirely by the CSIRO". There was "certainly no directive from the Government" for the CSIRO to implement the freeze, a spokesman said. It was the result of its current budget position and revenue and expenditure forecasts, he said.

Fact Check asked Senator Abetz's office whether the Government had anything to do with the CSIRO jobs freeze, and whether jobs lost at the CSIRO would count towards the Government's goal to reduce the public service by 12,000 employees. No response was received.

Fact Check also asked Mr Bandt for the basis for his claims, but his office did not respond. Mr Bandt's claim that the CSIRO jobs freeze is due to a "Government directive" is unsubstantiated.

CSIRO revenue slipping

In the CSIRO budget statement from May 2012-13, the organisation estimated its employee benefits - including salaries, super, wages and leave - to be $757 million. A year later in the May 2013-14 budget statement, that estimate had dropped to $725 million. This shows the CSIRO intended to make cuts prior to the Coalition being elected.

The budget statements also show the organisation's non-government revenue sources are in decline. In 2012-13 it was estimated its "own-source income" would be $505 million in 2013-14, but in the 2013-14 statement, that estimate had dropped to $492 million.

In order for the organisation to produce the same financial result to the Government in 2013-14, it needed to cut employee benefits and other expenses. In other words, the CSIRO is not raising enough revenue.

The verdict

Spin. Mr Bandt did not substantiate his claim that "the anti-science bias of the Government" was behind the CSIRO jobs freeze. His claim that a quarter of jobs at the CSIRO could be lost within a year is wrong.

Sources

Topics: greens, work, science-and-technology, public-sector, federal-government, australia

First posted