Greens Acting Leader, Adam Bandt says he is gravely concerned about reports that almost a quarter of CSIRO jobs are under threat from the government’s public service freeze. Mr Bandt said CSIRO cuts would amount to economic vandalism and again prove the anti-science bias of the government.

“Once again we see the anti-science bias of this government on display,” Mr Bandt said.

“Tony Abbott is again acting like a Luddite. In the absence of a Science Minister, Tony Abbott needs to urgently clarify what he is going to do to reverse this decision.”

“We have already seen up to 200 CSIRO jobs under threat from the previous Labor government and now we see this.”

“This shows why we need a dedicated Science Minister who will stand up for the research community.”

“Science and research is the key to Australia’s prosperity. This is economic vandalism.”