Extract from The Guardian
Manufacturing research, which helped develop ceramic body armour for Australian soldiers, hardest hit with loss of 45 jobs
The axe has fallen again at Australia’s research agency, the CSIRO,
with another 75 researchers retrenched across the organisation’s future
manufacturing, agriculture and digital productivity programs.
All three affected areas belong to the CSIRO’s flagship “impact science” division, set up in 2003, which aims to partner with universities and the private sector to bring “large scale and mission directed science” to bear on major national priorities.
Future manufacturing research will be hardest hit, losing up to 45 full-time positions, including in advanced fibres, biomedical manufacturing and high-performance metals.
Among the work to which future manufacturing research scientists have contributed is state-of-the-art ceramic body armour for Australian soldiers, the southern hemisphere’s first Arcam additive manufacturing facility, which enables 3D printing of metals, and a spray-on topcoat for aircraft.
A further 25 jobs will be lost in digital productivity, an area in which 41 positions were shed earlier this year. Six agriculture research positions will be lost, in addition to the 36 jobs lost in the area since the May budget.
The organisation suffered a $111m federal funding cut in the May budget, and it is estimated that around 700 jobs will go this financial year.
The secretary of the CSIRO staff association, Sam Popovski, said the future manufacturing division lost $4.5m after the federal funding cut and has since failed to reach an external funding target of around $7.5m.
“These latest job losses deepen the cuts into core research in CSIRO. All of these jobs are jobs that are done by highly skilled scientists, engineers, and research project workers, and will impact on CSIRO’s ability to support Australia’s future in these areas,” he said.
He said the cuts contradicted the government’s recently announced industry policy, which aimed to support economic “growth centres” such as advanced manufacturing and agribusiness.
“It’s another kick in the guts for really important research,” he said.
A spokesman for the CSIRO denied the jobs lost in the three programs were “new cuts”.
“They are part of the restructure which was announced some months ago and are not over and above what the Staff Association and CSIRO staff already knew,” he said.
The CSIRO has been contacted for comment.
All three affected areas belong to the CSIRO’s flagship “impact science” division, set up in 2003, which aims to partner with universities and the private sector to bring “large scale and mission directed science” to bear on major national priorities.
Future manufacturing research will be hardest hit, losing up to 45 full-time positions, including in advanced fibres, biomedical manufacturing and high-performance metals.
Among the work to which future manufacturing research scientists have contributed is state-of-the-art ceramic body armour for Australian soldiers, the southern hemisphere’s first Arcam additive manufacturing facility, which enables 3D printing of metals, and a spray-on topcoat for aircraft.
A further 25 jobs will be lost in digital productivity, an area in which 41 positions were shed earlier this year. Six agriculture research positions will be lost, in addition to the 36 jobs lost in the area since the May budget.
The organisation suffered a $111m federal funding cut in the May budget, and it is estimated that around 700 jobs will go this financial year.
The secretary of the CSIRO staff association, Sam Popovski, said the future manufacturing division lost $4.5m after the federal funding cut and has since failed to reach an external funding target of around $7.5m.
“These latest job losses deepen the cuts into core research in CSIRO. All of these jobs are jobs that are done by highly skilled scientists, engineers, and research project workers, and will impact on CSIRO’s ability to support Australia’s future in these areas,” he said.
He said the cuts contradicted the government’s recently announced industry policy, which aimed to support economic “growth centres” such as advanced manufacturing and agribusiness.
“It’s another kick in the guts for really important research,” he said.
A spokesman for the CSIRO denied the jobs lost in the three programs were “new cuts”.
“They are part of the restructure which was announced some months ago and are not over and above what the Staff Association and CSIRO staff already knew,” he said.
The CSIRO has been contacted for comment.
No comments:
Post a Comment