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| Trying again: CSIRO chief Larry Marshall makes an internal video that the staff union dubs a "puff piece". Photo: Supplied |
The question-and-answer style video was posted on Wednesday afternoon on the CSIRO's intranet but cannot be downloaded.
In it, Dr Marshall seeks to justify the planned cut of 100 full-time positions in the climate science unit.
"This is not a judgment call on the quality of our climate science - it's awesome! - but we've been doing that for 20 years," Dr Marshall said, according to a transcript sent to Fairfax Media.
"[It's] time to take action. Our nation needs us to do something about environmental change."
The video, along with other public comments made by Dr Marshall, are likely to move employees, who are shifting from a state of shock following last Thursday's announced cuts, to anger, Anthony Keenan, a spokesman for the CSIRO Staff Association, said.
"It's a very soft puff piece of a video," Mr Keenan said, adding that the union's council would be meeting on Monday to consider a range of options - including possible industrial action - unless management could show it was truly open to negotiations and consultation about the cuts.
"We maintain that these are only proposals - they say they are decisions," Mr Keenan said, adding that the association would argue that job losses without consultation were in breach of their enterprise agreement.
In the video, Dr Marshall focused in part on the climate science cuts, a move that has drawn international protest.
He said that some of the scientists might be able to find work elsewhere, comments that echo efforts by Chief Scientist Alan Finkel and others who are trying to salvage as much research as possible.
"[It's] completely understandable that someone who's spent 20 years, for example, studying climate change, measuring climate change or modelling climate change, it's perfectly understandable that they don't want to stop doing that and we must respect that, and we must find a place for them in the rest of the innovation system, perhaps in an university," Dr Marshall said, without elaborating.
Dr Marshall has said that the 350 job losses would be made up by new hires over two years. The loss for the Oceans and Atmosphere unit - in which the main climate research sits - would be 65, Dr Marshall told ABC Radio on Thursday, without stating when the 35 new positions would be added.
"Well, maybe I'm naive [chuckles], but I actually think we can grow," Dr Marshall said, according to the transcript (see below).
"I think we can increase the impact of the organisation. I think we can increase the funding and the revenue of the organisation, but we need to be delivering the impact that our nation expects," he said.
Fairfax Media has contacted the CSIRO for comment.
Dr Marshall is due to front Senate estimates at 1.45pm on Thursday.
Full transcript of video conversation between CSIRO staff member Hannah Scott and chief executive Larry Marshall posted on CSIRO's intranet on February 10:
Hannah Scott:
Hi Larry. Thanks very much for your time today. I've got a couple of questions and I'm going to jump straight into it if that's all right with you?
[Image shows Dr Marshall nodding his head and giving Ms Scott the thumbs-up.]
Larry Marshall:
Great.
Hannah Scott:
So over the past week we've heard the news of some changes for CSIRO. Why were these particular changes decided on?
[Image shows Dr Marshall gesticulating with his hands as he is speaking.]
Larry Marshall:
Well, it really all stems back to our strategy, which we developed last year, which fundamentally asks the question: is CSIRO a university or are we something different? Are we something more? The answer to that, and our new strategy, is we believe we can be an innovation catalyst for Australia, which means, whilst we do great inventing, we will also take responsibility for delivering that invention into an innovation, so that we'll have actual value delivery, impact delivery to our nation.
[Image shows Dr Marshall listening while Ms Scott speaks.]
Hannah Scott:
So does this mean we're stopping certain types of research; climate and science research for example?
[Image shows Dr Marshall gesticulating with his hands as he speaks.]
Larry Marshall:
Well, let's take the climate area, and just to dispel some of the misinformation in the media, we're not firing 350 climate scientists. I think that was the most extreme headline I saw. But the climate area is absolutely affected by this. The entire organisation is affected by the strategy. Some business units have responded very well to the strategy and been able to embrace it and move forward. Others have realised that they don't quite have the right people or the right skill sets to respond to the strategy, which then asks the question: can we retrain those people, or do we need to move those people out in order to bring in new people with the skills we need?
It's completely understandable that someone who's spent 20 years, for example, studying climate change, measuring climate change or modelling climate change, it's perfectly understandable that they don't want to stop doing that and we must respect that, and we must find a place for them in the rest of the innovation system, perhaps in an university, where they can continue to pursue their passion. But CSIRO's direction has changed, and in the climate area we're shifting from measurement and modelling to mitigation, because that's where we believe we can have the most impact and deliver the most benefit.
[Image shows Dr Marshall listening while Ms Scott speaks.]
Hannah Scott:
Thanks, Larry. So with these changes, does it potentially mean that CSIRO will be shying away from basic research and instead chasing the dollar?
[Image shows Dr Marshall gesticulating with his hands as he speaks.]
Larry Marshall:
[Chuckles] So chasing the dollar is not a strategic move. But we absolutely are constrained by our funding envelope. So we try to secure funding to do things that we believe will build strategic value in the company. Sometimes that customer is the federal government, state governments, industry, the public, but this funding, this revenue is not an entitlement, we have to earn that. When we get funded, whoever, the funder is, they're funding us to do something and they expect a deliverable, a result, so if we don't earn that, if we don't deliver that result they will cease funding us, and CSIRO has experienced that many times in the past. We also have to respond to shifts in global markets, as priorities shift, we have to recognise that and always be in a position where we're able to deliver the most value we can to our nation in response to those shifts.
[Image shows Dr Marshall listening while Ms Scott speaks.]
Hannah Scott:
So Larry, if we can upskill our people and get new skills in the organisation, where do you see the organisation heading? What's the ultimate vision here?
[Image shows Dr Marshall gesticulating with his hands as he speaks.]
Larry Marshall:
Well, maybe I'm naive [chuckles], but I actually think we can grow. I think we can increase the impact of the organisation. I think we can increase the funding and the revenue of the organisation, but we need to be delivering the impact that our nation expects. Again, this is not a judgment call on the quality of our climate science - it's awesome! - but we've been doing that for 20 years. It's time to take action; our nation needs us to do something about environmental change. In fact, the National Science and Research Priorities say specifically, one of our key strategic goals is to respond to environmental change, not just climate change, but all impacts on the environment, and not just measurement and modelling, but response, ie mitigation - take action. That's the major shift that we're doing. I think we can do it, and I think we'll be a stronger organisation as a result. That's not to say that we won't go through pain, I wish we didn't have to go through this, but I can promise you that we will be as open and transparent as we possibly can. Please, be patient with us; this is still a work in progress as we figure out the numbers, but you will be the first to know as we know.
[Image shows Dr Marshall listening while Ms Scott speaks.]
Hannah Scott:
Thanks Larry. Really appreciate your honest insights.
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