Deep cuts to CSIRO's climate and manufacturing programs show the organisation is bowing to right-wing priorities Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull inherited from predecessor Tony Abbott, said Kim Carr, Labor's shadow minister for industry.
Losses of staff in climate change monitoring and modelling are expected to account for as many as 100 of the 350 full-time jobs the CSIRO has announced it plans to axe.
More evidence emerged on Wednesday that CSIRO management had done little to consult in advance with the broader scientific community - let alone senior staff - to understand implications of the cuts.
Alan Finkel, the new Chief Scientist, told Senate estimates that he only learned of the cuts when they were made public. Rob Vertessy, head of the Bureau of Meteorology, said earlier in the week he learned of them just a day in advance, even though the bureau shares key modelling and other programs with CSIRO.
Dr Finkel is understood to have been working the phones hard since Sunday, and had met CSIRO chief executive Larry Marshall, to identify ways to limit the impact of the cuts. One approach is to find other agencies or universities that can absorb some of the research facing the chop.
"There is no question that Australia needs a continuous and highly effective commitment to climate science, both to meet our national needs and to fulfil our international commitments," Dr Finkel told estimates.
"Our most immediate national concern must be to ensure that long-term data collections will be funded and staffed; and that the climate modelling capabilities developed by the CSIRO will continue to be made available for scientists to use and refine," he said.
Senator Carr, who joined Greens senator Janet Rice in grilling Dr Finkel, said the $28 million to be spent by the Turnbull government on advertising its innovation policies - unveiled at the CSIRO in December - would have spared many of the scientists facing redundancy.
"The government's only too happy to spend money for political advancement but not science," Senator Carr told Fairfax Media.
"Malcolm Turnbull is responding to what the right wing [of the Coalition] wants - it's the price he paid to get the keys to the Lodge," he said.
Senator Carr said the cuts were part of a $115 million assault on the CSIRO that had also shut key manufacturing programs. Victoria would be particularly hard hit in the latest round as many of the climate jobs earmarked for elimination are at Aspendale, in Melbourne's south-east, he said.
A spokesman for Industry Minister Christopher Pyne distanced the government from the CSIRO's actions.
"The CSIRO is an independent statutory agency governed by a board of directors," the spokesman said. "The board, in conjunction with senior management, are responsible for setting the CSIRO's priorities."
He noted that Dr Marshall has said the job losses will be made up by increases in other sectors.
"Senator Carr was part of a government that spent $500 million on government advertising over six years, so he is hardly in a position to lecture anyone," the spokesman said, adding that a record $3.1 billion would go to CSIRO over the forward estimates.
Dr Marshall is likely to face stiff questioning at Senate estimates on Thursday, including over what steps he took to understand the inter-agency impact of the cuts and how they might affect Australia's global scientific relations.
"[The cuts] are doing profound damage to Australia's international reputation," Senator Carr said.
The World Meteorological Organisation earlier this week said "Australia will find itself isolated from the community of nations and researchers devoting serious attention to climate change" if the key research programs were lost.
