Closing The CSIRO Scour Does Not Sit Well With CSIRO Governance

The CSIRO Geelong, Textiles & Fibre Division, was in the early 1990's the largest Division in the CSIRO, employing over 400 people. A full small research wool mill had been established on site to specifically meet the needs of major research activity into wool processing. As scouring is a vital part of the wool chain a small wool scour was included as part of this infrastructure. From the mid 1990's this once great facility has been systematically dismantled, so that all that remains is a shell of the former organisation & infrastructure.

Why has this occurred?

The Howard Government declared Australia the "clever country" [1] but reduced research & education (particularly higher education) [2] funding.

In real terms, government funding for CSIRO research was reduced under the Howard Government. Funds to run the CSIRO Geelong Textile and Fibre Technology division have traditionally come from a wool producer levies matched by federal government grants. At the same time the federal government was cutting back on its contributions to research the wool industry suffered a major decline and reduced numbers of sheep; drought, low wool prices & Johnes Disease all contributed to this decline. Thus the CSIRO Geelong TFT Division found themselves with greatly reduced funds with which to operate.

Researchers have been forced to spend a great deal of time writing submissions seeking funding for research projects instead of just getting on with their research work. Those in charge of the CSIRO decided to bring in administrators in order to have them put together funding submissions & free up researchers to get on with their research work. Unfortunately this did not work out & the researchers still have to spend a great deal of their time writing submissions for research funding. If unsuccessful rewriting the submission & submitting it to another group in the hope of success.

With shrinking funds tough decisions had to be made & the dismantling of the infrastructure & dismissal of skilled people at the CSIRO Geelong division commenced. Unfortunately it was research projects that were discontinued & the associated researchers & technicians who lost their jobs. Most administrators miraculously kept their position(this seems to occur throughout the CSIRO when there are cut backs). Thus we now have a research organisation which top heavy. Research & even contract work done by the CSIRO Geelong division is now viewed as too expensive.Which is probably the reason why the wool industry (the CSIRO's historical industry source of funds) is placing an ever increasing amount of its research work with other research organisations, often off shore.

In my opinion there are major problems within the CSIRO organisation which need to be addressed if the CSIRO is to continue to operate in such a way as to fulfill its charter. According to the CSIRO's governance the..."CSIRO is an Australian Government statutory authority constituted and operating under the Science and Industry Research Act 1949. CSIRO’s primary responsibilities are to carry out scientific research to benefit Australian industry and the economy, and to provide environmental and social benefits to all Australians. "....The "CSIRO recognises that good governance cannot be measured in purely financial terms. As a public sector body, CSIRO’s performance is measured against broader national, social and community objectives." [3]

If the CSIRO was being true to its governance, it would not be closing & dismantling the CSIRO scour and would certainly NOT be suggesting that commercial scour clients sent their fibre off shore for processing.