If you can believe any of the bullshit coming out of Canberra at the moment, Turnbull has been "blindsided" by the news that the CSIRO is to cut 350 jobs and end climate monitoring. Or perhaps he's just distancing himself and claiming he didn't know?
Whatever the case he has ordered some sort of "investigation" into said cuts. Well that's comforting; an investigation. That could mean anything. But anyway the spotlight is well and truly now on why the cuts?
Could it be simply that it was a hangover from the Team Abbott nightmare? Where the wrecking ball made great swathes to all things environmental? Were these cuts planned when Abbott was still in charge? Who knows? The plot thickens.....
Mr Turnbull and his staff "didn't see it coming", a senior CSIRO researcher has been told. The PM "blanched" when given a copy of the news of the cuts, and asked his staff to investigate, another source tells Fairfax Media.
Fairfax Media has sought comment from the PM's office.
Scientists attending Monday's start of the joint national gathering of the Australian Meteorological and Oceanic Society and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science in Melbourne are expected to call for a halt to the planned cuts which, including other divisions, will total 350 over two years.
"We strongly believe that the proposed cuts to CSIRO will seriously undermine Australia's capacity to respond to the challenges posed by climate change," the scientists say, according to a copy of the proposed statement obtained by Fairfax Media.
Scientists leading the call include David Karoly from Melbourne University, Roger Jones from Victoria University and Sarah Perkins-Kirkpatrick from the University of NSW.
"Australia is a continent surrounded by rapidly changing weather patterns, connected to a rapidly changing global climate," the scientists' statement says.
While much has been learnt, there remain many gaps in knowledge, including monitoring changes in the Southern Ocean and how this effects global and regional climate. Another need is to track the changing chemical composition of the atmosphere, including long-term trends based on ice core data, and air quality measurements at Cape Grim in north-west Tasmania, they say.
Senator Richard Di Natale said the Greens plan to use Senate Estimates on Thursday to press Dr Marshall to explain the cuts. The Greens leader also called on the PM to intervene.
"I'd urge the PM to address the situation urgently," Senator Di Natale said. "Our climate science is absolutely critical."
He said Mr Turnbull had inherited a government under Tony Abbott that had attacked climate science, and the PM "has an opportunity to set a different course". West Australia Today
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