CSIRO bows to the spin doctors

It is a tragedy that CSIRO, one of the great storehouses of Australia’s knowledge of itself, no longer trusts its own scientific staff to speak openly about their work without management supervision.

It is perhaps even more of a tragedy that the Senate Estimates, supposedly the public’s scrutineer of proper spending, has not asked why the national science agency should choose to pull down the shutters on the nation in such a fashion. What are the leaders of CSIRO afraid of? Free speech? Openness? Transparency? Accountability? Scientific facts becoming public? No reason for the sudden change has ever been given.

At one level, it may seem like just another organ of the Commonwealth bureaucracy succumbing to government pressure to shut up. At another it could just be a futile response by senior managers attempting to “control” an increasing wave of criticism by scientists and others in the national media.

But for Australians the loss of free access and uncensored comment from the nation’s scientists, whether in CSIRO or in universities, is a roadblock to our developing into a science-literate society that is quick to discuss, debate and adopt the best new technologies and scientific ideas.

For the media, it simply eliminates or censors a major source of factual comment and wisdom in the debate about the national future.