Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)’s controversial Chief Executive Dr Larry Marshall, finished his third and final term in June 2023.
During his tenure, Dr Marshall, a former venture capitalist, was widely criticised by former and current CSIRO staff and fracking activists for his economic rationalisation of Australia’s national science agency which brought the CSIRO closer to industry.
CSIRO’s collaboration with the coal seam gas industry funded “Gas Industry Social and Environmental Research Alliance (GISERA)” raised questions of the independence of CSIRO’s research on which governments then set their climate science policies and gas exploration approvals.
Dr. Marshall was appointed by then science minister Ian Macfarlane in late October 2014. Macfarlane is currently chief executive of the Queensland Resources Council, heavily promoting the gas industry.
Dr. Marshall said:
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.
Larry Marshall, 10 February, 2016
Professor David Karoly, a leading Australian climate scientist said CSIRO, has been turned into a “very extravagant consulting company” under Marshall and the Coalition, with its scientists barred from speaking publicly about government policy.
Prof. Karoly, who worked on four of the six major assessments by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, agreed to head CSIRO’s Earth Systems and Climate Change Hub after Larry Marshall made deep cuts to CSIRO’s climate science capacity.
Marshall’s funding cuts to climate science monitoring were partially reversed after public and political pressure, with Marshall acknowledging it has been a mistake, quoted in a SMH story, headlined:
What’s going on inside the CSIRO and is Larry Marshall to blame?
“CSIRO’s approach is now to make money. It’s essentially a very extravagant consulting company, and unless it has large enough external earnings science doesn’t go ahead. It means public good science has disappeared from CSIRO unless someone else is willing to pay for it.”
Prof David Karoly, quoted in The Guardian, CSIRO has become ‘extravagant consulting company’, one of its former top climate scientists says – story dated 2 May 2022.
Peter Craig quit as head of the Collaboration for Australian Weather and Climate Research, a CSIRO/bureau partnership focused on modelling and projections. He said the scientific community is deeply unhappy about how the cuts had been handled.
“I feel like the early climate scientists in the ’70s fighting against the oil lobby. I think there’s a lot of emotion in this debate. In fact, it almost sounds more like religion than science to me.”
Dr. Marshall told ABC radio.
Hundreds of scientists around Australia protested the job losses at CSIRO.
“Scientists are not known for rushing to the barricades,” said Anthony Keenan of the CSIRO Staff Association, adding that while staff members are concerned about job cuts at CSIRO, they are “dismayed” at the Coalition’s government’s short-sighted approach to science.
Over 100 climate scientists attending the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society (AMOS) climate science conference in Melbourne, including international visitors, staged a lunch time protest expressing disapproval of the restructure and cuts to CSIRO staff and climate research programs announced by CSIRO CEO Dr Larry Marshall.
“CSIRO has to change our culture, our business model, and we have to fund this change and make it happen. If we don’t change we will be on a death spiral of a thousand cuts.”
Dr. Marshall wrote in an email to the CSIRO executive team.
CSIRO had to edit one study into monitoring the methane seeps in the coal seam gas field of Surat Basin, after CSIRO/GISERA tried to ‘set a baseline’ for seeps four years after the gas industry was underway. The original blog read:
“In south-west Queensland, the Surat basin is where CSG activities are in full swing, with its network of production wells, pipelines, access tracks and warning signs. With CSG development in the basin increasing over the next few years, we are trying to establish the amount – and source – of methane emissions now, so that we can set a baseline for future monitoring.”
CSIRO through the Gas Industry Social and Environmental Research Alliance (GISERA) is undertaking a comprehensive study of methane seeps in the Surat basin.
It’s stunning to see the coal seam gas industry funded Gisera redefine the word “baseline”.
Baseline used to mean “a minimum or starting point used for comparisons” but now GISERA is establishing the baseline after the industry is in “full swing”.
I genuinely appreciate that the CSIRO has had funding cuts and now must rely on the coal seam gas industry for dollars … but PLEASE be aware that farmers, rural residents and indeed all Australians need truly independent baseline data if there are legal actions resulting from spills or contamination.
There are hundreds of such legal actions in the USA, so expect them here too!
What you’ve done here is akin to establishing the ‘baseline’ data for a smoker or asbestos worker after they’ve been exposed for years.
C’mon CSIRO … don’t be part of the gas industry spin and change the “facts”. Australian people are relying on you to get this right!
1EarthMedia’s editor, Mark Anning on CSIRO’s blog Taking a measured approach to CSG, 20 October 2014
Nicholas Kachel, CSIRO’s Communication Lead, responded:
Hi Mark
Thanks for your comment. You are entirely correct: ‘baseline’ was the wrong word to use in this instance, and the blog has been amended accordingly.
Cheers
Nick
Taking a measured approach to CSG, 20 October 2014
While the CSIRO’s GISERA relies solely on gas industry supplied data to monitor fugitive methane emissions, the International Energy agency IEA estimates that methane emissions from coal mining in Australia are about 81% higher than the national inventory data, and for oil and gas sector, 92% higher.
Transcript of conversation between CSIRO staff member Hannah Scott and chief executive Larry Marshall posted on CSIRO’s blog on 10 February 2016, headlined “Interview with Larry on recent CSIRO changes“
Hannah Scott:
So over the past week we’ve heard the news of some changes for CSIRO. Why were these particular changes decided on?
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.
Hannah Scott:
So does this mean we’re stopping certain types of research; climate and science research for example?
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.
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?
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.
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?
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.
Hannah Scott:
Thanks Larry. Really appreciate your honest insights
“Dr Marshall has led CSIRO to deliver significant scientific breakthroughs, translate its research into real world solutions and deliver a staggering benefit for our nation – eight times the investment.”
“Today’s CSIRO is the most connected research organisation in Australia, collaborating with every university and helping thousands of small and large industry partners to bring science to the centre of creating a better future.”
Kathryn Fagg, Chair of the CSIRO Board said, on announcing the end of Dr. Marshall’s tenure.
