Does not rehire any previous board level appointees
Story submitted by Eric Worrall
The Australian government has decided to not renew any of the management board of the Australian CSIRO. Naturally, outgoing board members are not very happy with the decision. According to Simon McKeon, outgoing chairman of the CSIRO;
“There appears to be a “brutal” rule that directors of federal government agencies appointed under Labor will not get another term, the outgoing CSIRO chairman Simon McKeon has said.
“The reality is that, yes, there is a rule that no one on the board of a federal government agency has been reappointed,” McKeon said when asked about the Labor board appointees at an Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) function on Thursday. “It’s an issue that many people are finding worrying.”
McKeon, whose term as the CSIRO chairman ends in June, said it was not about him.
“The great majority of people who put up their hands to serve on a federal government agency are really doing it for the nation,” he said. “All I’m saying is we’re missing out on the corporate memory.
“It’s, I would argue, an unnecessary distraction to what’s already a very challenging bunch of organisations.”
Nobody is saying why the government appears to have taken a hard line on the non renewal of previous political appointments. In America it is normal for political appointments to be replaced by an incoming government. This is less common in Australia.
It is possible that McKeon’s outspoken views on climate change may have contributed to differences between the CSIRO board, and the more skeptical Australian government. According to his Wikipedia entry, Simon McKeon appears to be strongly in favour of more funding for climate research.
“On climate change, McKeon has expressed his desire to see the topic raised to the top of both the “political and public agenda”. He said “We may not have all the answers to what is occurring, … [b]ut the point is, why wouldn’t one take out very strong insurance to at least do what we can to future-proof our well-being?”
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_McKeon#Climate_change
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Nothing like low commodity prices to knock some sense into a resource-rich government that exports coal and yet wants higher taxes on its own industry.
Not working so far. The country is broke and we’re still opposing the tiniest savings or even the PRINCIPLE of savings! The next PM (himself the subject of some, um, conjecture) is on a Keynesian anti private sector anti development anti mining anti wealth platform. Spend for Growth!!
You know that the UN is working on this. They have two opponents in the Paris Climate Conference, Australia and Canada. They have already stated that Canada’s PM will be replaced before the conference. They are trying to have Tony taken out also but it is not working. At this point, the conspiracy idea looks true. And I am not a conspiracy believer.
Not exclusively.
They also have India, China, Indonesia and a host of developing economies opposed to a universal mandate on CO2 emissions, surely.
The Australian media really missed out when Peter Costello stepped down as the liberal treasurer when Howard got the boot. We could have had the appropriately named Abbott and Costello show .
The same thing that happened to the CSIRO board should happen at the governing level as well. After say 20 years all the top government positions are up for grabs
Here’s Andrew Bolt’s take on the issue today on his blog…….
Another anti-Abbott rumor treated as fact
Andrew Bolt March 07 2015 (8:20am)
Another anti-Abbott scare based on a dud rumour. This time it’s pushed by Alan Kohler:
There is one barnacle that the Abbott Government needs to get rid of immediately: the rule that any director on a government board who was appointed by the previous Labor government will not be re-appointed.
The decree, apparently issued by Prime Minister Tony Abbott and/or his chief of staff Peta Credlin and binding on all cabinet ministers, was publicly confirmed yesterday by the chairman of CSIRO, Simon McKeon…
That chairman had told me he had attempted to get three members of his board re-appointed this year, telling his minister that in each case they were good directors who contributed much to the organisation.
The minister apparently apologised, but said his hands were tied: they could not be re-appointed because they were Labor appointees…
If Tony Abbott doesn’t drop this rule soon, relations between his government and the director community will break down irretrievably.
The facts:
JOE Hockey has flatly rejected suggestions the Abbott government has a policy of not reappointing government board directors hired by the previous Labor administration.
And a spokesman for Tony Abbott told The Weekend Australian there were more than 50 government agencies with boards where a person was appointed by Labor and reappointed by the current government…
… in dismissing suggestions that the government had a policy of not renewing Labor appointees, the Prime Minister’s spokesman said Kim Beazley had been reappointed as ambassador in Washington.
Other re-appointments included Elizabeth Broderick as the Sex Discrimination Commissioner and Ian Chubb as Chief Scientist. Mr Turnbull forced almost all the NBN Co directors to quit in September 2013, except for Kerry Schott and Alison Lansley, who he asked to stay on.
And let’s face it – Labor has been masterly at promoting its own through the bureaucracy. The Liberals must do the same to promote cultural change. Witness only how the Labor-appointed Gillian Triggs has used the Human Rights Commission.
“There appears to be a “brutal” rule that directors of federal government agencies appointed under Labor will not get another term, the outgoing CSIRO chairman Simon McKeon has said. “The reality is that, yes, there is a rule that no one on the board of a federal government agency has been reappointed”
Lets say its a shocker for the outgoing head of Australia’s most prestigious science organisation to make such a miscommunication – the evidence appears to be piling up that what he said is incorrect.
Eric. Two things:
1. What McKeon said is incorrect. It is not true. He’s telling porkies. The evidence is in. He’s lost his credibility and his honour.
2. The CSIRO is no longer “Australia’s most prestigious science organisation”. It lost that credit a long time ago; around when Bob Hawke started to politically infiltrate and subvert it with left leaning political activists.
“The great majority of people who put up their hands to serve on a federal government agency are really doing it for the nation,” he said.
.
Ahhh…bless the altruism….
Yup. That’s the claim that riles me the most.
The concerning thing here is that the current LNP government in Australia is struggling and may well lose the next election whenever it is called. Should this happen and Labour return to power, CSIRO and all of the other agencies concerned with climate change that have been downsized will be expanded again by the new left government and we’ll all be back to square one.
So although I view the CSIRO situation as good news, I do fear the this trend will be short lived.
The conservative Australian governmnet is caught in a bit of a dilemna,as it believes in sceince, its just that it thinks that many science agencies have been captured by green politics.
One way to balance this would be to throw money into funding a more balanced approach, except this runs the risk of those funds just being diverted by the hoplesslessly and unashamedly unbalanced status quo.
The other way is to reform these agencies by replacement, and greater crutiny of appointments.
But the deeper problem to me, seems to be based in the very political structure of Australia itself. Unlike the US, we have never broken away from mother England. What this creates in practice, is a system of patronage run on a semi-colonial model, science appointees usually need to conform to an agenda that suits a semi-ruling ruling class, rather than coming from the people. The very structure of government itself needs reform. The echoes of the ruling class that remain within science benefits more from green ideology than a free market.
There is some benefit in remaining attachments to a government structure based on the UK model, but one weakness is potential capture by class agendas and interests. The US doesnt have this probem to nearly the same degree (alhough they have other problems such as an ‘honour code’ within the south especially -which the British never adopted), and I suspect this is because of their different history and much greater independance from the British.
The story is from the left leaning Guardian.
Here are some alternative notions, quaintly described as facts:
JOE Hockey has flatly rejected suggestions the Abbott government has a policy of not reappointing government board directors hired by the previous Labor administration.
And a spokesman for Tony Abbott told The Weekend Australian there were more than 50 government agencies with boards where a person was appointed by Labor and reappointed by the current government…
… in dismissing suggestions that the government had a policy of not renewing Labor appointees, the Prime Minister’s spokesman said Kim Beazley had been reappointed as ambassador in Washington.
Other re-appointments included Elizabeth Broderick as the Sex Discrimination Commissioner and Ian Chubb as Chief Scientist. Mr Turnbull forced almost all the NBN Co directors to quit in September 2013, except for Kerry Schott and Alison Lansley, whom he asked to stay on.
Chubb? Chubb?
Amazing.
This is a man who admitted in front of a Senate Committee that he didn’t know what a cyclone was called in the Northern Hemisphere.
And he’s advising government on science matters?
Jesus wept!
Mum, mum !! I have been rejected by CentreLink for Dole payments.
No job, no dole, just a degree in Climate Science. What am I going to do??
” get online son and join the CSIRO Climate Sciences division. they’ll hire you for sure”
Why would they hire me??
“because you’re like your father, full of BS”
regards
ps, this conversation is a total fib, just like Mann’s Stick.
The leadership spat isn’t over. Regardless of the polls, Turnbull can still oust Abbott, and that would be a disaster for Australia IMO. Turncoat, using his nickname, is a leftie, he may as well join the Labor or Green parties. He is a strong supporter of a “proice ohn cahbon”, not to “save the planet”, but simply because he is an ex-banker and likes to look after his mates at the big end of town in the banking sector. Sadly however, I do not see Abbott leading the LNP in the 2016 general election.
Hilarious. Cheered me up no end to read about this left wing policy twonk trying to justify his existence. Just shows that if government shut off funding for climate change research, they’d soon stop pontificating.
why wouldn’t one take out very strong insurance to at least do what we can to future-proof our well-being?”
So is he interested in my £500 a year policy to protect any aircraft he flies on from stampeding elephants at altitudes about 40,000 feet?
That is the cost of renewable energy policies and an event of equal probability to climate science being right, given the direction of the temperature accuracy graph for the last fifty years even after “adjustment”.
This makes me so happy.
“All I’m saying is we’re missing out on the corporate memory.”
What he really means is that they no longer have the ability to perpetuate the massive scam of BS pseudo science on the Australian people. Good riddance and good luck in the real world of science.
Reblogged this on austparagus and commented:
Some context to the stories in the news today about public servants not being re-appointed to federal government boards.
As far as the headline to this article
It could be McKeon making an excuse for his his non-renewal by falsely claiming everyone is being told to leave OR it may be reasonable speculation that since McKeon is being outed the board will be reformed under a new chair.
In any case the headline “government ditches the entire Board” is expressing facts not in evidence.
As far as the CSIRO, it looks like it is being re-tooled into some semblance of rationality and usefulness. In addition to the wack-a-doodle McKeon being booted, note these news events as well.
~ New CSIRO boss Larry Marshall says scientists must think like entrepreneurs
~ CSIRO scientists will bear the brunt of funding cuts, analysis shows
~ CSIRO: one in three staff ‘seriously considering’ quitting, survey shows
Hopefully no more free lunch, meaningless research and harmful directives.
CSIRO: one in three staff ‘seriously considering’ quitting, survey shows
__________
An honorable person would have done it already but 1/3rd sounds a bit lowish. Do we have a higher bid somewhere? You sir, in the back, was that a bid? … oh! … Ladies and Gentlemen we are at 3/5ths! … are there any further bids?
“… [b]ut the point is, why wouldn’t one take out very strong insurance to at least do what we can to future-proof our well-being?”
Seems to me that getting rid of that entire lot accomplishes EXACTLY that objective.
It appears the times are changing down under. Now it’s our turn in the US, but I think it will be 2017 before we can make major changes.
I read the article here and the one at the Guardian. Neither told me what the letters CSIRO stands for. As a teacher I was taught to tell my pupils to give the title of an organisation in full before using initials.
Wow … a teacher that can’t google on line …. you must have been a dandy 😉
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)
The global warming gravy train is not the only reason to toss out the CSIRO board, rather, allegations of widespread fraud and corruption:
http://www.smh.com.au/technology/sci-tech/science-second-in-toxic-csiro-work-culture-20130412-2hqv0.html
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/technology/sci-tech/csiro-accused-of-more-shabby-tactics-20130413-2hs51.html
http://www.theage.com.au/technology/sci-tech/how-the-csiro-cheated-a-global-drugs-giant-20130410-2hluf.html
http://www.theage.com.au/technology/sci-tech/call-for-inquiry-as-csiro-comes-under-the-microscope-20130411-2hojm.html
For anyone that doubts the nexus between CSIRO and BOM in ramping up the climate change global warming prognostications you really need to read this joint report published 25 January 2015 http://www.csiro.au/Portals/Media/New-climate-change-projections-for-Australia.aspx
Sorry couldn’t get link to work so maybe someone else can do this for me?
That’s one way to separate politics from science.
Or is it? Is this just tit-for-tat now?
But it did have to be cleaned up, we’ll see if it gets back to actual observations.
BOM next please Canberra, and thank you in advance.
Let these CSIRO management board members work without pay–it’s the least they can do to undo the mess they’ve left behind.
Of course, that presumes they’d be able to set things straight, which would be impossible.
The entities pushing all of this is organized and will try to get this done on the sly.
The CSIRO has been linked with the BoM in the temperature fiddling (homogenisation) issue. Both are warmist organisations costing Australia $millions in a futile attempt to change the climate. To be able to clear out the board from CSIRO is a step in the right direction.
It’s a bit rich of them to complain, they accepted the well paid position with the full knowledge that it was temporary.