Australia's scientific agency to see job cuts for "ignoring climate change"

The Australian government and its national science agency have been accused of turning its back on fighting climate change, after the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) announced it would be cutting hundreds of jobs in the climate field.

The move, labeled a restructure by the CSIRO, will result in jobs being shed in the Oceans and Atmosphere department as well the Land and Water sectors, and the scientific community and the federal opposition have on Friday expressed outrage in the decision.

Professor Andy Pitman, director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science at the University of NSW said the number of cuts was simply "jaw-dropping".

"It's a catastrophic reduction in our capacity to assess present and future climate change," Pitman told News Corp on Friday, "It will leave us vulnerable to future climate change and unable to take advantage of any positives that result."

The University of Melbourne's Kevin Walsh said the program was being shut down despite no inroads being made in solving the climate change dilemma.

"It is incorrect to say that the climate change science problem is solved, and now all we need to do is figure out what to do about it," Walsh said.

"No working climate scientist believes that."

Others said they were "stunned" by the announcement, with one asking, "How can our largest national research organisation choose not to engage in finding the answer to (climate change)?"

Despite the announcement, CSIRO chief executive Larry Marshall said the fight against climate change had already shifted to universities and other government bodies, and tried to play down the effect the job cuts would have.

"Many universities have now gone into the climate measurement and modelling area. Some years ago we handed over our climate models to universities and the Bureau of Meteorology," Marshall told News Corp, "If we were absolutely unique in this area, that would be a different story, but where we can be unique is in figuring out solutions."

Up to 175 jobs are expected to be shed in each of the next two years, but despite the doom and gloom, the CSIRO is expected to reshuffle staff into other positions, meaning it is just the climate change sector of the scientific agency that will be culled.

Opposition leader Bill Shorten also weighed in on the argument, and told Fairfax Media that the prime minister should "hang his head in shame".

"The only people cheering this decision from Malcolm Turnbull will be the far-right of the Liberal Party who are calling the shots," Shorten said. Endit