Australian cities and the people who live in them have been short-changed yet again by the Coalition, with the potential loss of 35 of 50 staff from the CSIRO’s sustainable cities program due to government cuts.
This is yet another example of the Coalition’s eagerness to sacrifice our cities’ future liveability and sustainability.
The Prime Minister was happy to use the CSIRO as a backdrop when launching his innovation policy, however once again, we see his actions just don’t match his words. He talks about innovation, and he talks about cities, but Mr Turnbull's government has failed to support either'.
Cities have already lost a minister in 2016, and now will lose experts working in the field. This simply isn’t good enough. This is not slack that will be picked up by the private sector. Australia will lose its research and innovation edge with this decision.