Sydney

Claims from Australian scientists that they have been gagged in discussions of climate change have revealed a culture of fear at the nation's leading research laboratory.

An investigative television programme aired by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on 13 February claimed that three prominent climate scientists from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) were censored in discussions of climate change and energy research.

Against the backdrop of the Australian government's refusal to back the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, there has been a public outcry over this and other media reports of political interference in the prominent research agency, which publishes high-impact studies on climate change. Political opponents have called for an independent inquiry into the allegations. On 21 February, the CSIRO announced a review of how it provides scientific input into policy development.

Graeme Pearman, a CSIRO veteran and former chief of the agency's atmospheric research division, says that in 2004 he was advised to withdraw his name from a report by the independent Australian Climate Group that recommended targets for reducing greenhouse-gas emissions.

In the streets: Sydneyites protest at Australia's refusal to ratify Kyoto. Credit: M. YOUNG/GREENPEACE/AAP

Steve Morton, chief of CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems, and Pearman's manager at the time, admits that he asked Pearman not to participate but denies that scientists are censored. “We encourage our scientific staff to speak about their work. But there are certain areas where we urge them to tread warily and not to beat someone else's political drum.”

Like US science agencies (see above), the CSIRO's official policy permits staff to discuss their scientific work, but advises against commenting on government policies. It says they should only express private opinions when it is clear that it is their personal view. But the line between science and policy is blurred, say CSIRO scientists, with the greatest tension being in environmental research into climate, water and energy.

“Scientists are encouraged to do policy-relevant research and yet not be policy prescriptive — there is a very fine line,” says climate expert Barrie Pittock, another CSIRO veteran who spoke out in the television programme. Pittock says he was told not to discuss mitigation in a 2003 report commissioned by the government's Australian Greenhouse Office. In particular, he says he was asked to tone down his discussion of how rising sea levels could displace people in southeast Asia, because of potential immigration implications for Australia.

Critics say the CSIRO's weakness in public debates on environmental issues in the face of conservative government policies is down to financial insecurity. Government funding has been eroded and there is pressure on the agency to find external funding sources and industry partners. “There are a lot of fearful science managers second-guessing what they think government wants to hear,” says the third whistleblower, Barney Foran, who retired from the CSIRO last year. When the government appointed a biofuel taskforce in 2005, Foran says, he was warned not to say anything negative about ethanol fuel.

Other ex-CSIRO scientists deny being censored, but acknowledge that the mood at the agency has changed in recent years. “The CSIRO is very mute on key environmental issues at the moment,” says John Williams, who retired from the CSIRO in 2004 after heading the land and water division. And there is concern that younger staff feel constrained. “Anyone who has a baby and a mortgage would be crazy to speak out,” says Foran.

But the culture of fear has been created by perception rather than reality, says Michael Borgas, president of the CSIRO's staff association. “The crux of the problem is job insecurity,” he says, pointing out that annual staff turnover is 21% and that most new positions are short-term or casual appointments. “With that backdrop, people aren't going to be pushing issues or debates that bring the spotlight on them.”