First it was the universities’ turn, now Australia’s supposed ‘peak science body’ is squealing as they come under the eye of the Trump administration.
Why are they so worried? As it turns out, like our universities, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) trousers hundreds of millions of US taxpayer dollars in research partnerships. The Trump administration wants to know that its money is being spent properly.
Researchers at the CSIRO have been sent a Trump administration survey demanding they answer questions on diversity, gender ideology and whether they are studying “climate justice”, as the Australian government scrambles to respond to US attacks on scientific funding.
Two researchers working on American-funded projects have received the 36-point survey from the US government, this masthead can reveal, joining those at seven Australian universities sent the probing questionnaire.
So, what are they worried about? If they are doing actual science, then they should easily be able to answer ‘no’ to all of the questions. Gender ideology, DEI, climate justice: none of those are scientific matters. They’re all purely ideological.
If the CSIRO is wasting time studying such stuff, it’s not doing science.
It sounds very much as if they’ve got something to worry about.
The CSIRO Staff Association demanded management “take all means necessary to protect the integrity and sustainability of the many joint projects undertaken in partnership”.
“We are also calling CSIRO management to ensure the wellbeing and security of staff who may feel directly targeted by the Trump administration’s attack on workplace diversity,” said spokeswoman Susan Tonks.
So-called scientists should at least be able to tell the truth. The Trump administration is not attacking ‘workplace diversity’, they’re diligently checking that American money isn’t being wasted on unscientific bullshit.
The pseudo-scientific wokesters in Australia aren’t the only piglets squealing as their snouts are dragged from the trough.
The Trump administration has launched what scientific journal Nature called “an unprecedented assault on science”, cancelling or freezing tens of billions of dollars of funding and instituting an “Orwellian” ban on research that might “promote gender ideology”.
Did they even read what they wrote, there? “Gender ideology” – that’s the literal opposite of science.
Some US researchers who have answered the questionnaire have had their funding reinstated, while others who refused were warned in a letter from the White House it was “a waste of taxpayer dollars that does not improve the day-to-day lives of those we serve” to continue funding such projects.
And the White House is absolutely right.
There’s no reason American taxpayers should be funding pseudoscience in America, let alone Australia. If universities or the CSIRO are forced to drop such garbage from their roster, then so much the better for us, too.
