Labor MP Ed Husic urges own party to ‘pry open the jaws of Treasury’ after CSIRO announces job cuts

Husic, who oversaw CSIRO cuts as the former science minister, said some in government see scientific agency funding as a cost' not an investment'

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Ed Husic has challenged his own government to pry open the jaws of Treasury" to boost funding for Australia's national scientific agency after it announced up to 350 research jobs would be cut to deal with an imminent budgetary cliff.

The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) announced on Wednesday it would cut between 300 and 350 research unit roles as part of efforts to narrow its research scope and address an ageing property portfolio in need of urgent modernisation.