Australasian Science, April 2004
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Excerpts from: CSIRO in Bed with Tobacco Lobbyist
Peter Pockley
questions why CSIRO has appointed a new Communications Director with a long
record defending the tobacco industry.
[Donna] Staunton has simply moved from the unadvertised contract of internal
"consultant" (May 2003) to Acting Director on 23 October 2003 for four days per
week and, now, appointment full-time to the advertised post on 1 March 2004. The
fees for headhunters, Korn/Ferry, were $100,000. This was enough to pay for a
scientist's salary.
The leader of communications for the nation's largest research agency should
have had a proven track record as skilful communicator of science, preferably in
mainstream media, with preference to an applicant who also had qualifications in
science and had worked in a large scientific institution. These criteria should
have been specified in the job description of June 2003, but Sandland justified
these omissions by claiming that CSIRO needed someone who had skills in
"managing people".
"Professional" PR people may claim that they are able to work for any client,
like a lawyer accepting any brief, but it is hard to see how this applies with
Staunton due to her controversial work in the tobacco industry. Not to have
required achievement in science communication in the most responsible
institutional post in Australia - and the highest paid - diminishes the standing
of the appointee within CSIRO.
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Dr Peter Pockley is Senior Correspondent for Australasian Science.