CSIRO's Manager for Media Liaison, Huw Morgan: Publishing data is fine... (November 7, 2009)

The administration of Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is in the throes of being taught a salutary lesson on how not to produce an unwanted media inflation.

Now the dustup regarding the head of CSIRO's sustainable ecosystems group Daniel Walker's decision to block the publication of a peer-reviewed paper by Clive Spash, an ecological economist in his group, because he considered it commented on government policy, has reached NatureNews (TFW has previously reported on the event).

CSIRO's Manager for Media Liaison, Huw Morgan speaking on behalf of the organisation told Nature: "Publishing data is fine. It's when you get into comment or passing judgement on government policy that you run into problems." But when the topic of the paper is the efficacy of emission trading schemes and your data lead you to the conclusion that they are ineffective, what will you write in the paper's discussion section?

Clearly the matter has become an embarrassment to The Minister in charge of CSIRO, Senator Kim Carr, who told Nature: "that he did not think this was a case of censorship, and that the government welcomed public debate on emissions trading schemes. 'We are not the slightest bit concerned about people publishing different views to the government. At no point have I seen this paper, at no point has the Government said we don't want it published. We've indicated on many occasions that this research will be published.'" Apparently no one told Dr Walker that. And it remains an open question as to whether or not anyone in Senator Carr's department knew about the matter, and if so was it discussed.

In any case the matter has now gone international and is increasingly embarrassing not only for Senator Carr and CSIRO's chief executive, Megan Clark, but also for Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in the lead up to the Copenhagen conference.