Australia's Chief Scientist on ABC's Lateline. (March 20, 2010)

Following the March 18, 2010 meeting of the Prime Minister's Science, Engineering and Innovation Council (PMSEIC) Lateline's Ticky Fullerton interviewed Australia's Chief Scientist, Professor Penny Sackett.

A sample of the interview:

TICKY FULLERTON: Adding to allegations of mistrust in science, is that the scientists at the CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation), some of them, have been pressured not to speak out or include parts of their research if it doesn't fit with Government policy. Do you think scientists in CSIRO with good evidence-based science should be able to speak out freely and independently?

PENNY SACKETT: I think that there is, in fact, a policy that that is in place: that a CSIRO scientist can and should speak out clearly on matters of scientific evidence.

TICKY FULLERTON: And yet that didn't happen with Dr Spatch (sic), did it, last year when he tried to talk about the CPRS (Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme)?

PENNY SACKETT: The question is, when that crosses lines of policy there are matter - employment practices in the CSIRO that draw a distinction between matters of policy and matters of science and those matters are handled internally by the CSIRO.
But I think one thing we can feel quite confident of is that the quality of research that is done by those researchers is recognised the world over as of the highest international standard.

TICKY FULLERTON: I ask this because climate change is a classic example of how Government policy really is invading the area of science, if you like, and it makes for a rather dysfunctional situation, I'd put it to you, that you've got scientists who want to be able to put their views out in public, but because there is such a lot at stake with this particular agenda of climate change, there seems to be pressure on some of them not to be able to put their views?

PENNY SACKETT: Well, you know, I'm not aware of situations where that has come to play in a very serious way. I am, of course, aware of the matter in which you've been speaking and that is an internal matter for the CSIRO.

Click here to access the full transcript as well as a video of the complete interview.

  Professor Penny Sackett                                Ms Ticky Fullerton