The axe continues to fall on New Zealand’s scientific community with the latest announcement that Scion, the Crown forestry research institute, will lose 10% of its staff.
Estimates are 30 of the Rotorua-based research body’s staff will be leaving, with scientists, technicians and support staff likely to go.
The latest move has prompted an angry response from the Public Service Association, with assistant secretary Fleur Fitzsimons of Te Pukenga Here Tikanga Mahi describing the move as “just more dumb stuff” from the government.
Scion’s losses follow the loss of similar positions in Callaghan Innovation and at NIWA.
“This again shows how little the government understands how science is key to our future prosperity and ensuring we can adapt to challenges like climate change,” Fitzsimons said.
In a written response to Farmers Weekly, Scion CEO DR Julian Elder said the researcher had been looking ahead at the work expected to be contracted for and it became clear that for the next year Scion is facing a reduction in the work it expects to be doing, and so is not able to retain the number of staff currently on board.
“As well as identifying areas where we can cut costs, we have been thoroughly assessing our work across all scientific and support areas.
“We have identified about 30 positions for review. We’ll consider these positions further in discussions with those affected staff over the next few weeks. We can’t give more specific detail on which roles may be affected until after the consultation process has concluded.”
Fitzsimons challenged the government’s priorities regarding adding value to forestry and addressing climate change in light of the cuts.
“How come that is no longer a priority? Do forest owners and wood processors agree with this downsizing?”
Elder said the steps Scion is taking are essential to secure its viability to enable it to continue to provide leading scientific research important for sustainable development and growth of NZ’s forestry and biotech sectors.
