CSIR-Oh dear

Congratulations are in order for Professor Doug Hilton, director of the the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute for 14 years, who was today (June 19) announced as the CSIRO’s new CEO. That’s him (above) celebrating gay-themed Wear It Purple Day with a friend. 

Judging by the Doctor of Philosophy’s 2013 SBS chat with Greens leader Adam Bandt, he will feel perfectly at home at a scientific institution boasting official guidelines for exorcising ‘evil spirits’ from its laboratories with the help of smoking ceremonies and “indigenous knowledge”.

From their conversation, a few hints of the direction the CSIRO will be heading (emphasis added):

HILTON: Having grown up in Warrandyte in a bit of a hippy household I could have ended up as the member for Melbourne with a Greens hat on and with different career advice you could be sitting here as director of the WEHI.

HILTON: So your message is scientists should come out and be passionate and ardent about the policy outcomes they want in a non-partisan way, that we should get out and paint the picture of the Australia we want.

HILTON: You’ve got your pulse on the electorate, do you think that the Australian electorate is sophisticated enough to have the discussion about high tax rates? And where we pay and how we should pay taxes.

HILTON: The dilemma is that journalists want to provide a balanced view and think that they must give the same weight or same airtime to competing ideas, irrespective of the relative merit of the two sides.

HILTON: Climate change is man-made and the evidence is overwhelming vs the climate change sceptics relying on fringe science. How do you get to the point where journalists are sophisticated enough to be able to say “we don’t have to give equal air-time”?

Yes, Professor Hilton, you’ll fit right in.

— roger franklin