Greens spokesperson for Antarctica, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson, has today released the most comprehensive Antarctic science funding package ever put forward by a political party.

Senator Whish-Wilson said, “The work of Australia’s Antarctic scientists is pivotal in understand the risk of climate change. Nothing shows this more than the recent discovery that the East Antarctic ice-sheet giant isn’t as stable as we thought and is now starting to collapse. This alone could potentially add several metres to catastrophic sea-level rise.

Greens Senator for Tasmania, and Chair of recent Senate Inquiry into CSIRO budget cuts, offers the following comments on redundancy notice issued to renowned sea-level rise scientist John Church while at sea south of Hobart on the RV Investigator.

Senator Whish-Wilson said, “John Church is a giant of sea-level rise research and to treat him in this way is abominable, there is a real palpable anger in Tasmania's science community following this decision.

Chair of the Senate Select Committee into the Scrutiny of Government Budget Measures and Greens Senator for Tasmania, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson, provides the following comments on the release of the Senate Inquiry Report into the CSIRO budget cuts.

Senator Whish-Wilson said, “What is clear from this entire debacle is that both the Australian Government and the CSIRO management has at no stage placed any value on the work being done by the CSIRO climate scientists.

Greens Senator for Tasmania and Chair of the Senate Select Committee into the Scrutiny of Government Budget Measures, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson, will use tomorrow’s hearing into CSIRO cuts to get to the bottom of the supposed final job loss numbers announced today.

Senator Whish-Wilson said, “Today’s announcement sounds like the Government has merely softened the blow for devastating job losses across the climate and environmental science functions within the CSIRO. The majority of the planned job losses will still go ahead.

Australian Greens Leader and Tasmanian Senator Christine Milne says she firmly supports CSIRO workers who are stopping work today to protest job cuts in the Abbott government's brutal budget.

"It's no wonder Australia's scientists are up in arms and I'm glad that here in Hobart that they're prepared to speak out against this backward attack from a backward government on the research that's helping Australia address 21st Century challenges," Senator Milne said.