CSIRO changes R&D direction

here.
Wow, is it the new year already? CSIRO and science funding are in the news twice in one day! Don't worry, we won't be hearing about it again for a while till the next crisis-cycle kicks in.

This story is creepy on so many levels. It's a got a real Lysenko-Soviet feel to it; political aims that science is to confirm.
The lack of long term commitment to CSIRO's scientists is pretty pathetic, Aussie isn't that big, there is no labour pool for these people to swim around in, they're likely to be unemployable if their projects are cut.
There is no such thing as 'clean coal' only 'slightly less dirty coal'. The continued use of this term is akin to 'the pacific solution'.
$50 million from govt and $40 million from industry over several years... can you get any more pathetic? this is less than the advertising budget for a decent sized company and really shows the Howard committment to cleaning up industry and generating innovative industries for the future. arrrggggghhhhh.