Editing CSIRO (section)

===Climate change censorship: Clive Spash ===
On 25 November 2009, a debate was held in the Australian Senate concerning the alleged involvement of the CSIRO and the Labor government in censorship. The debate was called for by opposition parties after evidence came to light that a paper critical of carbon emissions trading was being suppressed.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.clivespash.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/09-11-2-The-Australian-FRONT-PAGE.pdf |author= Berkovic, N. |date= 2 November 2009 |title= CSIRO bid to gag emissions trading scheme policy attack |work= The Australian |publisher= News Limited }}</ref> At the time, the Labor government was trying to get such a scheme through the Senate. After the debate, the Science Minister, Kim Carr, was forced to release the paper, but when doing so in the Senate he also delivered a letter from the CEO of the CSIRO, [[Megan Clark]], which attacked the report's author and threatened him with unspecified punishment.<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.clivespash.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/9_News_26_Nov_2009.pdf |author= Crystal, J. |date= 26 November 2009 |title= CSIRO scientist faces punishment |publisher= 9 News |location= Australia }}</ref> The author of the paper, Clive Spash, was cited in the press as having been bullied and harassed,<ref>{{cite news |title= Climate expert Clive Spash 'heavied' by CSIRO management |url= https://www.clivespash.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/09-11-3-The_Australian-Climate_expert_Clive_Spash_heavied_by_CSIRO_management.pdf |author= Berkovic, N. |date= 3 November 2009 |work= The Australian }}</ref> and later gave a radio interview about this.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.clivespash.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/MW-CSIRO-121212.mp3 |author= Walsh, M. |year= 2012 |title= The toxic workplace and bullying culture at CSIRO |publisher= 2cc.net.au }}</ref> In the midst of the affair, CSIRO management had considered releasing the paper with edits that Nature reported would be "tiny".<ref>{{cite journal |url= http://www.nature.com/news/2009/091113/full/news.2009.1083.html |author= Pincock, S. |date=13 November 2009 |title= Australian agency moves to calm climate row. Researcher will be allowed to publish his paper after making 'tiny' changes. |journal= Nature |doi=10.1038/news.2009.1083|url-access= subscription }}</ref> Spash claimed the changes actually demanded amounted to censorship and resigned. He later posted on his website a document detailing the text that CSIRO management demanded be deleted;<ref>{{cite web |title= An Orwellian guide to carbon emissions trading |author= Spash, C. |year= 2010 |url= https://www.clivespash.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/OrwellianGuidetoCarbonETS.pdf |publisher= clivespash.org }}</ref> by itself, this document forms a coherent set of statements criticising emissions trading without any additional wording needed. In subsequent Senate Estimates hearings during 2010, Senator Carr and Clark went on record claiming the paper was originally stopped from publication solely due to its low quality not meeting CSIRO standards.<ref>Australian Senate 2010. Senate Economics Legislation Committee Estimates. Canberra: Official Hansard (Wednesday, 10 February 2010)</ref> At the time of its attempted suppression, the paper had been accepted for publication in an academic journal, [[New Political Economy (journal)|New Political Economy]], which in 2010 had been ranked by the Australian Research Council as an 'A class' publication.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.arc.gov.au/xls/era2010_journal_title_list.xls |title=Archived copy |access-date=11 December 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111119133137/http://www.arc.gov.au/xls/ERA2010_journal_title_list.xls |archive-date=19 November 2011  }}</ref> In an ABC radio interview, Spash called for a Senate enquiry into the affair and the role played by senior management and the Science Minister.<ref>{{cite news |title= Dumped Professor calls for Senate inquiry |url= http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2010/s2829301.htm |author= Colvin, M. |year= 2010 |publisher= Australian Broadcasting Corporation }}</ref> After these events, the ''[[Sydney Morning Herald]]''  reported that "Questions are being raised about the closeness of BHP Billiton and the CSIRO under its chief executive, Megan Clark".<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.smh.com.au/business/csiro-in-bed-with-big-coal-20100702-zu2i.html |author= Manning, P. |year= 2010 |title= CSIRO in bed with big coal |work= The Sydney Morning Herald}}</ref> After his resignation, an unedited version of the paper was released by Spash as a discussion paper,<ref>{{cite web |url= http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/19114/ |author= Spash, C. L. |year= 2009 |title= The Brave New World of Carbon Trading |work= Munich Personal Research Papers in Economics Archive (MPRA) |publisher= Munich University }}</ref> and later published as an academic journal article.<ref>{{cite journal |author= Spash, C. L. |date= 16 July 2010 |title= The brave new world of carbon trading |journal= New Political Economy |volume= 15 |number= 2 |pages= 169–195 |doi= 10.1080/13563460903556049 |s2cid= 44071002 |url= https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/19114/1/MPRA_paper_19114.pdf }} Copy also available at {{cite journal |url=https://www.clivespash.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/2010_Spash_Brave_New_World_NPE.pdf |title=The brave new world of carbon trading |journal= New Political Economy |volume= 15 |number= 2 |pages=169–195 |doi=10.1080/13563460903556049 |year=2010 |last1=Spash |first1=Clive L. |s2cid=44071002 }}</ref>