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January 31, 2026
The cash-strapped CSIRO is spending more than half a million dollars a year maintaining the lawns, trees and indoor plants at its Canberra headquarters despite the Albanese government coming under increasing pressure to rein in spending.
The agency has slashed 350 jobs due to "steep rises in the cost of doing science," but The Australian can reveal the national science agency forked out $518,608 last financial year for "grounds maintenance" and lawn upkeep at its Black Mountain site.
And spending on the landscape budget almost doubled the year prior, with costs jumping by 64 per cent from $379,822 to $623,630 between 2023 to 2024, contributing to a total spend of nearly $2m in four years.
CSIRO also failed to be more frugal inside its 37ha campus of buildings and labs, with documents revealing $136,000 was spent on indoor plants and flowers over the same period, working out to $34,000 per year for decor.
And the agency did not curb its spending abroad, with more than $53,000 dolled out for local landscapers to maintain the European laboratory at Montferrier-surLez in southern France.
The spending on mowing, tree trimming and "floral arrangements" came as the CSIRO announced in November it would axe up to 350 jobs due to cost pressures, having already slashed 800 positions from its workforce of about 5600 full-time employees in the past 18 months.
It also comes as the government faces pressure on spending that has reached the highest level since 1986 outside the pandemic at 29.6 per cent of GDP, while the deficit has more than tripled in the past year.
Jim Chalmers said he did not "believe" public spending was to blame for economy woes with the inflation hike this week, but vowed before the mid-year financial outlook in December his war on waste would focus on "low priority spending, and how can we direct it to higher priority areas".
Despite receiving a "shortterm investment" of $233m in the mid-year budget, CSIRO bosses said the extra funding would not stop the job cuts.
The bailout came after the agency revealed it would need an additional $80m-135m per year for the next 10 years to keep its infrastructure, research equipment and technology up to scratch.
Job losses have been pinned down to the costs of running the agency, and the "cumulative impacts of an ageing property and infrastructure portfolio" across its 46 sites at home and abroad.
A CSIRO spokesman defended the landscape budget, saying the money had gone towards a "safe and functional work environment for staff" that included bushfire prevention at Black Mountain, where the campus borders bushland.
"The cost reflects the significant size of the site and is a necessary and proportionate investment in safety and asset protection," the spokesman said.
"Removal of dead or at-risk trees across the site as well as repairs to a number of footpaths made unsafe by extruding tree roots and other damage resulted in an increase to grounds maintenance costs in Black Mountain between 2022-23 and 2023-24. These were temporary impacts, with costs and overall grounds maintenance expenditure reducing again in 202425.
"Indoor plants are maintained in some CSIRO buildings to improve site vibrancy and improve air quality, as is the standard in most workplaces."
The spokesman also stressed the French site would not drain the budget for much longer, as research operations stopped in mid-2025 and the centre is "currently preparing" for sale.
Other than Dutton Park in Queensland, where the agency spent $26,000 to keep its lawns and trees trimmed, the CSIRO did not release the costs of maintenance at its 40 remaining sites. The agency also did not release whether the costs were inhouse or fielded out to contractors.
CSIRO Staff Association secretary Susan Tonks said the agency's spending should be front and centre at the upcoming Senate inquiry into the job cuts.
"It doesn't pass the pub test at all," Ms Tonks said.
"We are already 800 job cuts in and there will be another 350 from this year. Staff will be incredibly disappointed and frustrated to see something like this in the face of these cuts."
And Opposition finance spokesman James Paterson questioned Labor's spending oversight, saying: "How the pot plants were spared while scientists were getting sacked this year boggles the mind."
But a spokesman for Science Minister Tim Ayres, who oversees the CSIRO as part of his portfolio, rested blame for the spending squarely at the feet of the agency, which they said was "accountable for the management of its funds".
"Government agencies receiving funding are expected to use it responsibly and for its intended purpose," the spokesman said.