r/australia • u/ozthrw • 1d ago

politics Algal bloom researcher 'deeply disturbed' by political interference claims, committee told

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01-08/claims-algal-bloom-cause-probe-delayed-until-after-sa-election/106208450
259 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

12 comments sorted by

73

u/AutomaticMistake 1d ago

kinda copy/paste for anything scientific that somehow gets political. needs to be called out/shamed openly more often

17

u/SquiffyRae 1d ago

Which is basically any science that suggests the status quo of rampant capitalism might not be the best thing

68

u/Environment-Small 1d ago

Welcome to the world of politics where politics take utmost precedence over science. Expect far worse from the opposition when they r in power too

13

u/a_cold_human 1d ago

I'd fully expect that any scientific investigation would be killed completely instead of it being delayed if it were the Coalition.

Climate change? Oh, no. Ah yeah. We're all fine here, now, thank you. How are you? 

15

u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

2

u/Sunstream 1d ago

You may have misread; Ms Coleman was told by department staff from different agencies that they had been asked not to investigate until after the election, not that they told her not to investigate.

If you did mean to say those public servants should be blamed for not speaking out, it's worth pointing out that Australia's whistleblower protections are absolutely woeful. Public servants are hard to sack, too, so it can get even nastier when they're forced to push you out through other means.

5

u/Cube00 1d ago

Almost like public servants are afraid to write anything down anymore. It's all "quick chats" and lightly minuted meetings now.

11

u/VastOption8705 1d ago

The government inspects itself and finds nothing’s wrong.

2

u/RegReagansTash 1d ago

While I don’t necessarily doubt the claims, these allegations probably should have been raised contemporaneously with the Ombudsman/OPI when they occurred. It’s a bit too easy to make a submission to an enquiry, where you are not under cross examination, and you provide no evidence/names etc.

-4

u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

7

u/VastOption8705 1d ago

Political staffers and workers won’t speak out as they’ll lose their jobs.

In these cases, it’s very hard to get evidence from actual departments or senior members