Source: PSA
Revelations that the Marsden Fund was given just one day’s notice of further funding cuts demonstrates the Government’s cavalier approach to dismantling New Zealand’s science sector, the Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi said today.
The $15 million cut to the Marsden Fund is in addition to the cuts that were already announced in Budget 2025.
“It is outrageous that the Royal Society only learned of the $15 million funding cut the day before the Institute for Advanced Technology was announced and was told to keep quiet about it,” said PSA national secretary Fleur Fitzsimons.
“This is no way to make policy that will affect New Zealand’s scientific capability for decades to come. The Government should be engaging meaningfully with our science sector workforce on their reforms, not giving them a day’s notice and swearing them to secrecy.”
“The Marsden Fund supports fundamental research – the kind of science that leads to breakthrough discoveries and innovations.
“The Government keeps talking about wanting research that can be commercialised, but they don’t seem to understand that you can’t have applied research without the fundamental research that underpins it.”
PSA represents public sector science workers including in Public Research Organisations and Callaghan Innovation.
“Our members feel demoralised and uncertain about the future. Many are considering leaving New Zealand for countries that value scientific research. We’re haemorrhaging talent and institutional knowledge,” Fitzsimons said.
“The Government needs to step back from these rushed reforms and engage meaningfully with the sector and its workforce. The final report of Sir Peter Gluckman’s review has been sitting with the Science Minister since April but still hasn’t been released.
“We call on the Government to pause these damaging cuts, release the Gluckman review, and have a meaningful conversation with scientists, researchers and their representatives. Our researchers and the New Zealand public deserve better than policy-making by stealth and ambush.”
