Response to Investigation Report
Victims of CSIRO would like to make the following brief statement in relation to the publication of the CSIRO Investigation into Workplace Bullying and other Misconduct. After further consideration of the report, Victims of CSIRO will publish a more detailed response. We note that the CSIRO has had two weeks to examine this report prior to its publication, but other stakeholders have not been afforded this same opportunity.
Statistical Significance of response to investigation
Both Prof. Dennis Pearce and Ms Melanie McKean were involved in the investigation into allegations of misconduct within the Australian Defence Forces undertaken by their former employer DLA Piper.
About 1000 submissions spanning 60 years were made to the ADF Investigation, an organisation that employs 80,000 personnel.
The CSIRO Investigation received 110 submissions (alleging 130 separate allegations) spanning 20 years. CSIRO employs only 6,500 personnel.
Proportionally the CSIRO Investigation has received nearly double the complaints of the ADF Investigation for only one third of the time.
The ADF Investigation claimed to have uncovered a significant culture of abuse within the Australian Defence Forces.
By stark contrast, the CSIRO Investigation with a statistically greater proportion of complaints, claims to have found only isolated ‘pockets of concern’ and no evidence of institutional or cultural problems.
The Point has been missed entirely
In the carefully planned media spectacle staged by the CSIRO, a key point has been missed entirely. That is:
The investigation report, if nothing else, has substantiated the existence of a significant number of bullying allegations within the CSIRO.
For years, Senior Officers of the CSIRO have wilfully misled the public, our federal politicians and even judicial bodies about misconduct within the organisation and have attempted, and continue in their attempts, to vilify and discredit those who have dared to contest the validity of these public statements.
Well-founded Criticisms
It has been suggested by various sources that had the shortcomings of the CSIRO Investigation been addressed (including transparency and exclusion of substantive cases), and had the stakeholders been properly consulted, the number of submissions could well have exceeded 300-400.
The Investigation report identified mistrust in senior management as a significant issue, yet the investigator has expended precious little effort to address this barrier to participation. The investigator instead seems to be “passing the buck” for this failure onto those who have been justly critical of the investigation process from the very beginning.
How big is the bill the tax payers are footing for this exercise we wonder…
More to come…
Victims of Bullying, Harassment, and Victimisation in the CSIRO 
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