Our Governance

CSIRO is an Australian Government statutory authority and operates under the Science and Industry Research Act (1949).

The CSIRO Board is responsible to the Australian Government for the overall strategy, governance and performance of our organisation. Read about our Chairman and members of the Board here.

The Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, Senator the Honourable Kim Carr, provided CSIRO with his revised Statement of Expectations on 31 August 2011. The Statement reconfirms and refines the Australian Government's expectations of CSIRO.

The Strategic Advisory Committees provide independent, external strategic advice to CSIRO on the national challenges and opportunities of a broad sector of the Australian economy, society or environment in which CSIRO is involved and provide guidance on how CSIRO might address these needs.

The Public Research Agency Charter with the CSIRO is to provide guidance to CSIRO when engaging in public debate. (3 pages)

Read an overview of our customer service standards, staff conduct and how we evaluate our performance.

The CSIRO Board is responsible to the Australian Government for the overall strategy, governance and performance of CSIRO.

The Board Audit Committee assists the CSIRO Board by monitoring and reporting on the key governance areas of risk management, internal control and compliance.

The CSIRO Board Nominations and Remuneration Committee assists the Board to determine appropriate remuneration arrangements for the Chief Executive and the Organisation, recommends measures to ensure the composition of the Board is appropriate and ensures ongoing professional development for Board members.

The Committee assists the CSIRO Board to fulfil its governance responsibilities in relation to CSIRO’s business development and commercialisation activities and major procurement and property transactions.

The Freedom of Information Act 1982 gives a general right to the public and to staff to seek access to documents held by CSIRO.

CSIRO's Information Publication Scheme promotes public access to information held by CSIRO.

CSIRO has five major policy statements that articulate the organisation's commitment in key areas.

CSIRO's fundamental purpose is to achieve positive impact from science on behalf of Australia. This policy aims to assist CSIRO staff in their external communicaton activities.

In line with Senate requirements, CSIRO tables indexed lists of files created in the Organisation’s central office twice a year. These lists are available to download.

The CSIRO Health and Safety and Environment (HSE) annual report records the performance standards achieved and documents the actions taken to meet our HSE organisational strategic goals.