The Australian government’s scientific agency has joined more than a dozen universities in being sent a questionnaire from the Trump administration asking to confirm whether it aligns with US government interests.
On Tuesday, the CSIRO revealed it had received the correspondence from the US. A spokesperson at the CSIRO said it was aware of a “small number” of researchers who had received the questionnaire in recent weeks and was “determining an appropriate response”.
I can’t help but wonder if this is a prelude to some kind of tariff diplomacy like “de-fund your sciency stuff and we will reduce your tariff’s”.
Our present PM would tell them to fuck off but we have an election soon and I suspect the new guy will be more likely to fall in line. He will talk some tough guy talk but will ultimately capitulate.
This is Santa Trump figuring out who to put on the Good or Bad list. It doesn’t bode well.
From the other side of this, Trump is waiting until after the special elections settle out in April to see if they still control the house. It’s very likely they will, but they’re holding off until after those elections to make sure. Even though they should win them with ease, it’s very up in the air because of Musk and the other attacks that have been made on government programs.
