There is a lot of concern about the future of Australian science and technology, with hundreds of jobs cut from the leading government organisation.

The Federal Government has again taken shots at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), cutting 350 more science jobs.

The cuts will take some of Australia’s finest minds off leading science and technology projects, “slashing Australia’s capacity to predict and adapt to climate change” in particular, according to the CSIRO Staff Association.

Media outlets say the mass sacking will leave just 30 staff in the CSIRO’s Oceans and Atmosphere unit, and even those remaining will not be working on climate issues.

Fairfax Media is reporting that the “restructure” is part of a big shake-up driven by CSIRO’s new CEO, former venture capitalist Larry Marshall.

Marshall told reporters that the “renewal” of staff was necessary for the CSIRO to become more innovative, more impactful and align more closely with industry.

He said it was time to change the focus of climate science.

“We have spent probably a decade trying to answer the question is the climate changing,” he told reporters.

“After Paris that question has been answered. The next question now is what do we do about it. The people that were so brilliant at measuring and modelling [climate change], they might not be the right people to figure out how to adapt to it.”

Penny Sackett –adjunct professor at the ANU’s Climate Change Institute and former Australian Chief Scientist – said she was “stunned”.

“Paris did not determine whether or not climate change is happening, scientists who generate and study big data did,” she said.

“The big question now, which underlies all climate adaptation work, is; ‘How is the climate changing?’

“That answer will once again be determined by those scientists who gather climate data and model it.

“How can it be that our largest national research organisation chooses not to engage, indeed not to lead, the effort in finding the answer to that question?” she said.

Leading renewable energy industry reporter Giles Parkinson argues that the cuts show Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has exactly the same stance and intensions for Australian science as his predecessor did.

The Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) has seen this sort of thing a lot lately, calling the job losses “just the latest body blow by the Government to Australia’s premier science organisation”.

“This staggering attack on climate science is an act of political vandalism, pure and simple, and if the Government doesn’t back down on this it’s ordinary Australians who will ultimately pay the price,” said Nadine Flood, the CPSU’s National Secretary.

“Government cuts to the CSIRO have already done untold damage, with critical research halted into Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, bowl cancer, geothermal energy and liquid fuels. This latest body blow to climate science shows the Government and CSIRO management have their priorities fundamentally wrong.”