A senior executive at CSIRO has been overpaid by $200,000 over the course of three years and has not been asked to pay it back yet.
Representatives from Australia's top scientific research organisation admitted during a Senate Estimates hearing on Thursday that David Knox, the deputy chair of the CSIRO's board of directors, was overpaid between 2018 and 2020.
The payment error was revealed by Greens senator David Shoebridge, who asked CSIRO chief executive Larry Marshall about the overpayment.
Dr Marshall said CSIRO executives were only made aware of the historical error on April 18 this year.
But besides notifying the chair of the board, Kathryn Fagg, the executives appearing at Estimates admitted they were still trying to find out how the overpayment occurred in the first place before taking action.
"We're in the process of determining the actual cause of the overpayment and then that will lead to the best solution for the overpayment," said CSIRO chief operating officer Tom Munyard.
"CSIRO's position is that we do recover debts when debts are raised."
When challenged further by Senator Shoebridge about why the CSIRO had not simply written to Mr Knox, asking him to return the money, Mr Munyard said executives were seeking legal advice.
"We need to undertake that work … with legal advice in order to do that," he said.
"We need to undertake this due diligence in order to confirm exactly the terms and the circumstances and then that's the appropriate time for us to advise."
According to CSIRO executives, Mr Knox is aware of the overpayment and expects the organisation to do undergo due process.
Senator Shoebridge slammed Dr Marshall for the delay in taking steps to retrieve the money, which the CSIRO has now been aware of for six weeks.
Dr Marshall insisted more information needed to be gathered before the CSIRO could proceed with the matter.
"You've kind of got us in the middle of gathering the information, but rest assured we'll resolve it," he said.
Dr Marshall said the matter might have been discussed at a board meeting he did not attend.
Mr Knox is also the chair of Snowy Hydro, the company that oversees the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme, and was paid $249,404 in that capacity for the 2021-22 financial year.
The CSIRO falls under the responsibility of Industry and Science Minister Ed Husic, who was not aware of the payment issue.
A spokesperson for Mr Husic said he had now requested further information.
"The minister has asked for an urgent briefing on the matter from his department and the CSIRO," the spokesperson said.
The ABC has put questions to the CSIRO and to Mr Knox.
