RV Investigator en route to Hobart

The CSIRO research vessel Investigator is setting sail from Singapore for its new home port of Hobart, where it is expected to arrive by mid-September. The vessel’s arrival, which was initially planned for June 2013, will enable the Marine National Facility (MNF) Steering Committee to determine its 2014-15, 2015-16 and 2016-17 voyage scheduling.

The RV Investigator received a commitment of $120 million worth of funding from the Rudd government in 2009 and began construction in Singapore on 31 January 2012. As part of the 2014-15 Budget, the Abbott government assigned $65 million to the vessel to allow for 180 days of on-water activity per year for the next four years.

“The RV Investigator is a state-of-the-art research facility that has been purpose built to allow Australian scientists to advance research in a range of areas including oceanography and climatology, fisheries, marine ecosystem and marine environmental and geosciences studies,” said Minister for Industry Ian Macfarlane. “It will be able to operate between the equator and Antarctic ice, allowing researchers access to a diverse range of marine environments.

“The government recognises that, in order to complete the most sophisticated research, our marine scientists have to be out on the water making use of the RV Investigator.”

The Investigator funding was quarantined from budget cuts to the CSIRO budget of $111 million over the next four years. Macfarlane explained, “Delivering the funding to ensure the RV Investigator is operational for 180 days a year and supporting real scientific outcomes is at the heart of the government’s science budget.”

Macfarlane has previously claimed that the Labor government failed to allocate funds towards the vessel’s launch, maintenance or ongoing operations.