Australia's national science agency, the The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), has announced it will be axing up to 350 jobs in its research units as funding pressures bite the organisation.

The government agency announced the measures today, saying it needs to invest up to $135 million per year in the next 10 years to continue to be sustainable.

In a statement, the CSIRO said it is facing "long-term financial sustainability challenges, with funding not keeping pace with the rising costs of running a modern science agency".

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"After decades of stretching resources to maintain the breadth of its programs and size of its workforce, CSIRO has reached a critical inflection point."

The agency said it reached the decision to slash the jobs in order to receive a "sharpened research focus", where the CSIRO claims to focus on core areas including energy, artificial intelligence (AI), and robotics.

CSIRO's strategic direction change comes after an 18-month preview, and chief executive Dr Doug Hilton said the decision, whilst a difficult one, was necessary for the agency to continue to serve Australia.

"These are difficult but necessary changes to safeguard our national science agency so we can continue solving the challenges that matter to Australia and Australians," Hilton said.

"We must set up CSIRO for the decades ahead with a sharpened research focus that capitalises on our unique strengths, allows us to concentrate on the profound challenges we face as a nation and deliver solutions at scale."

Minister for Science Tim Ayres said the focused research direction would help the agency become more efficient and effective and achieving its goals.

"Reform is essential to make sure the facilities, research priorities, and technologies of yesterday meet the needs of tomorrow," he said.

"This, however, does not mean the decision of the independent CSIRO Board and management to reduce staff roles is easy, and I know this news will be difficult for CSIRO staff."

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The job cuts have been slammed by staff some staff at the agency.

"This is a very sad day for publicly funded science in this country, and the Albanese Government is just sitting back and watching it happen," CSIRO Staff Association Section Secretary Susan Tonks said.

"These are some the worst cuts the CSIRO has ever seen, and they're coming at a time when we should be investing in and building up public science.

The Greens have also called on the Albanese government to commit funding to the CSIRO to avoid the job cuts.

"At a time when it has never been more important for governments to invest in science and research, it is shameful that our nation's premier science and research organisation is cutting hundreds of jobs to make ends meet," Greens Senator and spokesperson for Science Peter Whish-Wilson said.

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A lightning-fast leadership spill in Victoria has opened killing season for the Liberals, with the party finishing a year that had started with so much promise in turmoil in the country's three biggest jurisdictions.

Less than 18 hours after news broke of a looming leadership challenge for Brad Battin, first-term MP Jess Wilson this morning emerged as Victoria's new opposition leader.

The shock move means the state Liberal Party has had more leaders during this stint in opposition than they have years in government this century.

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Battin might not finish the week as the only Liberal leader trying to pull a knife out of his back, with rumblings that Mark Speakman's future is also in danger.

The NSW opposition leader avoided a challenge at a party room meeting this morning, but the week is still young, and speculation has been building for months that another first-termer, Kellie Sloane, will take the party to the next state election in early 2027.

Alongside them, Nationals already have a new leader, with Gurmesh Singh elected unopposed following Dugald Saunders' shock resignation yesterday.

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In Australia's most populous state, the opposition's primary vote is languishing at 28 per cent, according to the latest Resolve Political Monitor in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Federally, the polls are even more dire, pointing to a primary vote of 24 per cent after weeks of infighting and division over energy policy.

Little wonder Sussan Ley can barely go a single day without facing questions about whether her leadership is secure.

Having appeased the conservatives in her party by abandoning net zero and ditching the Paris Agreement in all but name, it would be a surprise if Ley doesn't survive until the end of the year, particularly given she was only installed in May.

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But having only defeated Angus Taylor by a handful of votes in that contest – three of whom are no longer in the party room – her grip on the leadership is tenuous.

Last night, Ley said she could "absolutely" guarantee that she'll still be in the top Liberal job come the 2028 election, but a challenge, whether from Taylor or Andrew Hastie, appears more a matter of when, not if.

It's a far cry from the start of the year, when there was genuine optimism that Peter Dutton could win the federal election, and the newly installed Battin would make inroads in Victoria, where the state Labor brand is on the nose after more than a decade in power.

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It appears he actually did just that, with a Herald Sun poll released this morning giving the Coalition a 51-49 lead over the government, and Battin a 45-34 lead over Jacinta Allan as preferred premier.

With just a year and 10 days to convince voters to back her at next year's election, Wilson promised to "focus on Victorians", but faces a tough task in such a short time.

"Wilson has a big job ahead of her, not just to appeal to voters, but of course, to try to repair a fractured party room once more," 9News state political reporter Heidi Murphy said.

Further north, Speakman and Ley will simply be hoping to keep their own party rooms from fracturing – or at least continuing to fracture – in the first place.

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An early tropical cyclone is likely to develop off the coast of northern Australia as soon as tomorrow, with residents in the north of Western Australia and the Northern Territory urged to monitor updates.

The Bureau of Meteorology has warned that cloud and thunderstorm activity is now wrapping around a low-pressure system, which could intensify into a tropical cyclone by tomorrow evening.

It is moving away from Australia but the bureau believes it is likely to turn south and then south-west, toward the NT coast.

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The tropical low-pressure system is forecast to slowly move towards the east for the rest of today and tomorrow, said meteorologist Miriam Bradbury.

Bradbury said the strongest winds and rains are expected to develop away from the NT coast after tomorrow.

Rainfall will be heaviest near the coast, with the highest expected close to the Tiwi Islands and the north-west corner of the Top End, including Darwin.

"For the next few days, we are expecting this system to gradually move east-north-east," Bradbury said.

"At this point in time, we are expecting a possible intensification to tropical cyclone strength by around Thursday morning."

The bureau said there is a 25 per cent chance of it becoming a tropical cyclone by tomorrow evening and a 55 per cent chance by Thursday morning.

Tropical low could turn into cyclone

"Environmental conditions are favourable for development of (tropical low) 02U and the risk the low develops into a tropical cyclone increases as the week progresses," the Bureau's cyclone forecast said this morning.

"Although there remains high variability in model intensity ranges, there is increasing risk that 02U could become a tropical cyclone on Wednesday or Thursday."

The Bureau currently rates the chances of a cyclone developing at 60 per cent between 11 pm Thursday and 11 am Friday.

But the possibility remains over 50 per cent from tomorrow night, through to next Monday, which BoM calculates as a "high" risk level.

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"This system has already caused heavy rain and thunderstorms over the western Top End in the last couple of days, including 228mm in 24 hours at Charles Point near Darwin, which was its heaviest rain in a decade," Weatherzone reported.

"At this early stage in the system's development, it is difficult to predict exactly where it will move and how strong it will get.

"However, there is enough consensus between forecast models for residents in the Top End and Kimberley to pay close attention to the latest tropical cyclone forecasts and advisories for the most up-to-date information over the coming week."

Residents in those regions are urged to stay on top of weather updates and prepare their emergency plan.

While Australia's tropical cyclone season runs from November to April, it's rare to see one develop this early.

Weatherzone said only four cyclones in recorded history had made landfall on the Australian mainland in November, with the most recent being Tropical Cyclone Alessia in 2013.

Last month, the Bureau of Meteorology revealed the first cyclone to develop in the Australian region in the 2025-2026 season would be named Fina.

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