Chief [Junk] Scientist feels eft out in the cold | The Australian

OUTGOING Chief Scientist Penny Sackett has urged the government to work out what it wants from her post after securing face-to-face time with a prime minister just once in 2 1/2 years.

Professor Sackett, who announced unexpectedly last week that she would cut short her five-year term, cited personal and professional reasons for the early resignation at a Senate estimates hearing yesterday.

But the economics committee was told Professor Sackett had secured only one personal briefing with former prime minister Kevin Rudd and none with Julia Gillard as Prime Minister since her November 2008 appointment.

She was also not asked by Mr Rudd for advice on his government's climate change position in the lead-up to the 2009 Copenhagen meeting, or invited to join his delegation of more than 50 officials to the forum, despite her strong public comments on the need to reduce emissions.