THE federal agriculture department has come under fire for failing to answer questions in senate estimates hearings.
But in the hearings on Monday the department admitted it has abolished the position of its principal plant scientist - and spent $77,000 on consultants to help with its new mission statement, which omits the word "agriculture".
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The Senate Rural and Regional Affairs committee grilled the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and Agriculture Minister Joe Ludwig over what senators said was a failure to answer questions asked - even those submitted days or weeks in advance.
Liberal senators Richard Colbeck, Bill Heffernan and Ian McDonald all attacked DAFF during Monday's hearing.
"Right across the department there's this appearance that you're just playing political games with the minister," Senator McDonald said.
"If the answer is the minister has instructed us you're not to get that answer because it's too politically hot ... please tell us that."
Senator Ludwig denied he had issued any such instructions to DAFF.
The hearing became heated when Senator Heffernan called the department's "imaging" on its new mission statement "bull...." and accused it producing "meaningless bureaucratic blubber".
Senator Ludwig retorted that DAFF secretary Dr Conall O'Connell "doesn't have to respond to that sort of abuse".
Dr O'Connell said DAFF spent $77,000 hiring consultants on its new mission statement but that "90 per cent of the words were by (DAFF)".
DAFF, asked by Senator Colbeck whether it no longer had a principal plant scientist and principal animal scientist, said it still had the latter position "at this point".
