Senate is probing budget cuts at Australian Antarctic Division

The senate's environment and communications committee is investigating the AAD's budget, after leaked emails from division head Emma Campbell in July warned of possible job losses due to less available funding this financial year.

At its second day of hearings in Hobart on Thursday, division deputy secretary Sean Sullivan attempted to re-characterise the shortfall as reduction of temporary funding rather than a budget cut.

"I need to stress a point - there has not been a 16-per-cent cut to the division's budget," he told the hearing.

"Lower financial availability this financial year compared to last financial year is simply because of termination of temporary measures that were there because the Nuyina was out of service," he said, referring to the division's new icebreaker, RSV Nuyina.

He said that overall budget funding for the division was increasing.

Later, the committee heard that recruitment for 40 positions at the division was paused earlier in the year and that the division had overspent its budget last year by $42 million.

The committee also heard that there were "no clear budgets" at the division's branch level and that the situation was now being addressed.

Ms Campbell said the division was sending 15 AAD scientists south to Antarctica this year.

She said no AAD employee had seen plans to travel south cancelled as a result of the funding shortfall, but later admitted that some draft plans were changed.

"There were certainly some that were in the draft plan which I never approved ... I do understand that some people had greater expectations that were not met," she said.

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