Hockey defends CSIRO budget cuts

The newly minted ambassador to the US has hit back at criticism of Australia's commitment to climate change science.

The New York Times earlier this month published an editorial attacking the federal government's 2014 budget cuts to Australia's leading science organisation the CSIRO, which Joe Hockey brought in as treasurer.

"We are renowned in international climate change forums for contributing a uniquely southern hemisphere perspective," Mr Hockey said in a letter to the editor.