I think the technical answer was the need to reduce government expenditures. A major government review took place in the 1994-95 period of the Liberal government of the day. That led to significant cuts across the board. My experience is that often things that look easy to cut like science budgets, technical support, supporting modelling get cut easily because there aren't the vociferous lobby groups out there to support those things.
Then I think those kinds of cuts and that kind of thinking just proceeded. Over the past 10 years there was a more deliberate effort, almost ideologically driven, to reduce the science capacity of the country. It's really a combination of things.