CSIRO board member David Knox overpaid by $200k

Greens senator David Shoebridge asked CSIRO officials at the estimates hearing on Thursday afternoon about whether David Knox's previous associations with the fossil fuel industry presented conflicts of interest.

Mr Knox, an influential business figure and a former chief executive for gas giant Santos, is a member on CSIRO's board and also chairs the Snowy Hydro Limited board.

But the discussion quickly turned to the board member's overpayment after chief operating officer Tom Munyard revealed it was investigating a $200,000 overpayment to Mr Knox.

"We've only recently become aware and so we are working with the department," he said.

"We will be providing a recommendation once we've worked through the legal basis of the overpayment."

Mr Knox was paid a total sum of $93,391 for his role on the board in the agency's most recent annual report.

Senator Shoebridge asked why the agency was yet to ask for the sum to be paid back.

"Why on earth wouldn't you seek the recovery of $200,000 of public money that's gone to a member of your board?" he said.

Chief executive Larry Marshall, who also sits on the board, said the agency was still working through the legalities of recovering the payment more than a month after it was first alerted.

"We're in the process of determining the actual cause of the overpayment, and then that will then lead to the best solution to the payment," he said.

Mr Munyard, who explained the overpayment happened "over a number of years", said Mr Knox has not volunteered to pay it back prior the internal inquiry.

"I do want to stress, which I didn't say before, is that CSIRO's position is that we do recover debts, when debts are raised," Mr Munyard said.

Mr Knox was paid a total of $249,404 for his role as chair of Snowy Hydro Limited during the 2021-22 financial year.