More 'Watering Down(under)' of Science?

It has been claimed that Australian Scientists allocated government funding to carry out studies of the Great Barrier Reef have been told to concentrate on studies that 'make the government look good' (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/sep/26/great-barrier-reef-scientists-told-to-focus-on-projects-to-make-government-look-good). It's hardly unique for a government to want to benefit by getting 'pats on the back' for their use of public funds (bangs for the buck?) but this is not, in my view, the correct way to operate in Science. The environmental credibility of the Australian government has been damaged by some of their recent decisions and I would hope that scientists working on the reef should be free consider any detrimental effects of current practices (otherwise, it's just PR).