Eight Department of Primary Industries’ offices are to be closed over the next three years and staff offered voluntary redundancies as part of a Departmental restructure towards a more regional, rather than district based, Agency. Minister for Primary Industries, Ian Macdonald said the facilities at Alstonville, Berry, Condoblin, Glen Innes, Gosford, Griggith, Jindabyne Hatchery and Temora would be closed because they were no longer needed by the DPI. “Most of these are smaller offices – Glen Innes for example has one researcher – that will be shut down as the Department re-focuses its efforts on different priorities,” Mr Macdonald said.
Eight offices to close
“These changes will not happen overnight, but instead will be managed over a three year period and we will also endeavour to work hand in hand with those staff and communities affected.” Mr Macdonald said DPI would also conduct a general voluntary redundancy program as part of the organisational restructure. “NSW DPI will remain strong, with a critical mass of more than 3,000 people supporting primary industries,” he said. “The final numbers will depend on how many people actually opt to take a VR package, whilst still having a strong regard to protecting essential frontline services.” He said the aim was to build better jobs with wider breadth and more varied functions to develop a multi-skilled workforce that was able to adjust to changing priorities and had expertise in a range of industries, disciplines and technologies. Mr Macdonald said changes to frontline services would be minimised. “There will be no forced redundancies and the drought will remain a key priority – the Government has committed more than $450 million in drought assistance measures and we will continue to support farmers until the rains come,” he said. “The purposes of these changes are to give DPI the opportunity to maintain our quality of service delivery, but in a more efficient way. “For example, DPI will continue to conduct extension and research and development activities, but will rely more on the latest available technology, and less on outmoded methods of management based solely on location.” He said there would be no transference of regional positions into the city and the DPI would remain a regional Agency. Mr Macdonald said the restructure was part of a comprehensive review of science and research to determine the most efficient way of servicing rural communities and to make sure priorities, such as climate change, were met. “Over the past few years considerable demands have been placed on DPI resources as the Department has dealt with the Equine Influenza crisis, locust plagues and the worst drought in living memory,” he said. “The Government is making the tough decisions now to set DPI up for the future.”
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