Sammy
Carter Journalist
The newly formed mega-ministry
the Ministry for Cities, Environment, Regions and Transport
(MCERT) has proposed cutting 400 roles.
MCERT met with
staff on Wednesday to announce the proposal.
It said
365 of the roles being axed were currently vacant. It has
about 1700 staff in total.
The ministry hopes to
deliver $50 million in annual savings by 2028-29.
The
mega-ministry was created
in July, merging the Ministry for the Environment, the
Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, the Ministry of
Transport and the local government functions of the
Department of Internal Affairs.
MCERT chief executive
Jeremy
Lightfoot said no decisions had been made, and nothing
was final until staff have had their say.
“We will
listen carefully to any suggestions they have for doing
things differently, before making our final decisions in
December.”
Wellington Central MP Tamatha Paul told RNZ
that the
city could not handle more public service
cuts.
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“We just can’t afford any more cuts – and I
mean that financially, but I also mean it in terms of the
morale of the city.”
The meeting comes after the
Government’s announcement in May to slash
public service jobs by about 14 percent over the next
three years. The changes would result in about 8700 job
losses by mid-2029 – 3500 of which could be in the
capital.
“We can’t have thousands more workers told
that their work isn’t important.”
Paul said the cuts
would leave lives up in the air.
Speaking
to MCERT workers, Paul said: “You have the chance to elect a
government that actually values you… and values your
expertise.
“Please do not listen to this anti-public
service government because they will be gone in a few
weeks.”
‘Live within our budget’
Lightfoot
said most people in the ministry would be affected in some
way, and he knew that brought real uncertainty.
“I’m
proud of how our people have kept delivering important work
for New Zealand while the ministry formed around them. The
leadership team and I have tried to give them as much
certainty as we can, as early as we can.
He says the
ministry must “live within our budget”, which means
delivering $50 million in annual savings by
2028/29.
“Nothing is final until our people have had
their say. Over the next few weeks our focus is on making
sure they are treated fairly, are well supported, and have
clear information to base their decisions on. We’ll listen
carefully to their ideas for doing things differently before
final decisions are made in early December.”
He said
the proposed structure would create a smaller organisation
with five groups: System Performance, Policy, Planning
System, Delivery and Enabling Services.
Labour
promises to stop restructure
The Labour Party is
asking the chief executive and government to stop any
binding decisions until after the election.
Labour
public services spokesperson Camilla Belich asked the
Government to “show restraint and leave those significant
decisions around workforces in public services to New
Zealand to that incoming government”.
She said if
Labour was voted in, it would stop the
restructure.
“We do not support these cuts. We’ve been
really clear that we wouldn’t be implementing the cuts that
the National party announced in their upcoming
budgets.”
‘Baking in severe understaffing’ –
PSA
The Public Service Association (PSA) said 1187
permanent roles will be disestablished under the proposal –
staff will need to reapply for nine in 10 permanent
roles.
National secretary Duane Leo said: “This
proposal will bake in the severe understaffing that MCERT
has already been experiencing with 365 already vacant
positions and will go even further with a total permanent
reduction of 400 roles.
“Many of those affected are
experienced professionals with decades of service. Once
their knowledge is gone, it goes to Australia or the private
sector, and it doesn’t come back.”
He said the
proposed cuts were the “hollowing out of the public service
in real time”.
The PSA asked the Government to halt
changes, saying it was ripping apart the ministry in the
middle of an election
campaign.
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