Government
News, 2 April
2019:
The NSW government will abolish key
agencies including the Office of Local Government, the RMS and Jobs NSW under
sweeping changes to the structure of the NSW public service.
A memo from the Department of
Premier and Cabinet obtained by Government News says the Office of
Local Government, along with the Office of Environment and Heritage, will cease
to be independent entities and their functions will be absorbed by a Planning and
Industry Cluster.
The cluster will cover areas such as
long term planning, precincts, infrastructure, open space, the environment and
natural resources.
The RMS, coming under the Transport
Cluster, will also be scrapped as a separate agency and as will Jobs NSW, which
will be merged into the Treasury Cluster…..
Local Government NSW President Linda
Scott said the peak would be seeking assurances from the new local government
minister, Shelley Hancock, and the Premier, that local governments would be
appropriately resourced within the new cluster.
“We’d hope, for example, that the
inclusion into a larger cluster will facilitate real analysis of the massive
amounts of data collected by Government, which should be shared with the sector
to help them deliver great outcomes for the public good,” she told Government
News.
“Local governments welcome a new
opportunity to work with the State Government to set housing targets with
local governments, not for them – to rebalance planning powers by working in
partnership with councils and their neighbourhoods on planning decisions that
affect them.”
However she said the appointment of Ms
Hancock was a stand-alone Local Government Minister was welcomed and had long
been advocated for by LGNSW.....
The memo says the structure of the
public service will also incorporate the following clusters: Stronger
Communities, Customer Service, Health; Premier and Cabinet, Transport,
Treasury and Education.
The following clusters will cease to
exist by July 1: Finance, Services & Innovation; Industry; Planning
& Environment; Family and Communities; and Justice.
The Secretaries Board will be expanded
in members to accommodate more senior public servants to “effectively drive
implementation of the Government’s priorities”.
New appointments under the
restructure:
Michael Coutts-Trotter – Secretary,
Families & Community Services & Justice
Jim Betts – Secretary, Planning and
Industry
Glenn King – Secretary, Customer
Service
Simon Draper – Chief Executive, Infrastructure
Australia
NOTE:
The Grafton Loop of the Knitting Nannas Against Gas
and Greed will be holding a knit-in on Thursday 4 April 2019 at 1pm to peacefully
protest the abolition of the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage. It will be
held outside the electoral office of Nationals MP for Clarence Chris Gulaptis
at 11 Prince Street, Grafton and interested people are welcome to attend.
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