Dept. of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry in Queensland, Australia, begins first phase of restructuring with 200 job cuts; minister denies reports that 550 jobs will be axed in total
Wendy Lisney
LOS ANGELES
,
August 9, 2012
(Industry Intelligence Inc.)
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Queensland’s Dept. of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry in Australia plans to reduce staff at its head office in Brisbane by about 200 people in the first wave of cost-cutting related to a restructuring, said Minister John McVeigh, reported The Sydney Morning Herald on Aug. 9.
The jobs will be cuts from the department's Brisbane workforce in the first round of restructuring, but future workforce reductions will be in regional areas, which account for about 75% of the department’s employment base, McVeigh’s office confirmed.
McVeigh said the department’s frontline services would be fully maintained and improved while the restructuring trimmed expenses. Most of the positions affected are in administration and corporate, communications and public relations, said McVeigh, reported The Sydney Morning Herald.
“The department will certainly be leaner but far more focused on the job it needs to do to help our primary producers,” McVeigh said in a statement, adding that he would continue to work on job cuts in regional areas, but not “frontline service jobs.”
Tim Mulherin, the former Labor primary industries minister, said that slashing jobs from regional areas would have “huge impacts on regional service delivery and local communities.” Earlier in the week, McVeigh denied claims by Mulherin that about 550 jobs would be eliminated.
On Aug. 8, brisbanetimes.com.au confirmed that the department had reduced its workforce by 30 positions from within its media and communications team, reducing it to 12 from 42 staffers, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.
The primary source of this article is The Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney, Australia, on Aug. 9, 2012.
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