{"id":8303,"date":"2012-08-09T22:45:37","date_gmt":"2012-08-09T12:45:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=8303"},"modified":"2012-08-10T10:54:33","modified_gmt":"2012-08-10T00:54:33","slug":"mp-announces-jobs-cuts-in-agriculture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2012\/08\/09\/mp-announces-jobs-cuts-in-agriculture\/","title":{"rendered":"MP Announces Job Cuts In Agriculture"},"content":{"rendered":"

August 9, 2012<\/strong><\/p>\n

About 200 “head office” jobs will be cut from the Department of Agriculture – and more jobs will be lost in regional areas – the State Government confirmed today.<\/p>\n

However Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Minister John McVeigh<\/strong> said “frontline biosecurity positions”, including tick, wild dog, crop protection, weed and fishery inspection would be fully maintained and improved.<\/p>\n

Mr McVeigh said savings at head office were being made to meet Budget requirements, but not at the expense of frontline services.<\/p>\n

“The Department will certainly be leaner but far more focused on the job it needs to do to help our primary producers,” he said.<\/p>\n

“So far, we’ve found savings in head office of approximately 200 staff, mostly admin and corporate, communications and PR roles that the previous government was so fond of at the expense of regional agronomy and livestock officers.”<\/p>\n

But Mr McVeigh said there would also be some job losses in regional areas.<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Between now and the Budget I will be working through further savings that need to be made and there will be job cuts in regional areas, but they will not be vital frontline services jobs,” he said.<\/p>\n

Mr McVeigh said the new standalone department would be tightly managed and all staff would be more accountable than under the previous government.<\/p>\n

“The department is being restructured, and sadly some staff will have to go,” he said.<\/p>\n

Mr McVeigh said he and senior department managers met yesterday with key agriculture stakeholders groups including AgForce, QFF, Canegrowers and Growcom.<\/p>\n

“All understood the need for savings and the restructure. All are looking forward to working closer with a new, standalone department that is much more responsive and better meets industry needs,” he said.<\/p>\n