Hundreds of jobs to go at Ministry for Primary Industries
Thursday, 21 March 2024
The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) has proposed a 9% cut to its workforce - 384 roles.
About 40% of those are vacant positions, meaning approximately 230 people could have their roles disestablished.
It is now consulting on the proposed staff reduction, which would be a mix of existing vacancies and disestablishing of other roles.
The ministry has been asked to make a 7.5% savings reduction.
The Public Service Association said it understood the proposal was “only the first round of what are likely to be further cuts, as the current proposals will not create 7.5% in cost savings”, said PSA national secretary Duane Leo.
“Worryingly biosecurity is the biggest area to be cut, with 131 roles to go. Another 80 roles are going from the agriculture investment services, which engages with primary industry stakeholders and farming communities on the ground,” he said.
The PSA was expecting proposed role decreases from the following areas:
Biosecurity: 131 net roles to go – 162 roles cut, including 31 currently vacant, 31 roles created
Agriculture and Investment: 80 net roles to go – 115 roles cut, including 32 currently vacant, with 35 roles created
Policy and Trade: 52 net loses – 77 roles net roles to go, 29 currently vacant, with 22 roles being created
Forest Service: 27 net roles to go – 35 being cut, including 15 currently vacant, with eight roles being 8 created
Māori Partnerships and Investment: 14 roles to go – 24 being cut, including 10 currently vacant, with 10 created.
The consultation on the cuts close April 9, with decisions expected mid-May.
An email to staff from Director-General Ray Smith said the MPI senior leadership team “and I have been working through credible savings options across our business units”.
“Today we will commence consultation on proposals to reduce our staff numbers by an estimated 9%, which is a mix of existing vacancies as well as the disestablishing of other roles,” he said.
“We have been carefully managing costs as part of this work, which includes significantly reducing our contractor and consultant spend and only filling some positions. Beyond this, we have been looking at both the programme and people resource costs of our operations.”
“We are focussed on taking actions that ensure MPI continues to deliver our core functions effectively and with greater efficiency.”