DEPARTMENT OF PRIMARY INDUSTRIES AND REGIONAL
DEVELOPMENT — STAFF
859. Hon JIM CHOWN to the Minister for Regional Development:
(1) How many
Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development staff are having to
reapply for employment in the department due to the machinery-of-government
changes?
(2) What
guarantee can the minister give DPIRD employees who are having to reapply that
their positions will be reinstated after they go through the reapplication
process?
Hon
ALANNAH MacTIERNAN replied:
I thank the member for the question.
There is a preamble in the answer about the ODP—organisational design
process—which I will not read out for the sake of time, but it will be
part of the written answer. In relation to the member's specific
question, no permanent Department of Primary Industries and Regional
Development staff will have to reapply for employment. However, we —
The PRESIDENT: Minister, I think
it is actually appropriate, even though you might think it might take time,
that you actually read that preamble in, so everyone is aware of it.
Hon ALANNAH MacTIERNAN: Okay.
The Department of Primary Industries
and Regional Development is required to deliver its organisational change in
accordance with standard processes set out in the Public Sector Management Act
and the Public Sector Management (Redeployment and Redundancy) Regulations.
This process involves organisational design, job description form development, appointment by like-to-like transfer when
possible, and appointment by quarantined merit selection followed by
external recruitment as required. Each DPIRD division is at a different stage
of this process and, therefore, it is not possible to quantify how many staff
will be placed via the direct like-for-like transfer and how many will need to
apply for new roles.
(1) No permanent
DPIRD staff will have to reapply for employment. However, we do acknowledge
that some staff will need to apply for new roles when there are more suitable
staff than there are positions in the new structure. Any permanent staff
displaced from their position as a result of the organisational change process
will retain their permanent employment status. Displaced employees receive
dedicated expert and proactive support while they seek a new placement in
either DPIRD or the broader public sector. Of the 79 displaced employees to date, 41 have been permanently placed into new
positions. Of the remaining 38, 18 are in funded meaningful work with
DPIRD and six are on secondment to other agencies.
(2) Employees'
positions cannot be reinstated because new functions, structures and positions
have been created in DPIRD to replace all previous positions. Most employees
will be placed into these new positions. In any event, no employee will have to
reapply for employment, as explained above.