Loss of trust in Government, not EPA

Letter to the Sydney Morning Herald

It was maddening to read your headline (EPA has lost the trust of community, inquiry told – SMH 11 September, 2014) in relation to the Upper House inquiry into the performance of the Environment Protection Authority.

As the EPA itself notes in its own submission, “resourcing remains an issue”.

That’s a hard reality for public service agencies across the state who each year are expected to provide the same vital service to the community with fewer and fewer resources, thanks to the Baird Government.

Tens of thousands of public servants are being set up to fail as part of this mass downsizing.

If, after a restructure, ten people can’t do the work of the original thirty, the function is privatised resulting in the loss of public service jobs at a great cost to the community.

It is the NSW Government that should be losing the trust of the community, not the EPA.

Anne Gardiner
General Secretary
Public Service Association of NSW