Nationals must force O’Farrell back down on DPI regional job cuts: - Public Service Association

Nationals must force O’Farrell back down on DPI regional job cuts:

The Public Service Association of NSW has today called on the NSW Nationals to support regional communities, farmers and public service workers by opposing the recently announced 300 job cuts during the restructure of the Department of Primary Industries (DPI).

PSA Assistant Secretary Shane O’Brien said the Nationals’ had been a strong supporter of the union’s action against rural job cuts under the previous Labor Government. Now the party shared power in Government, it had gone silent on the more severe axing of thousands of public service jobs across NSW.

“The NSW Nationals must wake up to themselves and remember the people who voted for them – the same people now losing their jobs and services in regional and rural towns,” Mr O’Brien said.

“The State Government was elected on the promise of engaging in a ‘decade of decentralisation’ but the only thing being decentralised to regional communities is unemployment and job insecurity.

“These job losses are all about slashing budgets and services, not meeting the needs of farmers.

“The Government will broaden the rate base and increase DPI-related charges for farmers, while at the same time it lowers the level of service and decreases income support.

“The loss of 300 regional jobs has again shown the O’Farrell government is no friend of country communities. It is the responsibility of Nationals leader Andrew Stoner and his colleagues to stand up for country communities and get this decision overturned.

“The $30 million saving scheduled for the DPI budget is a mere 0.3% of the $1 billion budget surplus discovered last week – country communities deserve their fair share,” he said.

Contact: Shane O’Brien 0418 227 977 / Jane Garcia 0434 489 533

 

Related Posts

Back To Top