Nationals must force O鈥橣arrell 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).
色狼社区Assistant Secretary Shane O鈥橞rien said the Nationals鈥 had been a strong supporter of the union鈥檚 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.
鈥淭he NSW Nationals must wake up to themselves and remember the people who voted for them 鈥 the same people now losing their jobs and services in regional and rural towns,鈥 Mr O鈥橞rien said.
鈥淭he State Government was elected on the promise of engaging in a 鈥榙ecade of decentralisation鈥 but the only thing being decentralised to regional communities is unemployment and job insecurity.
鈥淭hese job losses are all about slashing budgets and services, not meeting the needs of farmers.
鈥淭he 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.
鈥淭he loss of 300 regional jobs has again shown the O鈥橣arrell 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.
鈥淭he $30 million saving scheduled for the DPI budget is a mere 0.3% of the $1 billion budget surplus discovered last week 鈥 country communities deserve their fair share,鈥 he said.
Contact: Shane O鈥橞rien 0418 227 977 / Jane Garcia 0434 489 533