By Amanda Pearson
CANBERRA — During the 1996 federal election campaign, the Liberals' 15-page policy on regional development had millions of dollars worth of promises attached to it. Today, it is not worth the paper it is written on.
Transport and regional development minister John Sharp recently announced that he intends to abolish all regional development programs and 220 jobs, including 140 in Canberra's regional development division.
All staff are being offered redundancies. Those who refuse will be declared "excess" and left to find jobs in other departments. The department has sent staff on courses to assist them to "market" themselves. However, if at the end of the day (seven or 13 months depending on length of service) they have not found jobs, they will be forcibly "retired".
Heads of other divisions in the department have been asked to identify staff for possible redundancy. However, some who have put their hands up — including those who perform routine personnel tasks — have been told their skills are "too vital".
It is clear the government wants to get rid of the regional development staff. Five offices have already closed. The South Australian office will close in September, and any staff who do not seek "voluntary" redundancy will face an uncertain future in the redeployment pool. (In SA's case there won't be an office to sit in, and remaining staff will be farmed out to other departments to serve out their time.)
In addition, all administrative funds have been frozen, and any reports documenting the worth of the work done by staff will be kept under wraps.
The whole exercise smacks of a vendetta against those who administered the regional development programs, brainchild of ALP left stalwart Brian Howe. Fraser did the same on coming to power in 1975, when he abolished Tom Uren's Department of Urban and Regional Development.
This time, with a weakened union movement, the Liberals are about to demolish the lives of hundreds of staff with little more than a whimper.
One Community and Public Sector Union member told Green Left Weekly: "What is the point in Jennie George coming to Canberra? She should be visiting Toowoomba or Charleville to tell people about the devastating effects the cuts will have on people's lives. The union shouldn't be leaving it to Bob Katter [who recently backed a campaign in Queensland to defend a local CES office] to defend the CES!
"We should have been out there with the National Tertiary Education and Industry Union at their rally. Lots of union members gave the excuse on our strike day [July 25] that they couldn't afford to lose a day's pay. What happened to the CPSU strike fund which was supposed to help us?"
This union member, who is worried about future prospects should his/her name be published, said that many members think they are safe from Howard's cuts. But with devolution of functions to state governments and the privatisation of services, the abolition of regional development programs may just be a rehearsal for even bigger staff cuts.