PIRSA cuts deputy chief executive position to save money, before cutting more staff
Heads will roll at one of SA’s most important departments, with the deputy CEO position cut – and other senior roles.
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Primary Industries and Regions SA will do without a deputy chief executive, in a cost-saving exercise that has shocked the state opposition.
At the budget Estimates Committee hearing on Monday, Primary Industries and Regional Development Minister Clare Scriven said the deputy position was “vacant and won't be filled”.
“It’s important to also be aware that there are other savings measures that may be achievable,” she said.
“The chief executive will be looking at issues such as leasing arrangements and rental arrangements to see if there are savings that can be made there.”
Up to four executive positions will go along with a reduction in other full-time equivalent staff, Ms Scriven said, in what she described as a “work in progress for the department”.
Nicola Centofanti, opposition primary industries and regions spokeswoman, told The Advertiser the decision to cut the PIRSA deputy chief position was “a highly unusual move that could have severe consequences for the management and function of the department”.
“The structure of the department is being altered and it begs the question: Who, in the absence of the chief executive, will be authorised to make critical decisions? This is a lazy move by the Minister to free-up cash after approving huge cuts to the PIRSA budget,” she said.
When former PIRSA chief executive Michelle Edge quit in December, her then-deputy Professor Mehdi Doroudi stepped up to lead the department while the government recruited a new head.
In February he was appointed to the role of chief executive and appeared alongside the Minister at the budget estimates hearing, providing support throughout.
The organisational chart shows the vacancy and two positions that report to it: Biosecurity SA executive director Nathan Rhodes and Fisheries and Aquaculture executive director Gavin Begg.
PIRSA must find “operating efficiencies” of $15.9m over the four-year term, to meet the 1.7 per cent efficiency dividend.
The opposition’s attempts at the hearing to find out where the cuts would be made were largely unsuccessful, with many questions taken on notice.
Ms Scriven revealed the biosecurity division and the SA Research and Development Institute (SARDI), which includes fisheries at West Beach, would not be affected.
She also said the state government had delivered on an election commitment to cut licence fees for the rock lobster fishery by 50 per cent for 2022-23, at a budgeted cost of $2.6m.
The fee reduction was introduced to support the industry response to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and disruption to the Chinese market.
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