By Kishor Napier-Raman and Gemma Grant
It turns out that even staff at Transport for NSW hate Transport for NSW.
Why wouldn’t they – the department announced last month it would be slashing 950 white-collar jobs in a move designed to improve “operating model and financial sustainability”.
For a boss, addressing the troops after announcing sweeping job cuts is about as comfortable as facing prime Mitchell Johnson. So it was never going to be easy for Transport Secretary Josh Murray, the ex-Labor staffer whose 2023 appointment to the circa $600,000-a-year job by then-minister Jo Haylen triggered accusations of “jobs for mates”.
Murray faced the music in a staff update last week. Leaked screenshots of staff comments from his briefing give a flavour of just how ropeable the troops are.
Transport for NSW secretary Josh Murray.Credit: Louie Douvis
“I’d like to understand whether executive level remuneration has been reviewed as part of the current cost-reduction initiatives,” said one employee.
Some colleagues were less polite.
“How are we justifying $600,000 on a salary for the transport secretary? What are the deliverables for your role?”
CBD hears the department has managed to drag down executive head count by 19 per cent.
Another staffer asked whether he would “pay back the $120K that was wasted on the recruitment of your position”.
The Minns government spent around $125,000 on the recruitment process for Murray’s job, during which recruiter NGS Global warned that hiring him would pose a “significant risk” because of his lack of experience.
Another questioned the cuts coming soon after the department cut a deal with rail workers following months of painful industrial action, calling it a case of “robbing Peter to pay Paul”. Murray told reporters, and staff, the two were unrelated.
“These decisions are never easy — they affect real people and teams who’ve contributed to vital work. But they are necessary to ensure we have a sustainable structure that provides the best value and service to the taxpayer,” Murray told CBD.
“I’ve taken plenty of robust feedback from staff and unions in the past fortnight, and will continue to have these discussions to work through the final stage of the restructure,” he said.
And while your humble columnists are hardly expert budget balancers, we reckon Transport could start by getting rid of all those intensely irritating public safety announcements which give frustrated commuters a constant reminder that they live in a joyless nanny state. Surely that’ll shave off a few cents.
Scomo’s power lunch
Former prime minister Scott Morrison has been busy cosplaying foreign affairs thought leader of late, appearing before a US Congressional Committee to talk about the evils of the Chinese Communist Party and spruik his new-ish business partner James Palmer’s dream of building a spaceport in north Queensland.
PM30 is back in Australia and straight to the long lunch circuit. On Thursday, CBD’s spies spotted him at Bridge Street power-diner Clam Bar lunching with his former boss. Not Malcolm Turnbull – that would be crazy. Instead, Morrison was joined by former Property Council of Australia chief executive Peter Verwer, who once hired a young Scomo.
Clam Bar, which is confusingly better known for its steaks, clearly has a habit of bringing all kinds of people together. Spotted on a separate table was a group that included former Liberal Communications Minister Mitch Fifield dining with Labor operative turned TikTok lobbyist Sabina Husic.
Everyone’s friends at a long lunch.
Healthy practice
There is quite a lot going on at the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency, said no-one ever. But we are saying it now.
The staff are restless. That’s because senior executives are out the door at the AHPRA.
Founding father Martin Fletcher quit last year after setting the regulator up 15 years ago and running it since. Big change.
Then in April the fascinatingly named Justin Untersteiner was appointed as chief executive.
More change was to follow. The two other key executives, Kym Ayscough, executive director regulatory operations and Chris Robertson, executive director strategy, policy and health workforce, will be outski this month or early next month. Views diverge as to why, but thankfully the agency has set the record straight.
“As AHPRA begins to scope a reform agenda, and respond to the complexity review, it was mutually agreed the time is right to make a change,” a spokesman said.
“Both Kym and Chris have played an instrumental role in standing up the National Scheme, shaping the culture and contributing to the success of AHPRA over the past 15+ years,” the spokesman said.
“Their focus on positive health outcomes for the community and a commitment to reforming and continuously improving the regulatory frameworks that underpin our national health system have helped establish the strong foundations on which we stand today,” the spokesman said.
“AHPRA acknowledges the valuable contributions of both executive members. They depart the organisation with our respect, appreciation and best wishes for future endeavours.”
Well, if they are that good, why the heck are they leaving?!
A restructure is under way with the top exec roles to be split into three: health workforce, corporate affairs and regulatory governance and health regulation.
All as everyone eagerly awaits the government’s complexity review into its very complex regulatory system, which for some reason is being sat on.
Don’t say we don’t keep you up to date.