logo
‘Short sighted': Unions concerned about flood resilience after latest NSW job cuts

‘Short sighted': Unions concerned about flood resilience after latest NSW job cuts

News.com.au14 hours ago
Communities in NSW could be left without workers to support them after flood events, a union leader has warned, after another 300 state government jobs were slashed.
WaterNSW, the state-owned dam manager and bulk-water supplier to Sydney Water, said it would slash the number of executives and senior managers by 30 per cent.
Commencing with voluntary reductions, the cuts are the latest to hit the state workforce in recent weeks and come after renewed flooding in central NSW last week.
Australian Service Union secretary Angus McFarland said the cuts 'beggar belief' with 'economists, scientists' warning the number of floods will double in 10 years.
'I'm worried this is very shortsighted,' Mr McFarland said.
'Are we going to have a situation in just a month or two where there's another flooding event, and suddenly there aren't the workers there to support the community?
'WaterNSW has a lot to answer (for), but also the government does, because at the end of the day WaterNSW is operated by the government.
'They own and operate on behalf of the people of NSW, so we are worried about impacts on the state's water security and the state's climate preparedness.'
More than 20,000 homes are without power in the Hunter Valley as a result of the flooding, the latest to smash central and northern NSW in recent months.
'Terrible week' for NSW public servants
NSW Premier Chris Minns campaigned prior to the 2024 state election on a 15 per cent cut to upper echelons of the public service.
The cuts also come after almost 1000 senior service manager positions would be slashed at Transport for NSW, which manages the state's public transport and roads.
Only days later, the NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development – the state's only dedicated regional department – said it would cut 165 jobs.
Public Service Association General Secretary Stewart Little described it as a 'terrible week for the public sector'.
'It's disgraceful that you've had these cuts being implemented to regional locations, frontline jobs,' she said.
'These aren't background jobs that deal with pay and things … they're helping communities.
'Then, willy nilly, we've had 300 jobs cut and announced in this water restructure, but we've lost jobs in DPI, elsewhere, and the government haven't explained it.
'Quite frankly, the government have lost control of the fatcat bureaucrats.
'They're the ones overseeing all of this, and they're doing it to save their own speeds.'
Asked during question time on Tuesday about cuts to the DPIRD, Monaro MP Steve Whan said 'no final decision had been made about the changes'.
'The department is focusing on its core business of protecting, supporting, and developing primary industries in regional economies,' he said.
'The department is proposing to implement changes that will enable it to work in a financially sustainable and responsible way, while maintaining service levels.
'All impacted staff will be appropriately supported and consultation is being undertaken.'
Mr Whan acknowledged the changes would affect regionally based staff, but noted increases to staff levels in response to the Covid pandemic.
'That means that there is, over time, a need to bring them back to focus on the areas which are the core areas,' he said.
Financial strife at WaterNSW
Unions NSW Secretary called on the WaterNSW board to resign as a result of the planned cuts.
'They have been ineffective and been unable to manage the circumstances in which they employ people,' he said.
In a statement, WaterNSW said it would be 'unable to continue delivering all its current functions in the same way' with significantly reduced funding.
The reduction, they said, was a result of determinations by the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal, which set the maximum price that WaterNSW can charge its customers for bulk, unfiltered water in Sydney.
'To put the size of the challenge in numbers, we now need to find a further $80m each year in cost savings,' WaterNSW said.
'We are performing a fundamental reset of WaterNSW, becoming a leaner, smaller and more focused business, with formal consultation on planned changes.
'Unfortunately, some staff will be impacted as part of this process.
'We are reducing the number of executives and senior managers by greater than 30 per cent, and we will reduce our total workforce by approximately 300 employees.
'Despite this, WaterNSW will continue to have hundreds of expert employees based across regional NSW and Greater Sydney, where we are committed to retaining a strong local presence.'
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

eSafety sommissioner says Youtube turning blind eye to child abuse
eSafety sommissioner says Youtube turning blind eye to child abuse

ABC News

time2 hours ago

  • ABC News

eSafety sommissioner says Youtube turning blind eye to child abuse

Australia's internet watchdog has accused the world's biggest social media firms of still "turning a blind eye" to online child sex abuse material on their platforms, and said YouTube in particular had been unresponsive to its enquiries. In a report released on Wednesday, the eSafety Commissioner said YouTube, along with Apple, failed to track the number of user reports it received of child sex abuse appearing on their platforms and also could not say how long it took them to respond to such reports. The federal government decided last week to include YouTube in its world-first social media ban for teenagers, following the commissioner's advice to overturn its planned exemption for the Alphabet-owned Google's video-sharing site. "When left to their own devices, these companies aren't prioritising the protection of children and are seemingly turning a blind eye to crimes occurring on their services," eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said in a statement. "No other consumer-facing industry would be given the licence to operate by enabling such heinous crimes against children on their premises, or services." Google has said previously that abuse material has no place on its platforms and that it uses a range of industry-standard techniques to identify and remove such material. Meta — owner of Facebook, Instagram and Threads, three of the biggest platforms with more than three billion users worldwide — has said it prohibits graphic videos. The eSafety Commissioner, an office set up to protect internet users, has mandated Apple, Discord, Google, Meta, Microsoft, Skype, Snap and WhatsApp report on the measures they take to address child exploitation and abuse material in Australia. The report on their responses so far found a "range of safety deficiencies on their services which increases the risk that child sexual exploitation and abuse material and activity appear on the services". Safety gaps included failures to detect and prevent live-streaming of the material or block links to known child abuse material, as well as inadequate reporting mechanisms. It said platforms were also not using hash-matching technology on all parts of their services to identify images of child sexual abuse by checking them against a database. Google has maintained its anti-abuse measures include hash-matching technology and artificial intelligence. The Australian regulator said some providers had not made improvements to address these safety gaps on their services despite it putting them on notice in previous years. "In the case of Apple services and Google's YouTube, they didn't even answer our questions about how many user reports they received about child sexual abuse on their services or details of how many trust and safety personnel Apple and Google have on-staff," Ms Inman Grant said. Reuters

Weekend auction wrap: Sydney family smashes neighbour's record
Weekend auction wrap: Sydney family smashes neighbour's record

News.com.au

time4 hours ago

  • News.com.au

Weekend auction wrap: Sydney family smashes neighbour's record

A home in Sydney's northwest has sold for a suburb record, smashing the price paid for a home owned by the neighbours - the previous highest price in the area. The property on Anthony Rd sold for $4.7 million, setting a new record for a house sale in West Ryde. The auction saw the sellers pcoket a price $300,000 above their $4.4 million reserve. It has come amid rising auction activity that suggests Sydney is due another round of stellar growth in home prices. Auction clearance rates have been above 70 per cent for weeks, with preliminary figures showing nearly three quarters of auctions last week produced a sale. Historically, this kind of success rate over successive weeks has coincided with widespread price rises. Pello Northern Suburbs sales agent Michael Dowling said the West Ryde auction was 'really competitive' with bidding starting at $3.8 million. 'The previous highest sale in West Ryde was the house next door, and that sold for $4.19 about two years ago,' he said. 'So we knew it was going to be better than that, but I didn't think it was going to be $510,000 better than that.' Mr Dowling said the home sold to a mother and two sons moving from Cheltenham who wanted a more spacious home that was ready to move in to. 'A lot of people in our area want that move-in ready feel, rather than going through the hassle and the inconvenience of dealing with council,' he said. 'A lot of people just want that finished product now.' Based on results received so far, about 75 per cent of Sydney auctions were successful last week. Auction clearance rates above 70 per cent have historically correlated with rises in prices across the Sydney market as a whole. Ray White NSW head of auctions Dave McMahon said the first weekend of August saw a 25 per cent decrease in scheduled auctions from the week prior. 'The notable difference was that only half of them proceeded through the day,' he said. 'With stock levels low, agents have been more open to entertaining offers prior with circa 15-20 per cent selling before auction day. 'Despite lower auction numbers today, we continued to see spirited competition from buyers with an average of 5.8 registered and 3.6 actively bidding.' Two auctions hosted by Scerri Auctions auctioneer Fadi Hajjar on Friday were moved inside to Saliba Estate Agents' offices in order to get bidders out of the rain. 'The decision to move it in-room was brilliant,' Mr Hajjar said. 'It created a really warm environment for bidders.' The homes under the hammer on King Rd, Hornsby and Kooringal Ave, Thornlie sold for prices well over their respective reserves. The property on King Rd sold for $2.095 million, a price $195,000 over reserve, while 78 Kooringal Ave sold for $2.395 million, $295,000 above its reserve. Mr Hajjar said it was a 'hesitant start' to the bidding, before they 'heated up very quickly.' Fifty-six bids were placed for 78 Kooringal Ave and a staggering 117 bids were placed during the auction for 8 King Rd. MORE: Pub baron's lavish lifestyle while owing $1bn criticised Further out west, a family were reported to be delighted with the sale of their property in Hassall Grove. No. 33 Monica Ave sold over reserve for a price of $1.015 million, with bidding opening at $800,000. Sales agent Meshel Bahnam of Ray White United Group said there were 17 registered bidders, the most he has seen in 'well over 18 months'. 'People are trying to buy before rates change this month,' she said. 'In the end, local first home buyers who have been looking for six months bought the house. 'They are so happy as they keep missing out on auctions,' said Mr Banham. Mr Banham said it was a suburb record price for a three-bedroom, one-bathroom house on a 454 sqm block. Sellers Brooke, Alex and their three children were reported to be contemplating a move to Lake Macquarie for a lifestyle change. Other sales included the auction for 50 Iandra Street, Concord West, which sold to its first bidder, going for a price of $3.51 million. Horwood Nolan founder and director Ben Horwood said interest was strong in the lead up to the auction. 'We had three registered bidders, all who had shown strong interest throughout the campaign,' he said. Mr Horwood said the home's location mostly attracted interest from families.

Weekend auction wrap: Sydney family smashes neighbour's record
Weekend auction wrap: Sydney family smashes neighbour's record

Daily Telegraph

time4 hours ago

  • Daily Telegraph

Weekend auction wrap: Sydney family smashes neighbour's record

A home in Sydney's northwest has sold for a suburb record, smashing the price paid for a home owned by the neighbours – the previous highest price in the area. The property on Anthony Rd sold for $4.7 million, setting a new record for a house sale in West Ryde. The auction saw the sellers pcoket a price $300,000 above their $4.4 million reserve. It has come amid rising auction activity that suggests Sydney is due another round of stellar growth in home prices. Auction clearance rates have been above 70 per cent for weeks, with preliminary figures showing nearly three quarters of auctions last week produced a sale. Historically, this kind of success rate over successive weeks has coincided with widespread price rises. Pello Northern Suburbs sales agent Michael Dowling said the West Ryde auction was 'really competitive' with bidding starting at $3.8 million. 'The previous highest sale in West Ryde was the house next door, and that sold for $4.19 about two years ago,' he said. 'So we knew it was going to be better than that, but I didn't think it was going to be $510,000 better than that.' MORE: Aus worse off as RBA rate cut panic sets in Mr Dowling said the home sold to a mother and two sons moving from Cheltenham who wanted a more spacious home that was ready to move in to. 'A lot of people in our area want that move-in ready feel, rather than going through the hassle and the inconvenience of dealing with council,' he said. 'A lot of people just want that finished product now.' MORE: 'Pivotal moment': chance to buy in Sydney for half price Auction clearance rates above 70 per cent have historically correlated with rises in prices across the Sydney market as a whole. Ray White NSW head of auctions Dave McMahon said the first weekend of August saw a 25 per cent decrease in scheduled auctions from the week prior. 'The notable difference was that only half of them proceeded through the day,' he said. 'With stock levels low, agents have been more open to entertaining offers prior with circa 15-20 per cent selling before auction day. 'Despite lower auction numbers today, we continued to see spirited competition from buyers with an average of 5.8 registered and 3.6 actively bidding.' MORE: Where your luxury car can come to dinner 'The decision to move it in-room was brilliant,' Mr Hajjar said. 'It created a really warm environment for bidders.' The homes under the hammer on King Rd, Hornsby and Kooringal Ave, Thornlie sold for prices well over their respective reserves. The property on King Rd sold for $2.095 million, a price $195,000 over reserve, while 78 Kooringal Ave sold for $2.395 million, $295,000 above its reserve. Mr Hajjar said it was a 'hesitant start' to the bidding, before they 'heated up very quickly.' Fifty-six bids were placed for 78 Kooringal Ave and a staggering 117 bids were placed during the auction for 8 King Rd. MORE: Pub baron's lavish lifestyle while owing $1bn criticised Further out west, a family were reported to be delighted with the sale of their property in Hassall Grove. No. 33 Monica Ave sold over reserve for a price of $1.015 million, with bidding opening at $800,000. Sales agent Meshel Bahnam of Ray White United Group said there were 17 registered bidders, the most he has seen in 'well over 18 months'. 'People are trying to buy before rates change this month,' she said. 'In the end, local first home buyers who have been looking for six months bought the house. 'They are so happy as they keep missing out on auctions,' said Mr Banham. Mr Banham said it was a suburb record price for a three-bedroom, one-bathroom house on a 454 sqm block. Sellers Brooke, Alex and their three children were reported to be contemplating a move to Lake Macquarie for a lifestyle change. Other sales included the auction for 50 Iandra Street, Concord West, which sold to its first bidder, going for a price of $3.51 million. Horwood Nolan founder and director Ben Horwood said interest was strong in the lead up to the auction. 'We had three registered bidders, all who had shown strong interest throughout the campaign,' he said. Mr Horwood said the home's location mostly attracted interest from families. MORE: Aus worse off as RBA rate cut panic sets in

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store