Four chief executives have been shown the door and dozens of Northern Territory departments amalgamated as part of a major $15m restructure of the public service by the new government.
The changes act on a promise made by the NT Labor party during the campaign, to find savings and cut back on the number of public servants, and are expected to save $5m this financial year and another $10m in 2017/18.
The initial promise to axe 11 chief executives and 15 deputy chief executives has been revised since the government learned upon taking office it did not have the power to fire deputies.
Agencies have been instructed to find the deputy-equivalent savings themselves, among employees with executive contracts.
The chief minister, Michael Gunner, said on Thursday the savings would remain the same.
Labor had based their plans on the available budget papers, he told media, and the under-treasurer had received their costings before the election and indicated: “Even though we might disagree on the approach, if we ever get a chance to talk to each other we think the $15m savings are very reasonable.”
Of the planned chief executive cuts, four have been made redundant and another six moved elsewhere. The commitment to cut 80 public service positions through natural attrition has been increased to 100.
Despite the increase in public service cuts, Gunner pledged “no individual public servant should be worried”, and said 99% would remain at their current desk.
The cost of amalgamations would come from existing department budgets and are not taken into account for the $5m savings.
The four chief executives to have lost their jobs include the former head of the mines department, Ron Kelly, who approved a fracking licence just four days before caretaker period, Anne Bradford, the head of the beleaguered department of children and families, the head of tourism, Tony Mayall, and Dave McHugh from the infrastructure department.
Another six have been moved sideways, including Len Notaras, the former head of the health department and former president of the Country Liberal party. Notaras will return to his former role as the executive director of the National Critical Care and Trauma Centre.
“I wanted Len Notaras to return to the front line – I think we need to have a really strong focus around the trauma centre – and I want to talk with Len about how we grow that and the advantages in our region about he we tackle medicine,” Gunner said.
“It’s how he’s earned his reputation and his stripes in the Northern Territory on the front line and that’s where I want him to work.”
Existing departments and agencies have been moved into four clusters: chief minister and central agencies, children and families, development, and tourism, environment and culture.
Each will also have a lead chief executive to steer and coordinate the clustered agencies.
And, in what has been termed a philosophical change, youth justice has been moved from the corrections portfolio to the newly created Territory Families agency headed by the former education chief executive Ken Davies, and which also oversees the departments of children and families, youth, multicultural affairs and seniors, domestic violence, women’s and men’s policy, and children’s policy.
“It’s a grouping that made sense and fitted with how we wanted to make a strategic approach to these issues,” Gunner said.
“The royal commission has linked these issues and I think it’s important we get it all together and deal with it.”
Gunner also pledged greater transparency from the new government regarding department and administration costs, as well as potential reforms to the estimates process.
“Estimates is about how the budget is intended to be spent and we need to make sure it’s more focused on that,” he said, suggesting a second set of hearings later in the year to follow-up on budget spending.
