ANTI-DISCRIMINATION BOARD SLASHED

On Friday afternoon, 1 August, 2003, the President of the Administrative Decisions Tribunal and the NSW Government celebrated the 25th Anniversary of the legal enforcement of anti-discrimination laws in NSW at a function in the Premier's Reception Room.

The invited guests could be forgiven if they could hear the sound of the sharpening of knives coming from out the back.

Yesterday staff at the Anti-Discrimination Board of NSW (ADB) were told that 18 positions at the ADB's Sydney office are to be deleted. This is a budget cut of more than $800,000, which is more than a quarter of the ADB's annual budget.

Staff also received confirmation that a further $750,000 will be cut from next year's budget.

The staff are members of the Public Service Association of NSW (PSA).

Various services will no longer be provided by the ADB if the proposals announced to staff by senior representatives of the Attorney General's Department are implemented: -

• its specialist legal branch is to be wiped out;
• its specialist policy development will no longer exist;
• its specialist library, recognised by many practitioners in the field as the best of its kind in Australia, is to be decimated;
• its media and community relations service is to be wiped out;
• its budget management will no longer be controlled by the ADB itself; and
• its information technology branch is to be axed.

In addition :

• the position of President of the ADB becomes part time; and
• three Complaints Handling And Conciliation Officer positions are axed.

Staff have been asked to provide their comments on the Department's proposal by next Tuesday, 12 August, 2003, at the latest.

PSA Industrial Officer said, "If this is the Attorney General's Department's idea of an orderly and measured review, then the public of NSW would be right to fear for the future of the administration of justice in this State".