Job Cuts Threaten Flood Controls

NSW government plans to cut up to 150 jobs from the Department of Natural Resources will have a serious impact on protecting regional communities from flooding and maintaining a safe water supply, the Public Service Association warned today.

PSA general secretary John Cahill said the cuts, to be announced in the State Budget, will cut 14 per cent from a department that has been cut by 400 workers last year.

Key areas to be hit in the cuts will be:

• hydrography - workers responsible for gauging rivers and predicting water flows, particularly importantly in times of flooding.
• office cuts meaning more field officers having to carry out administrative work.
• undermining the water rights trading system that allows farmers to manage their water needs
• and a reduction in the number of field officers report on native vegetation clearing.

"These workers have played a vital role during major floods such as those that have hit Lismore and Nyngan in recent times," Mr Cahill said.

"Hgydrographers, responsible for monitoring water flows, have seen their numbers halved since 1983, further cuts would seriously undermine their ability to predict when rainfall places communities at risk.

"The PSA calls on the NSW Government to rule out cuts that threaten regional communities in this way."