Service NSW Faces Major Cuts Amid Budget Constraints
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Service NSW is being cut and cut pretty hard by the Minns Labor Government. So $110 million or thereabouts will be cut from Service NSW. Digital services, $34 million coming out of digital services, and they're the guys who do the website and the app that we all use.

disaster preparation and recovery, close to $10 million is being cut from disaster preparation and recovery. That's more than a 64% reduction in funding. They're the guys that dish out the funding grants in disasters and the like. And the Business Bureau and Partnerships and Projects, they're copying a cut too. 225 people to lose their jobs. And in some internal documents, it says this, this is part of the slideshow.

And in terms of service delivery, it says this, quote, if efficiency measures are not entirely effective, customers may be waiting over 25 minutes in a contact centre. At the moment, they reckon it's around two minutes. That's the average wait time at the moment when you're dealing with Service NSW. And as I said, Service NSW, by far and away, is one of the most effective

brilliant pieces of infrastructure and programs and bureaucracies that our governments have ever produced in this state. It is so much easier to deal with registering your car, getting a boat licence, getting your driver's licence, whatever it is, toll rebates now.

And for some unknown reason, the New South Wales government, as part of their budget cuts, is deciding to sack 225 people and cut $100 million out of it. Well, the minister in charge of Service New South Wales is Jihad Dib and he's on the line. Minister, thank you for coming on. Thanks for having me, Chris. Was this a fight that you lost with the Treasurer?

Oh, look, you know, we're dealing with the things that we need to deal with. As you can imagine, this is pretty hard news and I completely understand that it's not easy news to deliver. The fact of the matter is that we've got to live within our means. We've got to address the budget that was left for us and, you know, we're doing that in the best way that we possibly can. But the focus is on making sure that we don't have an impact or minimise the impact as much as possible on those customer-facing roles. 225 jobs to go. What do you say to those people that are going to be made redundant?

Well, look, as I said, it is hard news, but it's not going to be straight up to 125. The first thing that we're looking at doing, obviously, is some of those positions will be, won't be happening because of a natural attrition. So whether people are retiring or they're moving on, others will include those who are like contractors whose contracts have expired. And then where we're looking at is trying to redeploy people as much as we possibly can. It's a difficult scenario, but we're going to be working with everybody to try and make sure that they get the best landing possible.

Stuart Little, the Secretary of the Public Service announcement, he was on a service association, he was on the program earlier. It's just mind-boggling, it's stupid, we can't believe that.

that the minister would contemplate cutting these jobs, Chris. You've got 4,300 senior executive servants. Surely you need to review that part of the bureaucracy before you start cutting frontline roles. You don't cut these jobs. You should be looking at the senior executive service. How efficient are they? What are they doing? Stuart Little's not happy.

Well, yeah, I gather that. And look, I've had the conversations with him as well. And look, I'd say in the first instance, Chris, that Service NSW has grown from basically 2,900 staff from 2019 to close to 4,900 as of June this year. It's just not sustainable.

the focus is on making sure that well it's not well some of the programs are no longer required for example so when you think about the large uptick and there was a lot of it in terms of around the COVID then we've had a few years that have been really difficult think about we had the bushfires we've had COVID and we've had some floods we've had floods again some of those crisis footing is no longer the same case anymore so what we're doing is we're saying until it is again make sure that we live within our means until it is and what we're

doing here. You're the emergency services minister. You know better than everyone there's a drought or a flood or a fire around the corner. And according to Services NSW's own internal documents,

They're saying that as a result of this budget cut, there is a, quote, quote, potential for increased lead times to deploy grants and support programs. You know what will cost you more than $100 million? If farmers can't get drought assistance or people who have their homes burnt to the ground can't get the grants that you're promising.

So, Chris, the disaster recovery team is still going to be there. It's just going to be a slightly smaller... It's going to be a smaller team, but it's also going to have the capacity to be scaled up when required. Let's also keep in mind that when a disaster occurs, and you're right, I deal with them as the emergency services minister, there's a whole-of-government approach here as well. But the fact of the matter is those teams, at the size that they are, one, are not as required in that same capacity, but two, it's just... It is not sustainable. We inherited the biggest debt that any government has inherited...

And we're trying to do that. We can't keep adding things onto the state's credit card and say, well, future generations are going to pay for it. Of all the things. We have to make those decisions. Of all the things. Service New South Wales. Well, do you want to go back to the Beverly Hills RTA where it would literally take a day and a half to get your rego done? You remember? Yeah.

Well, I remember, and I was around that area. I think I actually, that's where I might have got my licence back in the days. But what I will say is that that focus specifically is on making sure that it's not customer-facing roles. You know, what we're talking about is making sure that we... I understand you saying that. Sorry to interrupt, but I'm just going to hold you on this one because service delivery, right? This is a quote from Service NSW when they were telling the staff about the redundancies and about the budget cuts, and they say...

that customers may be waiting on average over 25 minutes in contact centre. What does that mean? How is that not customer facing? So these are the contact centres. These aren't the service New South Wales centres that people are used to going into. We've still...

We've got 117 of those. We're opening up another one in Talawong soon. These are the customer contact centres where basically you make a phone call. We've considered every worst-case-possible scenario before making any decision. And what that also says is that in a worst-case scenario, in a very small number of cases, that may be the case. We need to make some changes and make sure that we address that. The other thing that I have asked, and I'll be continuously looking at...

is what the impact will be when it comes to actually customer facing. So customer facing, I'm talking about the people who go into the centres specifically. It's not a set and forget thing. This is where we're at right now. And I want to make sure that we keep coming back to it. But that commitment to keep those service centres, to make sure that we have the most minimal impact that we can there, that's the commitment that we're making sure that we do. And I will ask for them to continuously give me updates on that.

The reference that you made to the contact centres is about the telephone contact centres, not the service centres. Right, okay. Can I just say this before I let you go, Minister? Sure. Everyone loves Service NSW, right? If you guys stuff this up because you're being tight, you will pay for it.

Yeah, Chris, I hear that. And I've got to say that the people at service centres, they do really good work. And we know that we're going to do everything that we can to make sure that we support them, especially in those customer facing roles. You know, people will still be able to go to service centres, they'll still be getting that same service. What we're talking about here are some of the other things that are happening behind the scenes as well. So some of those

some of those groups, I suppose, different divisions that are no longer required to that same capacity. But it is a fiscally responsible decision that we have to make. It's a tough decision, but we have to make it because we did inherit. How much is the secretary of your department on out of interest?

Oh, look, I think the secretaries are getting paid. You know, like they're on bantries. I don't think it's really appropriate. What is it, roughly? The secretaries are getting paid. Oh, it's all public information. It's our money. So roughly, what, $600, $700? I don't think it's my place to talk about what the secretary's earning. Start there and work backwards.

Well, you know, we're doing the best that we can to make sure that we at least create the best consultation process, redeploying people, not renewing some of the temporary contracts and making sure that we right-size the department to go back to its core business. And that's what I really want to focus on. When the secretary's on 6, 700 or whatever they're on and you flick someone who's working two or three days a week in regional New South Wales, you know, it could be a single mother, single father, whatever it is,

It doesn't sit well with people, right? Well, Chris, as I've said, Service NSW grew from 2,900 to over 4,900 in the space of a couple of years. We are also looking at that. I completely empathise and I understand and I sit here at the outset. These are difficult decisions and I don't take it lightly, but they're decisions that have to be made given the financial position that we're in and given what we need to do with Service NSW. Minister, appreciate you coming on.

Pleasure. Thanks a lot. That's Minister Jihad Dib, Minister for Customer Service and the Digital Government, as I said to him. If they are tight and staff service New South Wales up, they will pay for it electorally. It is one of the few things that all of us use all the time. And if all of a sudden, because of budget cuts, it isn't working as we expect it to work, there will be problems.