*Pic: Image from HERE
This letter first appeared in The Norfolk Islander and on Norfolk Online News, 28 May 2016
Dear Editor,
In response to news reports of staff sackings from the Norfolk Island Public Service (NIPS), Executive Director Peter Gesling said on Radio New Zealand:
“I don’t have the full data to back that at this stage but at this stage there would look to be more jobs than there are current people so that’s why jobs are being placed on the open market in Norfolk Island.” (12 May 2016)
This statement sails very close to the wind. Let us look at some of the details. The staff establishment of NIPS as at December 2015 stood at 149 public servants (72 fulltime ‘ongoing’ employees, 40 on fixed period contracts, and 37 ‘casuals’ on non-renewable contracts). The planned indicative establishment for the staff of the Norfolk Island Regional Council (NIRC), which is a quite different organisation, after July 1, stands at around 110. The difference between these two numbers is mainly comprised of current public servants whose roles have been made redundant or transferred out of the public service.
To point to some examples for on-going and fixed period contract employees: (i) closed down – GST Office, Philatelic; (ii) shrunk – Waste Management, Works Depot, Forestry, Liquor Bond, Legal Services; (iii) transferred to Commonwealth – Immigration, Customs, Quarantine, Social Services, Post Office (to Australia Post and outsourced); (iv) transferred into NIRC – Tourism. (The Hospital remains outside the NIRC structure).
So are people actually losing their jobs? My understanding of the process of ‘transitioning’ employees to the NIRC goes as follows. For permanent or ‘ongoing’ employees: if there is a minor or no change in role from that which they have been performing compared to that in the new structure, and at the same level, then he or she transitions ( with a salary that maybe lower than present but cannot be higher). If there is a substantial change in role or the position is no longer required, then the employee can accept redundancy or opt to stay with NIRC. If this latter option is chosen, then an analysis of that person’s skills and so on is used to see if an appropriate new role in the NIRC organisation chart exists. If it does not then the employee is declared potentially redundant; if there is, and there are others also seeking that position, then there will be a competition on merit for the position. If he/she is successful in that competition then he/she transitions, if not, he/she can apply for any advertised position on a merit based selection process, or be declared redundant.
For fixed period contract employees: if the role is required in new structure beyond 30 June 2016, then their contract runs to expiry (contracts expiring after 1 July 2016), or alternatively a new contract is advertised (if expiry is pre-1 July 2016). If role is not required, then provided they meet some merit criteria they can enter the ‘legacy employment pool’, in which case they may be offered short term contracts in the future. For casual employees if their position is required in the new structure after 1 July 2016, their casual employment transitions; if not, then they can apply for other advertised NIRC positions on a merit based selection process.
As the public service is being shrunk by over one quarter, it appears extremely likely that some employees will be disadvantaged in terms of their salary/wages, or indeed lose their jobs against their wishes. For those who celebrate the free market – the pursuit of ever smaller government, fewer publicly provided services, and the supposed reduction in ‘consumers costs’ – there will no doubt be much to celebrate in all these changes. That is not a view I support, as public service provision provides community stability, collective memory, and enshrines important community-held values. These concerns are made more compelling on small islands, where individuals who lose their jobs or have them downgraded are friends, associates, or familiar young couples with children and mortgages (as some of those caught up in the present Norfolk Island transition are). For many the choice will not be in finding another job, but migration. This tears at the social fabric of the island.
In the Norfolk Island Government Gazette of 13 May 2016 applications were invited for a total of 39 vacant positions in the new NIRC structure. Do islanders get any preference in the competition for these positions? As the NIG Gazette is published on the web, its content is accessible throughout Australia. It is understood that enquiries have been received from beyond Norfolk Island for these jobs, but whether those people have applied or been permitted to apply, is unknown. The qualifications required for some of these positions will make it difficult for existing staff to meet them, and training as an issue has scarcely received a mention. We do know from the Norfolk Island Administration HR Policies and Procedures Manual that for candidates of equal merit the Norfolk Island resident is to be preferred. However in a situation in which the Administration has in the past sacked individuals for making mildly satirical statements on Radio Norfolk, what confidence can there be in the way they select staff?
Be that as it may, there is another aspect of the new arrangements which appears quite extraordinary. In the old system, under the CEO were 12 managers of various departments. In the NIRC organisational structure these managers have been rebadged as ‘team leaders’ and a whole new level of senior management added over the top. Eight new contract senior management positions have recently been advertised in Australia and presumably beyond that by HR consultants McArthur, and it is understood that interviews have been held. Indicative salaries suggested are over $100k. So while the public service has shrunk by one third, a bloated top-heavy management layer is being added to the bureaucracy, burdening the NIRC with a salary bill of over $1million – which is more than the total value of land rates that the NIRC is expected to raise in 2017-18. Or in other words, each new upper-level manager is to be paid off the backs of only 120-odd Norfolk Island ratepayers! This is madness. One of the first jobs of the new NIRC should be to review these positions and do some sacking.
Further articles and letters on Norfolk Island available at: http://www.norfolkonlinenews.com/chris-nobbs.html
