Damien O’Connor
New Zealand Minister of Agriculture Damien O’Connor has announced a ministry reshuffle. Stand-alone “entities” for fisheries, forestry, biosecurity and food safety have been created in a portfolio reshuffle that will have them sitting within the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI). Source: Stuff NZ
Minister for Agriculture, Biosecurity, Food Safety and Rural Communities Damien O’Connor announced that MPI will reorganise its functions to create a stronger focus on core responsibilities.
Mr O’Connor said the Government would set up portfolio-based entities for Fisheries New Zealand, Forestry New Zealand, Biosecurity New Zealand and New Zealand Food Safety.
The overhaul would cost NZ$6.8 million with operating costs of NZ$2.3m a year.
The funds would come from “reprioritising” some of the Primary Growth Partnership (PGP) research programs. There would be no reduction in jobs, although staff might not remain in the same positions they were in now.
“Our priority is to achieve greater clarity and unity of purpose for these areas. We are seeking enhanced visibility of government policy and regulatory activities and clearer lines of accountability and engagement for stakeholders,” he said.
“We are now looking to the director general of MPI to work with his team to achieve this, while ensuring prudent and efficient use of taxpayer and industry funds.”
Mr O’Connor said the Government had a coalition commitment for additional funding in Biosecurity and over time for all the new agencies.
Federated Farmers supported the reshuffle as being a “pragmatic” move.
“We certainly didn’t want to see the upheaval and expense of a total carve-up of MPI,” Federated Farmers president Katie Milne said. “This course avoids wholesale disruption, preserves the Ministry’s status as a competent authority for trading partners and certification agencies, and allows staff to get on with their jobs during the re-focus.”
The cost would not be as much as creating four new ministries, each with their own chief executive, their own HR department and finance department.
Because the funds were coming from the PGP program, farmers would want to see value in terms of more responsive and innovative business units, particularly in biosecurity.
Mr O’Connor said some staff would work across all of the entities, but there would be separate ministers and appropriations and separate levels of accountability.
Forestry New Zealand would be based in Rotorua.
He said there had been four options for change, including separate agencies, but it was felt it was better to maintain MPI to minimise the cost and loss of productivity. The change would not mean breaking any of the PGP contracts, “there is multi-year funding and we are reviewing that so it’s spent in the most effective ways.”
National Primary Industries spokesman Nathan Guy said it was a “wasteful and ill-conceived rebrand”.
He said Mr O’Connor had announced just over NZ$17m over four years would be spent on splitting up a well-functioning Ministry to appease the demands of Labour’s coalition.
“The worst part of it is though, that the money is essentially being fleeced from the PGP fund – used for essential research and development – to pay for bureaucracy.”
Mr Guy disagreed that a large organisation was more cumbersome.
“If you have a look at Operation Concord [the blackmail threat to put 1080 into infant formula], MPI led that and as a result of a being big ministry where they could tap into legal expertise, compliance, surveillance, they did really well and enabled the police to catch the person.”
