Environment Ministry Faces Job Cuts
February 25th, 2009
Jobs will be cut and programmes scrapped under a review which will shave more than a quarter off the Environment Ministry’s budget. Environment Minister Nick Smith says job losses will be inevitable if the Ministry is to keep within its 2009-10 budget of $56m set by Labour, down from $75m in the 2008-09 year. It is too early, he adds, to know how many jobs will go or which programmes would be cut. Spending priorities would include climate change, work on water issues and waste management. Smith says “the previous Govt has left a huge hole in the environment budget, with the ministry facing massive cuts. The irony is that at the very time they were campaigning on sustainability, their plans were to cut the ministry’s budget by a third. I’m working with the chief executive on re-prioritising on where the new Govt wants to see the focus.” The Environment Ministry will be responsible for overseeing sweeping changes to the Resource Management Act. MoE CEO Paul Reynolds says the aim of the Ministry review was to meet Govt priorities and to ensure the Ministry could effectively lead environmental policy. The MoE prepares five-yearly reports on the state of the environment which cover air quality, water quality, waste, energy, transport and other issues. Programmes run by the ministry include the household sustainability programme for giving householders advice on how to reduce their environmental impact, a programme to increase recycling, and one to make the public service carbon neutral.
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