❓ Hon. M.J. Criddle questions a reduction of 120 full-time equivalents in the agriculture budget and its impact on service delivery, research, protection, sustainable development, and staff in rural WA. Hon. Kim Chance acknowledges the reduction, states it was handled through attrition, and provides limited details on divisional impacts.
AnsweredQoN 553Legislative Council
QuestionView source ↗
The agriculture budget indicates a drop of 120 full-time equivalents, with staff numbers in the industry and market development area reducing from 750 to 684 FTEs; in the sustainable rural development area from 394 to 362; and in the agriculture protection area from 560 to 538 - a total reduction from 1 704 to 1 584 FTEs. What will be the impact on service delivery, research, protection and sustainable development and staff in rural Western Australia? Hon KIM CHANCE
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for giving me some informal notice of this question. That informal notice has enabled me to perform some checks, although if the member wants a complete answer, it might be desirable for him to put the question on notice. It appears from the 2001-02 budget papers that there has been a reduction in full-time equivalent staffing levels in the 2000-01 budget. That does seem to be the case, and the quantum is in the order of 120 full-time equivalents. Preliminary information from the Department of Agriculture is that this matter has been handled by attrition and that by and large the process is already complete - the department already has fewer employees than it had at the time of the publication of the last budget. What I have been unable to determine with any precision at this stage - I anticipated that the member may have asked for this information - is in which divisions reductions have occurred. At this stage I am not able to provide that information, except I understand that the total number of 120 full-time equivalent employees has been reduced by some 22 in the corporate services division.
Hon KIM CHANCE replied: I thank the member for giving me some informal notice of this question. That informal notice has enabled me to perform some checks, although if the member wants a complete answer, it might be desirable for him to put the question on notice. It appears from the 2001-02 budget papers that there has been a reduction in full-time equivalent staffing levels in the 2000-01 budget. That does seem to be the case, and the quantum is in the order of 120 full-time equivalents. Preliminary information from the Department of Agriculture is that this matter has been handled by attrition and that by and large the process is already complete - the department already has fewer employees than it had at the time of the publication of the last budget. What I have been unable to determine with any precision at this stage - I anticipated that the member may have asked for this information - is in which divisions reductions have occurred. At this stage I am not able to provide that information, except I understand that the total number of 120 full-time equivalent employees has been reduced by some 22 in the corporate services division.
I thank the member for giving me some informal notice of this question. That informal notice has enabled me to perform some checks, although if the member wants a complete answer, it might be desirable for him to put the question on notice. It appears from the 2001-02 budget papers that there has been a reduction in full-time equivalent staffing levels in the 2000-01 budget. That does seem to be the case, and the quantum is in the order of 120 full-time equivalents. Preliminary information from the Department of Agriculture is that this matter has been handled by attrition and that by and large the process is already complete - the department already has fewer employees than it had at the time of the publication of the last budget. What I have been unable to determine with any precision at this stage - I anticipated that the member may have asked for this information - is in which divisions reductions have occurred. At this stage I am not able to provide that information, except I understand that the total number of 120 full-time equivalent employees has been reduced by some 22 in the corporate services division.
Hon KIM CHANCE replied: I thank the member for giving me some informal notice of this question. That informal notice has enabled me to perform some checks, although if the member wants a complete answer, it might be desirable for him to put the question on notice. It appears from the 2001-02 budget papers that there has been a reduction in full-time equivalent staffing levels in the 2000-01 budget. That does seem to be the case, and the quantum is in the order of 120 full-time equivalents. Preliminary information from the Department of Agriculture is that this matter has been handled by attrition and that by and large the process is already complete - the department already has fewer employees than it had at the time of the publication of the last budget. What I have been unable to determine with any precision at this stage - I anticipated that the member may have asked for this information - is in which divisions reductions have occurred. At this stage I am not able to provide that information, except I understand that the total number of 120 full-time equivalent employees has been reduced by some 22 in the corporate services division.
I thank the member for giving me some informal notice of this question. That informal notice has enabled me to perform some checks, although if the member wants a complete answer, it might be desirable for him to put the question on notice. It appears from the 2001-02 budget papers that there has been a reduction in full-time equivalent staffing levels in the 2000-01 budget. That does seem to be the case, and the quantum is in the order of 120 full-time equivalents. Preliminary information from the Department of Agriculture is that this matter has been handled by attrition and that by and large the process is already complete - the department already has fewer employees than it had at the time of the publication of the last budget. What I have been unable to determine with any precision at this stage - I anticipated that the member may have asked for this information - is in which divisions reductions have occurred. At this stage I am not able to provide that information, except I understand that the total number of 120 full-time equivalent employees has been reduced by some 22 in the corporate services division.
Explore WA Government Data
Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.
Explore more
Government Gazette
Appointments, regulatory notices, planning changes.
Hansard
Debates, questions, speeches and sentiment.
Tabled Papers
Reports and documents tabled in Parliament.
Committees
Committee profiles and recent reports.
Regulations
Subsidiary legislation with filters and summaries.
Bills
Proposed laws and parliamentary progress.
Acts
Current WA legislation and summaries.
Explanatory Memoranda
Bills with EMs (text/PDF) available.
Members
MP profiles, party breakdown and rankings.
Pollie Rankings
Data-driven rankings across 19 categories.
Amendment Chains
Track how schemes and regulations evolve over time.