W.A. Govt Depts - name changes

Submitted: Tuesday, Jul 04, 2017 at 00:28

ThreadID: 135199 Views:3435 Replies:5 FollowUps:4

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Ron N

G'day all! - Just a heads up that the new Labor Govt in W.A. has taken a machete to the public servants and Depts in W.A., from the 1st of July - so you'll probably be puzzled to find a lot of new names for Govt Depts.

The State Govt has reduced the number of Depts from 41 to 25 via amalgamation and abolition.

The one of most interest to travellers on this forum is the former Dept of Parks and Wildlife.

This Dept now becomes "The Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions" (a mouthful if ever there was one).

Parks and Wildlife have been rolled into this mega-dept, but you will still find the DPAW website address in operation for the immediate future.

I'm not sure what the eventual savings will be (never as much as they initially quote) - or what it will mean to us, as users of those Depts, as many cost-cutting measures are introduced (well, something has to be done about the States mind-boggling $40B-and-increasing, debt level!)

No doubt there will be a lot of changes, all designed to provide less for more, as per normal. We'll just have to suck it and see.

"Overview of Public Sector Renewal" link in the site below gives a good outline of the merged and abolished Govt Depts.

W.A. Govt - Public Sector Renewal - Media Statement

Cheers, Ron.

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Reply By: Mick O - Tuesday, Jul 04, 2017 at 08:56

Reply By: AlanTH - Tuesday, Jul 04, 2017 at 09:12

Tuesday, Jul 04, 2017 at 09:12

Normal behaviour for our state government. It happens virtually every time there's a change.
Plenty of huffing and puffing by the blow hards and nothing will actually change for the better. They talk about cutting the number of CEOs etc. from the PS but what they do normally is hide them in some obscure office of something or other. The lower expendable levels are given new jobs where it's difficult for them to get to as this makes them get sick of travelling and resign.
Upper levels are quite often brought back later to head up some other useless dept.
Remember the Office of Shared Services? That fiasco from the last Liebour Gov. cost the taxpayer nearly 500 million and did absolutely nothing for the efficiency of the education and training sector.
40 billion dollar debt? You ain't seen nothing yet.
AlanH.

AnswerID: 612321

Follow Up By: Ron N - Tuesday, Jul 04, 2017 at 09:24

Tuesday, Jul 04, 2017 at 09:24

Alan - Yep, can't help but agree. Termination payouts for the senior public servants are running into eye-watering figures that look like Lotto wins - yet, in multiple cases, these people are rehired within 12 months in some form or another - either as "consultants" at eye-watering rates, or as heads of some new "vital" Govt dept.

Trains will be the next endless expenditure item for this W.A. Govt, those new lines and trains will run way over budget, over the next few years, and it will be a "gravy" train for many.

Fortunately, the Federal Govt, by way of grants for projects, ensures that highways are constantly improved, and we're seeing this in an increased number of passing lanes, and the current straightening and re-aligning, of a number of major highways in W.A.

Cheers, Ron.

FollowupID: 882557

Follow Up By: AlanTH - Tuesday, Jul 04, 2017 at 09:30

Tuesday, Jul 04, 2017 at 09:30

Every new state gov. used to change the name and colour of the buses and be satisfied with that.......
AlanTH.

FollowupID: 882558

Follow Up By: AlanTH - Tuesday, Jul 04, 2017 at 09:41

Tuesday, Jul 04, 2017 at 09:41

Road improvements. Now there's a chance of real saving and better design of roads, sack most of the MR designers, or at least those involved with roads in and through Perth, as they really aren't very good.
They recently spouted that a change was afoot and they were going to make more use of roundabouts instead of traffic signals.
This inspirational thinking comes about 60 years after Britain and Europe designed roads without these constant obstructions to free flowing traffic.
Fly in the ointment with this "new thinking" though is local councils who'll still insist on putting lights close to roundabouts, which disrupts the traffic flow and causes many problems when large blocks of cars all converge on the roundabout at the same time.
This they say is because "commercial interests pay for them" as this allows a bit of extra impulse buying ..... they should have no say at all on road design. Shopping centres should be designed with access utilising the roundabout system, not pandering to the commercial interests who have nothing but their bank accounts in mind.
AlanH.