WEB EXCLUSIVE: Department of Conservation latest to be hit with proposal of 130 job cuts

NEWS

Written by Caeden Tipler (they/them) @caedentipler | News Editor

Radio New Zealand has reported that 130 jobs could be cut at the Department of Conservation (DoC). This comes after over 1000 jobs have been cut from the Public Service already, including half of all roles at the Ministry for Pacific Peoples.

The DoC has control over nearly a third of Aotearoa New Zealand’s land. Regional Development Minister Shane Jones has previously said a more “pragmatic” approach is needed to manage this land.

Options being explored by the Minister include using Conversation land for forestry to help New Zealand meet its Climate Change goals, returning land to Māori, or transferring land to private ownership in other ways.

It is unclear at this stage how the proposed job cuts would impact how Conservation land is managed. However, it comes after the Department has already faced a 21% reduction in funding this year. 

In a statement, the Department of Conversation has said the job cuts are to meet the Government set target of 6.5% savings.

Public Service and Finance Minister Nicola Willis told Newstalk ZB the Government “will create more jobs for front-line workers than it will remove roles from the back office”.

The final number of redundancies required to meet the savings target is unknown, as some job cuts will come from already vacant roles. DoC has said no final decisions have been made, but that they have no comments on what roles or work may be affected.