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The Ministry for Primary industries has confirmed it’s cutting 10 percent of its workforce to meet Finance Minister Nicola Willis’s demand for public sector spending cuts.
Director-general of MPI Ray Smith says 391 roles have been axed.
Of those, 65 people have left due to natural attrition or early redundancy, 193 were vacant positions, and 133 are still to be paid off.
He says the purge did not affect frontline services or statutory roles such as veterinarians, animal welfare, fishery and food compliance officers, and biosecurity teams at the border.
The Public Service Association was skeptical of that, and said it was reckless short-term thinking from the Government to cut the country’s first line of defence.
Assistant secretary Fleur Fitzsimons said primary producers should question whether the agency can still be effective in the face of crises like Mycoplasma bovis and the aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle.
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