Marae, iwi, hapū and community organisations could lose local face-to-face funding support under a major Department of Internal Affairs restructure that the PSA says will hit rural and remote Māori communities particularly hard.
The proposed restructure of Community Operations – Hāpai Hapori would cut a net 28 positions from its current workforce of 116 — around one in four jobs — according to the Public Service Association.
Frontline Community Advisor positions would fall from 70 to 40, with all 70 existing roles proposed to be disestablished and 40 new positions created.
DIA’s own public information describes Hāpai Hapori Community Operations as leading the department’s direct interface with communities, including community grants, funding and advisory services. DIA’s recently released briefing-title register also confirms officials have been working on a reset of Community Operations and consultation on proposed changes.
The PSA says another major change would consolidate 16 local service centres into three regional hubs in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.
Under the proposal, local Community Advisors would no longer be based in centres including Kaitaia, Whāngarei, Hamilton, Rotorua, Gisborne, New Plymouth, Napier, Palmerston North, Lower Hutt, Nelson, Greymouth, Dunedin and Invercargill.
PSA National Secretary Fleur Fitzsimons says the concern is not simply about job numbers. Community Advisors help hundreds of organisations navigate Lottery grants, government funding and philanthropic support, often developing relationships and local knowledge over many years.
The union argues that remote Māori communities could be among those most affected, particularly marae, iwi and hapū organisations that rely on advisors who understand their communities and can provide face-to-face assistance rather than support being delivered primarily from a distant regional hub.
The proposed changes come amid wider restructuring across DIA and shortly after DIA staff joined nationwide industrial action on September 9. The PSA says around 10,000 public servants across several agencies participated in that strike.
Consultation on the Hāpai Hapori proposal is due to close on October 8, with final decisions expected to be communicated to staff on October 21.
With the General Election on November 7, the PSA is also challenging whether changes of this scale should proceed so close to polling day.
For community organisations already competing for limited funding, the bigger question is straightforward: when the local person who knows your marae, your rohe and your kaupapa disappears, what happens to the communities that depended on that relationship?
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