The Destruction of DoC

Having announced major cutbacks to New Zealand's Department of Conservation some weeks ago, CEO Al Morrison has announced his resignation from the position.

It could not have come at a worse time for Department of Conservation staff, the wider conservation sector, or indeed for the country as a whole.

Having announced such extreme cuts Morrioson should, at the very least, have remained to see through their implementation – or, as a man of principle, fallen on his own sword.

Instead he has resigned as head of DoC, without so much as informing his own senior colleagues of his intentions (other than by memo), and timing the announcement to coincide with Anzac Day (a major public holiday), when it could be kept out of the headlines, and avoid the pathetic scrutiny by what goes as the media in this country.

To my mind, there are two possible explanations for this. The first is that Morrison wanted to avoid having to implement the deeply unpopular and damaging restructuring; the second (and more likely) scenario is that he has been moved sideways to his new position in the State Services Commission so the government can replace him with their preferred choice of hatchetman (or woman) to lead the Department.

The Department of Coinservation is the most well-regarded and successful government funded conservation organisation in the world. It has a well-deserved, international reputation, despite years of restructurings and cutbacks whereby the deparment has had to achieve more and more with less and less.

In the climate of the global financial and debt crisis, it was inevitable that there should be further cuts by whatever political party was in power.

However, the magnitude of the ongoing funding cuts and the way in which they have been introduced lays bare the ideological nature of the cuts carried out by a government that has demonstrated its disdain for anything to do with sustainablity, and its contempt for the public service, and for democratic oversight of government policies.

We live in the era of the Big Lie.

---Seemorerocks

DOC boss takes State Services Commission job

Department of Conservation boss Al Morrison has been appointed to a top job at the State Services Commission.

Stuff,

24 April, 2013

Deputy State Services Commissioner Sandi Beatie announced the appointment this afternoon.

Morrison will take up the new role of Deputy Commissioner Corporate Centre, where he will be charged with increasing the pace of the change towards better public services.

It involves working closely with State Services Commissioner Iain Rennie, Treasury secretary Gabriel Makhoulf and Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet boss Andrew Kibblewhite.

"This will be a challenging role and is a vital part of the leadership of Better Public Services," Beatie said.

"Mr Morrison brings outstanding experience at leading and implementing major change and is an excellent communicator, which will be of great benefit in his work across the state sector." He will take up the role in September.

As DOC chief executive, Morrison has overseen several rounds of job cuts, the latest being this year.

He is a former journalist, including a stint as Radio New Zealand's political editor before joining DOC.

DoC staff worried cuts may lead to another disaste

A leaked document from the Department of Conservation shows staff are worried restructuring and job losses could lead to another disaster like Cave Creek.

Radio NZ,
24 April, 2013

Thirteen teenagers and one DoC staff member were killed when a DoC viewing platform at Cave Creek near Punakaiki on the West Coast collapsed in 1995.

The department says it has received more than 1000 submissions from staff about its plan to restructure, cut 140 jobs and merge its 11 conservancies into six to meet an $8.7 million savings target.

A report obtained by Radio New Zealand sent from DoC's head office to staff says in those submissions a large number of staff raised concerns about the proposals.

It says the biggest worry is there will not be clear accountability under the new model that could lead to another Cave Creek.

However, the report says a huge amount has changed since that disaster and lessons about accountability will not be lost.

Protest outside Parliament

About 140 people gathered outside Parliament in Wellington on Wednesday to protest against the staff cuts and restructuring.

The rally was organised by environmental group Forest and Bird and public sector union, the PSA.

Forest and Bird spokesperson Kevin Hackwell said if the Government can increase the budget for tourism promotion by $158 million, it should be able to find an extra $8 million to fund the department that protect the places tourists visit.

"We're saying they could just make $150 million, give the $8 million to DoC and we'll keep the frontline staff who are doing the specialist protection work, who are working on the tracks and the tourist facilities that we have in our national parks, etcetera.

"It's really important that we keep this stuff going."

Mr Hackwell said protesters held balloons and stood on the lawn at Parliament spelling out the words "love DOC".

“Love DOC” Day – lunchtime demonstration outside Wellington offices

An event outside the DOC offices in Wellington supported Forest and Bird’s Love DOC Day today, to express concern over the impact of planned job cuts.

Scoop,

11 April, 2013

DOC has announced it is cutting 140 positions around the country as part of a shift in organisational focus and in a bid to make up to $9 million dollars in savings from on-going government funding cuts to its operational budget.

Forest and Bird is encouraging people to flood Department of Conservation offices with messages of support to staff and to send a message to the government about the impact of funding cuts on conservation.

PSA members at DOC will be presenting a detailed submission today as part of the consultation process before DOC releases final decisions on the restructuring in the next few weeks.

The PSA represents more than 1400 DOC staff.

PSA national secretary Brenda Pilott, who was at the lunchtime event, says the planned cuts will hit frontline jobs and operations across DOC’s regional network. “Once again we are seeing public sector cuts costing valuable jobs. The DOC review is another in a long list of cuts and restructuring which have affected public sector workers and continues to create a very difficult and unsettled environment for them.”

DOC has been one of the hardest hit in terms of government budget cuts.

“The Department has already been through one review process which has cost jobs and affected its capability in some areas. It’s clear that it’s now reached a stage where it can’t make the required savings without sacrificing frontline jobs,” Brenda Pilott says. The PSA says many communities are also concerned about the job cuts. “In some of the smaller regions where DOC staff not only manage conservation but are integral to their local communities, the impact of any job loss will be felt strongly,” Brenda Pilott says.

“It’s great to see Forest and Bird voicing support for the valuable work that DOC does and encouraging a public vote of confidence in it. I think staff will feel heartened by it.”

Media release from Forest and Bird

Messages of support from thousands of New Zealanders were stuck onto Department of Conservation office windows across the country, as part of a national Love DOC Day today. Others have baked and delivered cakes, or are wearing green ribbons, in support of DOC staff, and the jobs they do.

Love DOC Day was organised by conservation charity Forest & Bird, after the department announced last month that 140 frontline jobs would be lost in yet another round of cuts. DOC has lost ten per cent of its staff in the last two years, and $54 million worth of government funding over the last four years.

By lunchtime more than a thousand people had emailed messages of support, which have been transcribed to Post-it notes, and placed onto DOC’s buildings in 26 locations around the country, from Warkworth to Invercargill. One message of support came from South Africa’s Gough Island Antarctic base in the mid-South Atlantic Ocean. Other messages of support are being written up and applied to DOC offices directly by local people.

A message was also sent by Forest & Bird to DOC’s team on Raoul Island, in the Kermadec Group, this afternoon.

“It was impossible to deliver any cakes, but at least we could let the country’s most isolated workers know how much New Zealanders appreciate the work they do,” says Kevin Hackwell, Forest & Bird’s Advocacy Manager.

“Love Doc Day stemmed from the widespread shock and disappointment that was expressed throughout the country after last month’s job cuts were announced,” says Kevin Hackwell. “Anyone who has ever enjoyed a national park knows just how important DOC is to what makes New Zealand such a great place to live. And anyone who works in tourism, for example, knows how vital it is that DOC is funded to do its job.”

The Tourism Industry Association this week expressed its concern about the job losses at DOC.

“The Government must cancel the cuts, and give DOC the money it needs in the upcoming budget,” says Kevin Hackwell.

“Last year the Auditor General made it clear in her report that DOC wasn’t performing as it should. Restructuring the department, and cutting yet another 140 jobs, is not going to change that situation.

“DOC is the single-most important guardian of this country’s clean green brand, our special places, our historic sites, and our endangered species. If we lose that, we’re toast,” says Kevin Hackwell.

Logic of DoC restructuring questioned

The Royal Forest Bird Protection Society of New Zealand says it would have made more sense for the a new director general to restructure the Department of Conservation, rather than outgoing head Al Morrison.

RadioNZ,

25 April, 2013

Mr Morrison, who has been in charge since 2006, is about to take up a new role as a deputy State Services Commissioner.

DoC is restructuring and plans to merge its 11 conservancies into six with job losses inevitable.

Forest Bird says such significant changes should have been made by an incoming director general, not by someone who will not be there to see the effects.