More than 100 roles are set to be cut from the New Zealand Customs Service and Department of Internal Affairs in the latest sweep of public sector cutback announcements.
The Public Service Association (PSA), the union representing public servants, states 79 roles are proposed to go from Customs, with 41 on the chopping block at the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA); a number of the roles are called “critical” and “frontline” by the PSA.
According to the union, which gets consulted on the proposals, 11 staff at the DIA’s Digital Safety Group will go, including investigation and advisory roles in child exploitation and countering violent extremism.
The DIA’s proposal would also see the anti-money laundering group slashed from 51 people to 30, with 24 roles set to be disestablished and three to be created for investigations.
The union describes the roles set to be chopped as being under a team supervising more than 5000 financial institutions, including casinos, law firms, accountants and real estate agents.
The Auckland team would lose six staff with Wellington proposed to lose four and a number of other jobs on the chopping block in service design and practice.
The DIA’s strategy and capability group is proposed to be disestablished entirely.
A DIA spokesperson said the department advised staff that 78 roles are proposed to be disestablished and 19 new positions created, one will be fixed term in the regulation and policy branch. Of the positions proposed to be disestablished, 42 are currently vacant.
“This is part of our response to the Government’s ongoing Fiscal Sustainability Programme to embed a culture of responsible spending across government. We are required to save 6.5 per cent of our baseline,” they said.
Further details on impacts to specific branches of the DIA are due to be announced in mid-May, the spokesperson said.
Job cuts at Customs include a plan to remove 22 roles from the trade, revenue, and compliance service delivery team - a majority of which in Auckland and Christchurch. This proposal would see 11 out of 15 roles in the assurance team slashed, with the Christchurch assurance group disestablished in its entirety.
Twelve jobs in border operations at customs are on the line, six in Auckland, five in Christchurch and one in Wellington.
The PSA states the plan includes disestablishing Christchurch’s supervising customs officer role, meaning staff based in Christchurch would be required to report to a specialist in Auckland, rather than someone locally.
Meanwhile, seven jobs under “operations, intelligence, investigations, and enforcement” are said to be on the line, including the chief customs officer and two out of three detector-dog training positions in Auckland.
Five roles dealing with maritime customs operations would be cut, one each from Auckland, Whangārei, Gisborne, Timaru and Invercargill.
The PSA said in a statement: “This will remove the daily Customs presence from Whangārei, Gisborne, Timaru and Invercargill ports and transfer the work to Ōpua, Napier, Lyttelton and Dunedin ports respectively.”
Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said the cuts would impact some of the country’s “most important work”, including stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism, along with frontline defences at ports and airports.
“It includes staff in the child exploitation team, as well as roles combatting violent extremism and money laundering at the Department of Internal Affairs. Frontline staff at ports and airports have also been confirmed, including more than halving Auckland’s detector dog trainers,” he said.
“The digital child exploitation team leads important work cracking down on criminals and is New Zealand’s bridge to international law enforcement agencies. It identified more than 90,000 online accounts that traded or possessed child sexual abuse material in a single mission in 2022 and 46 people based in New Zealand were arrested as a result.”
Hipkins said the Customs cuts showed “an appalling lack of judgement” by the Government, which had earlier claimed it would crack down on the tobacco black market.
However, a Customs spokesperson said: “None of the positions under consideration would impact Customs’ ability to deliver frontline border services and critical support.”
Customs Minister Casey Costello said: “There’s not a lot to say at this stage, except that I appreciate that this process can be difficult for affected staff.
“These are employment decisions for the agency, but the Chief Executive, Christine Stevenson, has been keeping me updated on her thinking. Customs needs to be able to work effectively, deliver the frontline border services that protect the country, and to support New Zealand’s trade and revenue collection. That’s why the proposals also see changes to organisational structures and new roles being created.”
The announcements come on the back of 33 Customs staff accepting voluntary redundancy or early retirement in recent months.
The agency had previously confirmed it had been identifying and implementing ways to bring down costs, including travel, accommodation, contractor and consultant spends.
Customs is one of many agencies urged to find 6.5 per cent cost savings in its books, in relation to the Government’s directive to find savings across the public sector. For many other agencies, the scramble to find 6.5 per cent savings has led to job reduction proposals.
Customs confirmed staff are being consulted on “further proposed organisation changes” to meet the Government’s requirements on cost savings and future cost pressures “while ensuring Customs retains the ability to deliver frontline border services and critical supporting functions as well as delivering on Government priorities”.
“Final decisions will be made once the consultation process has been completed and feedback has been assessed,” the agency said in a statement, adding final decisions will be provided by the end of May.
PSA Assistant Secretary Fleur Fitzsimons called today’s plans “irresponsible and dangerous”, with online crime and scams getting more sophisticated and targeted.
“It has taken years for successive Governments and our Customs officers to set up our internationally renowned border management. These cuts will harm New Zealand for years to come,” Fitzsimons said.
In a statement to NZME today, a Customs spokesperson said the agency is now in consultation with staff over proposed organisational changes to meet required cost savings and future cost pressures. They said they would still be “ensuring Customs retains its ability to deliver frontline border services and critical supporting functions as well as delivering on Government priorities”.
“None of the positions under consideration would impact Customs’ ability to deliver frontline border services and critical support.”
The spokesperson said the proposed options that are now under consultation involve the possible disestablishment of 78 positions.
“Some are existing vacancies. The 78 positions proposed for disestablishment are in addition to the 33 positions where staff are taking voluntary redundancy or early retirement. Part of this consultation process also proposes to create some new positions.
“Final decisions will be made once consultation has been completed and all feedback from staff has been assessed.”
Customs said it aims to have this organisational change consultation and final decision process completed by the end of May.
Last Wednesday saw the Ministry of Education and children’s ministry Oranga Tamariki announce proposals that would see more than 1,000 jobs culled from the two agencies alone.
It was called a “brutal day” by those opposing the cuts, including the Public Service Association.
Azaria Howell is a Wellington-based multimedia reporter with an eye across the region. She joined NZME in 2022 and has a keen interest in city council decisions, public service agency reform and transport.
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