AgVic sheds 100 jobs with more likely to go

The Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions voluntary redundancy and early retirement scheme was announced in December last year.

DJPR told staff the redundancies were required to support it to meet the government's savings targets, requested of all departments, ahead of the budget.

The department, which covers six ministers across 10 portfolios, offered 250 packages, of which 174 were taken up by the deadline of February 11.

Of the 250 packages, 100 out of 145 had been taken up by Agriculture Victoria staff.

"Groups are now working though how these staggered departures are effectively managed, to ensure business continuity and assist teams to adapt appropriately, with workload management a key priority," staff were told.

The DJPR was also told to shed 29 jobs from its Rural and Regional Development division and another 23 from the Jobs, Innovation and Business Engagement group.

When the offer closed, 16 staff had gone from Rural and Regional Development and 15 from Jobs, Innovation and Business Engagement.

Stock & Land has been told that some staff left on Friday, while others would finish by the end of March.

It was expected the department would continue to cut numbers until the targets were reached, possibly through further 'targeted separation packages'.

The packages were open to staff aged between 55 and 66 and excluded Agriculture Victoria's executive level.

It's believed a number of the staff who have accepted packages had key roles in AgVic's emergency response teams, leading to questions about recovery support in the case of flood, fires, drought, locusts or avian influenza.

State opposition agriculture spokesman Peter Walsh said the cuts came at a time when Victoria's $17.8 billion food and fibre sector would be crucial to recover and rebuild Victoria's economy.

"More job losses targeting the people who support our food and fibre sector show Agriculture minister Mary-Anne Thomas is no champion for Victorian farmers or agriculture," Mr Walsh said.

"Supporting small business to recover and employ more Victorians will be key to recover and rebuild from three years of pandemic, but instead Labor's axing jobs."

He said the cuts couldn't come at a worse time, with international border closures affecting the supply of farm machinery spare parts and fertilliser.

"Punitive international tariffs continue to hamstring our export potential, but rather than supporting our farmers with more resourcing and a bigger effort to diversify into new international markets the government is cutting back."

He said the potential loss of 145 staff followed a cut of 47 positions, late last year, largely in the soils research team, which the department labelled as "surplus to requirements".

A government spokesperson said it was investing more money than ever before in reginal and rural Victoria.

"As part of the Victorian Budget 2021-22, the Victorian Public Service was asked to implement a range of cost saving measures. All departments were asked to make these changes," the spokesperson said.

"We will always support our farmers and communities and our high-quality on-ground services will continue as the voluntary packages are rolled out, with more staff in Agriculture Victoria in 2022 than there were four years ago."

Agriculture Victoria has more than 1200 staff.