Posted by
BLOGASSAULT on Sunday, May 17, 2009 11:04:02 PM
Premier David Bartlett yesterday confirmed that the state Department of Environment, Parks, Heritage and the Arts would be abolished.
Mr Bartlett took the move as he desperately searched for savings after a $1 billion drop in GST revenues from the commonwealth.
Mr Bartlett said the move would save $15 million and cost 30-40 jobs but denied it would compromise the state's environmental management.
Just curious why it was called the Department of Environment, Parks, Hertige, and Arts? The first two sort of go together, but the last two?
A statement issued by the state's peak conservation groups warned: "The proposed changes will merge parks and the environment departments with the logging, resources, mining and infrastructure departments, diluting and completely compromising their effectiveness, and creating clear ministerial conflicts of interest."
Logging and mining have more to do with the environment then heritage and arts. But what do I know, I am not australian.