A major restructure of New South Wales’ transport agencies has led to a spill of at least 25 senior management roles, with decisions to be made next month.
Documents seen by the Sydney Morning Herald have revealed a reshuffle of leadership roles within Transport for NSW — the state’s primary transport agency — as it subsumes the Roads and Maritime Services (RMS).
The documents detailing the proposed restructure were missing the roles and names of various current senior staffers.
A Transport for NSW spokesperson told The Mandarin that consultation with staff regarding the proposed employee structure at the executive director level has been ongoing, and a final decision would be made early December.
They said there would be no change to the employment status of any existing RMS staff as a result of the transition to a single agency.
“Roads and Maritime Services award staff have been transitioned into the new divisions of Transport for NSW in a ‘lift and shift’ process. On 1 July 2019, they and their teams were moved, intact, into relevant new divisions,” they said. “Roads and Maritime Services award staff remain on their current awards, as do award staff of Transport for NSW and all of the other transport agencies.”
Led by Rodd Staples, the agency divisions include Greater Sydney, Regional and Outer Metropolitan, Infrastructure and Place, and Customer Strategy and Technology.
Sydney Trains boss Howard Collins will be seconded to the role of chief operations officer for Greater Sydney in February. His replacement has not yet been announced.
Meanwhile, there are currently five vacant senior roles at the Regional and Outer Metropolitan division.
The agency spokesperson said the Greater Sydney division, and the Regional and Outer Metropolitan division would be charged with creating a “more integrated experience for customers” across the transport system.
“The changes to the transport cluster operating model are designed to deliver on the NSW government’s priorities by better integrating service delivery across all modes, driving better customer outcomes and focusing on creating better places for people across NSW, no matter where they live,” they told The Mandarin.
“The customer is at the centre of everything we do and all of our departments and staff will be responsible for representing Transport for NSW in the community.”
The decision to scrap RMS was made as part of an administrative overhaul following Gladys Berejiklian’s state election win earlier this year. The agency will officially cease to exist following the passage of the Transport Administration Amendment (RMS Dissolution) Bill 2019 through the state Parliament on Tuesday.
Transport and roads minister Andrew Constance said the passage of the bill would enable a more integrated and strategic approach to transport.
“With a single transport agency we will no longer have roads being built in one corner and transport delivered in another, without anybody talking to each other. These changes will better serve our community with a new fit-for-purpose, ready-to-respond transport agency,” he said in a statement.
Regional transport and roads minister Paul Toole said the decision was “not about cuts”, and that there would be no job losses in regional NSW.
The Opposition has said it would support the merger so long as the transitioning RMS workers’ rights were protected.
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