NSW: DOCS shake up to provide more "contemporary service" = 2

AAP General News (Australia)
02-17-2000
NSW: DOCS shake up to provide more "contemporary service" = 2

The New South Wales Opposition said the overhaul was a cost-cutting exercise driven
by the State Treasury.

NSW opposition community services spokesman Stephen O'Doherty said cutting senior management
positions and amalgamating centres would hamper the department's ability to handle its
already heavy workload.

"The real problem is that DOCS does not have enough funding," he told reporters.

"Over the years, DOCS has been restructured and restructured to a point where it is
not capable of doing the job it is supposed to do anymore.

"I know DOCS officers individually who are crying out in frustration because they can't
do the job they are given the charter to do ... and this package does not give them any
more resources to do their job."

Mr O'Doherty was also highly critical of the centralised call centre which he said
would create a divide between staff and the community.

"It's about depersonalising DOCS, where someone in need of help rings up and talks
to someone that doesn't know anything about their area," he said.

"It's about saving money, not improving services."

However, Mr O'Doherty refused to offer an alternative solution to addressing the problems,
which he claimed were within the department.

He said it was the opposition's role to highlight the government's ineffectiveness.

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KEYWORD: DOCS 2 SYDNEY (REOPENS)

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