Tasmania’s new Building Tasmania department will officially start operating on July 2, kicking off a months-long restructure of the state’s public service.
The start date was confirmed in a Friday evening message to state service employees from Head of the State Service Kathrine Morgan-Wicks.
Building Tasmania will take over responsibility for housing, roads and infrastructure, replacing the Department of State Growth, which is being abolished.
The new department will be overseen by Infrastructure Minister Kerry Vincent, with Shane Gregory acting as secretary.
Premier Jeremy Rockliff announced the overhaul in his State of the State address in March.
“Building Tasmania will deliver the roads, housing and infrastructure our state needs to be fit for the future,” Rockliff said.
Morgan-Wicks said the transition would be staged to keep services running smoothly.
“Given the scale and complexity of this transition, we are taking a staged approach,” she said.
“This will help ensure continuity of service for our stakeholders and the community, while also keeping workloads manageable across government.”
Building Tasmania will launch on July 2, alongside the transfer of some Department of Premier and Cabinet (DPAC) functions to the Department of Health.
Further DPAC functions will move to the Department of Justice on July 16 and to the Department for Education, Children and Young People on July 30.
State Growth’s climate change function will shift to the Department of Natural Resources and Environment on August 13.
Stage two begins on September 10, when capital projects from other agencies will be transferred into Building Tasmania.
December 3 marks the next milestone, when Tourism, Events and Creative Tasmania will be established, bringing together all sport-related functions.
DPAC will also take on economic development, industry, energy and resources from Building Tasmania on that date.
Homes Tasmania will also join Building Tasmania, subject to legislative change.
Scrapping State Growth will cut about 250 full-time equivalent roles and free up “more than a quarter of a billion dollars”, according to Rockliff.
The shake-up sits within a much bigger budget squeeze unveiled this week.
The state budget, handed down on Thursday, outlined $1.49 billion in “operational efficiencies” over four years, with about 1,700 full-time roles to be cut across the public service by 2029-30 through natural attrition and voluntary redundancies.
Morgan-Wicks said a further update on organisational structures and workforce arrangements was expected in June.
“As with any transition of this scale, there may be occasions where timing needs to be reviewed or adjusted,” she said.
“There are a range of complexities to work through, including legislation, employment arrangements and other operational considerations.”
“While these may influence timing, our focus remains on supporting our people through these changes and processes whilst delivering to the dates outlined above.”
