120 STAFF FACING THE AXE

PLAN TO CLOSE CITY’S TAX OFFICE:

THE Australian Taxation Office is planning to close its Geelong office, axing more than 120 jobs.

Staff were told yesterday that the ATO was proposing to leave Geelong when its office lease expires in June next year.

A four-week consultation with staff is being undertaken before a final decision by the ATO executive.

The ATO employs 121 staff at its Little Ryrie St office, with 97 positions classified as permanent.

But a memo to staff noted that half of its “workpoints” in the office were vacant, well above a target of 10 per cent, and that it had been unable to source suitable sublease arrangements since the departure of the NDIA in 2019.

The Australian Services Union (ASU) has called for Geelong to protest the move, arguing it was unnecessary and against the Federal Government’s commitment to jobs in regional Australia.

The union’s taxation officers’ branch secretary, Jeff Lapidos, said the ATO had deliberately run down staffing levels at the office over the past few years, in preparation for the end of its lease.

“If the ATO does shut its Geelong office … permanent employees will become entitled to redundancy packages of up to 13 months’ pay plus notice and accrued leave, if they do not relocate to an ATO office in Melbourne,” Mr Lapidos said.

“The ASU estimates the redundancy and leave costs if all staff refuse to relocate will cost the Commonwealth well in excess of $15 million.

“More importantly, Geelong will lose an important source of employment and service to the community.”

He said the ATO should remain in Geelong, either in a part of its current premises or by leasing new, smaller premises.

If the office closes, in addition to being offered redundancies, staff will have the option to transfer to another ATO office, the closest being in Melbourne, or seek employment in other Australian public service agencies, if and where positions are available.

The Community and Public Sector Union’s deputy national secretary Beth VincentPietsch said the union was calling on the Government to reconsider the office closure.

“Now is not the time to be cutting jobs from anywhere, but regional centres in particular,” he said. “The ATO needs all staff on deck to assist with the recovery from the economic impact of COVID-19.”

The federal Member for Corio, Richard Marles, said the ATO had had a presence in Geelong for nearly 55 years.

“We’re in the middle of a health pandemic and an economic crisis and this heartless Liberal Government are now forcing workers to choose between their jobs or relocating,”

Mr Marles said. “This isn’t a government committed to ‘Jobmaker’, they’re committed to Jobtaker.”

Inquiries to the Federal Government were directed to the ATO, which said decisions on locations were on a range of factors, primarily relating to workforce planning strategy so that it could deliver the tax and superannuation system as effectively and efficiently as possible.

An ATO spokesman said it had an obligation to ensure its decisions represented value for money for taxpayers when it came to leasing arrangements.