Local Land Services will be without a board for the short-term while the recruitment process continues for ministerial appointments with questions being raised if it will operate as normal.
The LLS board consists of a ministerial appointed chair and the 11 local LLS board chairs - and it is here where the problem lies.
The role of chair was temporarily being filled before the position was made vacant again due to illness and the term of 10 out of the 11 local board chairs came to an end on Tuesday, March 19.
This leaves one member sitting on the board, which overlooks the entire LLS.
While the ministerial appointed positions have to be approved by cabinet, the LLS will be left rudderless with a ministerial announcement not anticipated until April.
During question time on Tuesday, leader of the Nationals in the Legislative Council Sarah Mitchell MLC, asked the Minister for Agriculture and Regional NSW Tara Moriarty why the positions had not been filled.
"I support the work of LLS but it was appropriate for us to have a look at the boards and the board structure," Ms Moriarty said.
"While we've conducted the review, I had appointed a temporary chair. Unfortunately that temporary chair became significantly ill. We will appoint a temporary chair to continue in that role while we complete the work that we are doing."
Ms Mitchell followed up by asking if LLS will be operating outside of the legislation given that these positions won't be filled past Tuesday.
Ms Moriarty was not clear if LLS will be operating within legislation.
However, she did say that LLS CEO Steve Orr leads more than 1000 staff members on their day-to-day work helping to secure the future of agriculture and the environment for NSW communities.
"The 11 local boards and the board of chairs play an important role in bringing local needs to the LLS and monitoring local work as it is delivered by LLS staff," she said.
"The government was pleased to see a strong response from people wanting to join local boards with 157 applications received, with 19 of these coming from existing LLS board members.
"The government is working through the process of appointments so that new local chairs and board members will be appointed and ready to go."
NSW Nationals leader Dugald Saunders said the government was asleep at the wheel. "We now have a situation where the LLS won't have a board. The LLS recruits highly skilled local people to look after their local communities, and it is extremely disappointing to see one of our most trusted regional brands thrown into disarray," he said.
Flawed LLS election process?
Long-time Central West Local Land Services board member Chris Sweeney has raised concerns the board election process is flawed and will cost the organisation a year of getting back up to speed.
Ministerial appointments are currently being made while candidate nominations for elected board decisions are now open and close April 14, with voting open from May 21 to June 14, and an election announcement expected around the beginning of July (see p3).
With essentially no handover period for the 56 new board positions (22 ministerial appointed and 34 elected), Mr Sweeney said there needed to be drastic changes to the process.
"With the timing of the elections, you end up with all these new people coming into roles without any idea of what is going on or what needs to be done," Mr Sweeney said, who was also on the LLS's predecessor, the Livestock Health and Pest Authority state board from 2004 to the organisation's demise in 2014.
"We could see this was going to happen many years ago, that their terms were all set to finish at the same time.
"We suggested to have split terms and we suggested that the terms for the ministerial appointed (roles) and the chairman shouldn't be in the same period so that all of them are not going at once.
"So when they go to the state board you haven't got 10 new people turning up there.
"We identified that way back when it was getting changed from the three organisations (the Department of Primary Industries' extension arm, Catchment Management Authorities (CMA) and Livestock Health and Pest Authorities) into LLS.
"We identified that as an issue and it was passed off by lots of senior bureaucrats.
"The reason the bureaucrats like this is because it's the same as government. In comes 10 new people and no one knows what is going on.
"They walk in there blind and the bureaucrats are saying we'll show you how it all works and push their agenda."
The LLS received 157 applications during the recent recruitment process for ministerial appointed board members, with 19 of those applications from existing LLS board members.
This is compared to the 166 people who applied for ministerial appointed board member roles in 2022, something the LLS said shows there is still strong interest in becoming a board member.
"It's fantastic to see such a strong response from people putting up their hands to represent their local communities, with 157 people applying to become Local Land Services board members," Local Land Services director governance, risk and business improvement, Sue Ann Nicol said.
"It's such a rewarding experience to serve on our boards, as members play a key role connecting the organisation with local communities and helping shape and drive change for our services and local priorities.
"This recruitment process will be an opportunity to welcome fresh perspectives and a wealth of skills and experience to our boards, helping us innovate as an organisation and deliver even better outcomes for landholders across NSW."
Mr Sweeney has questioned the level of applicants who have nominated to fill these positions.
"You can nearly take 50 people out of that number straight away who may have their own agenda for wanting to get on an LLS board," Mr Sweeney said.
"I'm not sure the standard of board member is going to be up to what we have had previously."
