45 jobs will go at State Fleet, departments to get ‘fleet manager’

Fleet comprised 22,000 cars costing taxpayers $240m a year

STATE fleet will be disbanded, saving the government $1 billion as they outsource cars for bureaucrats to car share companies.

Finance Minister Dominic Perrottet today told state fleet employees that the government’s state fleet service will be outsourced, and car sharing services will be rolled out to government departments in metropolitan areas after a successful trial.

Rather than a single government-owned fleet, each department will get a “fleet manager” who will deal directly with leasing companies.

It is understood 45 jobs at State Fleet will be made redundant by mid next year.

Mr Perrottet said the government was wasting money by managing their own fleet service — that includes 22,000 cars costing taxpayers $240 million each year.

“Today the NSW Government spends hundreds of millions of dollars buying, owning and maintaining one of the biggest car fleets in the country,” Mr Perrottet said.

“I’d like to see this capital freed up and invested in frontline services and productive infrastructure.”

media_camera NSW minister for finance and services Dominic Perrottet keen to free up capital for frontline services.

The move comes after PricewaterhouseCoopers recommended introducing competitive leasing and trialling car-sharing services.

“The Government shouldn’t be competing with the private sector for fleet leasing and management services,” Mr Perrottet said.

The government will roll out car sharing services to departments with metro offices in the Sydney CBD, Parramatta and North Shore after a three-month trial found car-sharing services Goget and Hertz 24/7 provided the government better value for money.