NSW Nationals Leader Dugald Saunders has vowed to make the Department of Primary Industries its own separate business unit again.

He made the remarks during an address at the NSW Farmers Conference this week, warning DPI is being watered down, after it was completely absorbed by the Department of Regional NSW, labelling the changes made under Labor’s functional review as unfair, unreasonable, and unnecessary.

Mr Saunders says the new joint Department is also being coordinated by the Premier’s Office in Sydney, which completely misses the point, because having people who live and work in the regions – supporting the regions – is crucial to giving bush communities the voice they need and deserve.

He also raised concerns over changes to Local Land Services which has seen the pay allocated to Local Board Members and the Chair cut by about two thirds since Chris Minns became Premier saying the reality is the service is being downsized, and again there’s too much control from Macquarie Street, which means at some point the “local” part that works really well will be a distant memory.