Baillieu cuts climate change advisers

AN OFFICE set up to advise the Premier on climate change policy has had its staff cut nearly in half since Ted Baillieu's election.

The climate change branch within the Department of Premier and Cabinet - responsible for dealing with Canberra over carbon pricing and overseeing the state's climate policies - has had its staff reduced from 14 before the 2010 election to eight, documents show.

Andrew Herington, a former director of policy development under Labor premier John Brumby, who received the documents under freedom-of-information laws, said the cut to climate policy staff undermined the government's claim it believed the carbon tax would damage the state's economy.