PRIME MINISTER Press Statement No. 553
8 September 1975
LOCATION OF AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT EMPLOYMENT
The Australian Government has decided to transfer a
number of units of Australian Government employment to the
regional growth centres of Albury-Wodonga, Bathurst-Orange and
Geelong. The transfers will commence during 1975/ 76 and continue
to 1978/ 79, and will involve up to 1,200 Public Servants.
The Units to be transferred to regional growth
centres are
TO ALBURY-WODONGA
The Health Insurance Commission, Central Office
The Schools Commission, Central Administration
The Children's Commission
TO BATHURST-ORANGE
The Division of National Mapping
The Australia. Police College
TO GEELONG The National Biological Standards Laboratory
The Government has previously announced decisions to
establish the National Authority on Road Safety and Standards
and the Australian Heritage Commission in Albury-Wodonga and
the National Animal Health Laboratory in Geelong.
The Government has also decided that certain Central
Office staff will transfer from Melbourne to Canberra. During
1975/ 76, some 50 positions will' be transferred, and studies
are being undertaken in connection with the possible transfer
to Canberra of other Government units in policy areas. It is
expected that these studies will be completed in the near future.
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The departments chiefly involved in the moves from
Melbourne to Canberra in 1975/ 76 are Housing and Construction
and Transport, both of which currently have their Central
Administrations split between the two cities.
In reaching decisions about transfers to the regional
growth centres of Albury-Wodonga, Bathurst-Orange and Geelong,
the Government was fully conscious of the significance of such
moves for the people who will be concerned. It has not taken
its decisions lightly but has also had in mind furthering its
objectives in regional development.
The effect of the decisions will be to provide a
major stimulus to the development of growth centres, which are
an important part of the Government's urban and regional
development policy, and at the same time to ensure that Public
Service units which have critical functional linkages to
Parliament and major national institutions are located in
Canberra. Details of transfer time-tables and the conditions
under which the transfers will take place have yet to be
determined, pending the outcome of discussions with the
development corporations concerned and with interested staff
groups. Staff associations have already been assured that
a minimum of 12 months notice will be given to'staff when the
compulsory transfer of positions is involved.
Details of new criteria for the location of
Australian Government employment in Canberra and other growth
centres, which were the basis for these decisions, were
announced in a Prime Ministerial press statement of
14 April 1975.
CANBERRA A. C. T.