Moving state government departments out of Perth’s central business district into regional and urban centres will have social benefits, according to Environment Minister Albert Jacob, as the government announced today the shift of 800 staff to a Primewest development in Joondalup.
Moving state government departments out of Perth’s central business district into regional and urban centres will have social benefits, according to Environment Minister Albert Jacob, as the government announced today the shift of 800 staff to a Primewest development in Joondalup.
Public servants from three departments will be relocated under the decentralisation plan, after the state government signed a deal for 9,600 square metres of floor space on an eight-storey tower in Joondalup.
Primewest won the right to develop the precinct.
The Department of Water, Department of Environment Regulation, and the Environmental Protection Authority will be heading north, and they follow the Department of Parks and Wildlife, which will move operations to Bunbury.
Mr Jacob said the government was trying to lead by example on getting good jobs outside of the CBD.
“We have such a high concentration of government jobs but also jobs generally within the CBD,” he said.
“Our transport infrastructure, if you look in an urban sense, it’s actually very well planned.
“Where it fails and where we get congestion is that everyone is going in the same direction at the same time.”
Moving part of the workforce, in this case about 800 public servants, to Joondalup, is potentially a step toward better utilisation of transport infrastructure.
There’s a further motivation behind the move of 300 Department of Parks and Wildlife staff to Bunbury, with most of its work in the South West, Mr Jacob said.
The Bunbury offices will be located near a variety of ecosystems relevant to the department’s research.
Another benefit was that the move would improve the career prospects of young people in the town, the minister said.
“Students who graduate and want to pursue career pathways have had to come up to Perth or go to other places,” Mr Jacob said.
It was even possible many employees would be keen to make the move.
Bunbury was an attractive location for young couples starting families, he said, with housing affordability, low traffic congestion and improving hospitality and entertainment offerings all attractive features of the South West port town.
Mr Jacob additionally touted economic benefits of the move, with 100 jobs in the town created for every 100 staff shifted, for a total estimated benefit of $75 million.
That begs the question, however, as to what the negative multiplier impact is for Perth itself of staff being moved away.
Past moves
Governments had been aspiring to get a department in a regional area for decades, Mr Jacob said.
The federal government has had issues too, with pushback against a plan to move the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority to Armidale in New South Wales.
In WA, there have also been ongoing discussions about moving the Housing Authority to Fremantle, with a decision reportedly to be made next month.
Decentralising the workforce was a key priority in the state government’s 2010 office accommodation masterplan.
Part of that was driven by a need to reduce rental costs, something now less of an issue due to the plentiful supply of office space in the city.
Prior to the release of the 2010 plan, the now defunct Office of Shared Services had been based in Cannington.
