THE prospect of Victorian government agencies shifting from Melbourne to Wodonga under a Coalition premier has been played down by Liberal Bill Tilley.
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The Benambra MLA was asked by The Border Mail if he would press for state government job decentralisation to Wodonga.
The query was put in the context of his Liberal parliamentary colleague Tim Smith stating a Coalition governnment would have a decentralisation minister.
The Liberal Party has also committed to shifting the VicRoads headquarters, which employs up to 600, from Melbourne to Ballarat.
“Whether it’s public sector agencies that would be something for the matter of the policy that gets developed out of this population debate,” Mr Tilley said.
“The technical nature of that, we’ll see how that falls, I don’t know.
“I will leave whether an entire department, decentralisation (occurs), up to further formulation of any public policy.”
Mr Tilley suggested forcing Melburnians to shift may breed resentment.
“If you’re demanding people come to the area that don’t want to be here, well it doesn’t make for a good society here,” he said.
“You want people to be part of the community, you want people to be enthused and participate and contribute to what I know and many of us know is a great part of Australia.”
Mr Tilley was more keen for greater promotion of country areas to be done by government through an expo highlighting work and social opportunities.
“Why don’t we….demonstrate that you could relocate to regional Victoria and any part of the North East district and know that you’re going to have a job and sports and other lifestyle activities which are fantastic,” he said.
