Since it came to office in late 2013, the Coalition Government has spuiked its plan to push the public service to regional centres in a bid to decentralise the federal bureaucracy.
Over the weekend, former Deputy Prime Minister, Barnaby Joyce, labelled the scheme “bullshit”:
Former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce has blasted his own’s government’s “bullshit” commitment to moving public servants from Canberra to regional Australia, a contentious policy he championed before his demise as Nationals leader…
Mr Joyce has questioned the Nationals’ apparent retreat from the decentralisation policy, with the May budget pushing fewer than 100 positions, across just six agencies, out of Canberra and other metropolitan centres…
suggested only three of the six relocations qualify as decentralisation because the others were placing government workers in Perth, Adelaide and western Sydney, amounting to a “silly game” where the policy was technically, but not legitimately, being pursued.
“Decentralisation has to be authentic decentralisation”…
Mr Joyce argued a larger decentralisation approach was needed – linked with infrastructure investment and encouraging migration to rural and regional areas…
“What galls us is we see the word decentralisation and we go, ‘beauty!’, and they say we are moving a department to Parramatta and we go, ‘bullshit’,” he said. “You can’t decentralise to the centre. You have got to decentralise from the centre.”
Labor has also previously labelled the Coalition’s decentralisation policy “pork barelling” and “smoke and Mirrors” .
Let’s be honest: Barnaby’s decentralisation of the public service from Canberra never made much sense.
While the branch functions of certain departments (e.g. quarantine and immigration) could logically be moved to other regions in order to be ‘closer to the action’, it makes little sense in moving central functions away from Canberra. Such a move would likely reduce economies of scale and the effectiveness of the APS, while also potentially raising costs.
There is also a lot to be said for being located close to parliament and the decision-making process. Leaving the bureaucracy in Canberra also makes collaboration via inter-departmental committees easier and more effective.
And then there is the issue of Canberra itself. Rightly or wrongly, Australia chose many years ago to locate the federal government and the bureaucracy there, and the city represents what is effectively a ‘sunk cost’. To move a significant share of the bureaucracy away would likely leave the Canberra economy in a mess – a textbook case of ‘robbing Peter (the ACT) to pay Paul (regional Australia)’.
