Premier John Brumby today announced that VicRoads would relocate its main call centre operations to Ballarat by late 2011, bringing 50 jobs to the region.
In Ballarat, Mr Brumby said the move was part of a strategic investment by the Victorian Government to drive economic growth in regional and rural Victoria by decentralising more government jobs.
“This Government is determined to support families living and working in regional and rural Victoria,” Mr Brumby said.
“We are committed to growing government jobs in our regions and we are delivering on that commitment.”
“While we have a strong record in relocating government jobs to regional areas, as part of our $631 million regional blueprint we committed to building on this by moving even more jobs to our growing regions.
“Moving VicRoads’ main call centre operations from Kew to Ballarat is part of our strategic plan to decentralise more government services and drive a new era of opportunity and prosperity in Victoria’s regions by attracting jobs, population growth and major new investment.”
Mr Brumby said the Ballarat VicRoads centre would become the main customer service call centre for the road authority.
“The expansion of services at Ballarat creates regional employment opportunities and promotes growth, but it also builds on improvements to VicRoads customer services and will upgrade its existing call centre facilities,” he said.
VicRoads conducts more than 20 million transactions every year, with the Victorian Government having invested $16 million to improve service standards and boost customer services.
Regional and Rural Development Minister Jacinta Allan said 16 extra positions would be established in Ballarat by October with the relocation to be rolled-out by late 2011, with business as usual in call centre operations and service delivery at VicRoads.
“This is a great development for the Ballarat region and we know that moves like this one by VicRoads can generate significant economic flow-on benefits to communities and provide families an opportunity to enjoy great lifestyles and great job opportunities,” Ms Allan said.
“This is about the Brumby Labor Government supporting and growing our regions through investments that create jobs and build up industries to help ensure a prosperous and sustainable future for our regional centres and small towns.”
Relocation assistance will be made available to VicRoads staff who want the voluntarily transfer to the Ballarat call centre. Some call centre operations will remain in Kew to ensure integration with the policy and customer services departments.
No employees will be forced to move to regional Victoria as part of the planned decentralisation of selected public sector jobs with the program to be managed mostly by attrition.
Ms Allan said the Brumby Labor Government’s $631 million blueprint delivered a new vision, backed by record funding, to secure the future prosperity of regional and rural Victoria.
“Ready for Tomorrow: A Blueprint for Regional and Rural Victoria is a $631 million strategic investment by our Government to drive a new era of opportunity and prosperity in regional Victoria,” Ms Allan said.
“We are committed to growing government jobs in our regions and we are delivering on that commitment. We want to drive more growth, more opportunities and more investment in regional and rural Victoria.”
Ready for Tomorrow committed $631 million across five key strategies:
• $110.1 million for Investing in Skills and Young People with a new tertiary education package to deliver more opportunities in tertiary education for young people and to make it more attractive for them to stay in or return to the regions. It includes new targets to increase enrolments and graduates, new infrastructure support to encourage investment in student accommodation and for TAFE and university facilities, leadership and cadetship programs, a new youth strategy and support to develop new regional leaders;
• Backing Jobs and Industry with $99.4 million towards a new action plan to create thousands of new jobs, boost regional industries and help small business. It outlines a commitment to grow government jobs in the state’s regions, drive up skills, training and exports, support farmers, the food and beverage industry and tourism growth;
• $203.9 million for Building Infrastructure, Connecting Communities to provide regional Victorians with world-class infrastructure in water, cleaner energy, transport and industry development, improvements to broadband services, local roads, timber roads, bridges, bus service expansion as well as more affordable housing;
• $158.4 million for Supporting the Regional and Rural Way of Life with funding for sports clubs, cultural activities and community. It includes infrastructure and amenities support for the well-being of older people in small communities, promoting regional Victoria as a great place to live and work, a boost to programs to help landholders manage vegetation with funding available for building performing arts centres, galleries and other civic amenities; and
• Planning Better Regions – A New Partnership backed by $58.9 million to establish a new approach to regional planning and development including significant funding to support the planning and design of regional cities and towns, support for the development of new growth areas in regional cities, support for future planning in coastal areas and local government. It also includes grants to local councils for future planning work and expertise within local councils, fast-tracking projects to help local communities adapt to climate change and support for smaller councils.