SHIFTING state government departments to North Queensland is being touted as a sure fire way to create jobs in the region.
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Katter's Australian Party leader Robbie Katter said about 3,800 public service jobs would be relocate under his ambitious government de-centralisation scheme.
Mr Katter said it was a modest solution to counter the "Brisbane-isation" of the state's workforce.
Queensland public service workforce statistics from 2019 show 53 per cent of state's government jobs are based in the south-east corner. Of them, 45,864, almost 20 per cent of the full-time equivalent jobs, are located in the Brisbane CBD area.
Mr Katter said he was pushing for the Department of Environment and Science, and its 2,946 full-time equivalent jobs, to be officially relocated to Townsville.
He said water authority SunWater, and its 512 jobs, should be based in Mackay, while the Department of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships and its 293 jobs, would move to Cairns.
Mr Katter said regional Queensland had lost countless non-frontline public service jobs in recent years, either through attrition or deliberate departmental office shutdowns.
"There was a time, not all that long ago, when public servants lived in the communities affected by the decisions they made rather than hiding themselves away in ivory towers in Brisbane," Mr Katter said.
"We used to have a Mines Department office in the Mount Isa - it's been gone for years. You'd probably find a similar story in every reasonably-sized small town in the North and out west; it's important to acknowledge that what we are calling for has been happening gradually in the reverse for many years."
Mr Katter said it was time the North clawed back some control over the future of the state while reaping the benefits of boosted employment opportunities.
"There is no good reason all state government departments should be headquartered on George Street," he said.
"Public servants need to be out in the real world, and to be part of the communities whose lives their decisions affect.
"Untold problems are caused when government decision-making gets lumped on some bureaucrat located thousands of kilometres away, and this is one logical way to address that."
Mr Katter said the relocation of 3,800 stable, professional jobs would be a boon for North Queensland's struggling economy, and would have wide-ranging effects for sectors including housing, retail and tourism.
He said the regions had suffered with the centralisation of public servants.