Chief Minister's Office undermining Gungahlin jobs

Agree with Ralph, there are no compelling arguments why any government department should be forced to move to Gungahlin.

Kramer’s right too. A lot of people want to work in Civic because it’s centrally located with all the amenities (apart from lack of car parking which the ACT Govt will need to do something about PDQ). It’s also closer to Parliament House and other major departments. And with the large number of PS jobs going begging across a whole range of departments and a whole lot of critical areas (IT, HR, finance, public affairs), departments would have to be nervous about relocating to far away destinations their employees really don’t want to go to.

I remember years ago working for a department in Civic which wanted to relocate some staff to Tuggeranong. The staff nearly rioted. And the move never happened.

Many govt agencies also like to have a presence in Civic so they can easily meet with ministers (or more likely their myrmidons) and other govt big wigs. If the employees think twice about commuting to Gungahlin, how can you expect your minister to think about visiting?

Why is Gungahlin any different than Tuggeranong?

Try “Why is Gunghalin any different from Tidbinbilla?” and you’ve got a more apt comparison.

Only DICA IT is moving to Gungahlin.

And the TC is crap in Gungahlin, what with its narrow, canyon roads. At least Belconnen has wide boulevards that makes it livable. So which DEP Sec would want to move several thousand people to Gungahlin?

Give us a break here. Those Gungahlinites seem to think they are Canberra’s poorer cousins. The place was established as a dormitory for the rest of Canberra and that is what it will remain. Its got its road (well almost) it so desperately “needed” so the locals could go to work elsewhere, now they want to have work to come to them. What next, a public holiday for G Day?

I know several Gungahlin people that are hanging out for Immigration to move to Gungahlin, and will be taking any job they can there, ASAP.

FacSIA is in Tuggeranong -and- Woden, thesedays.

Multi-campus Departments seem to be the trnd of Canberra, even the police, Defence, and our spooks are doing it.

I left my last employer after they moved to the airport, at least i tried it! but dealing with the crap roads and congestion day after day there left (pun intended) a lot to be desired.

This is Canberra not Sydney, i do not want to sit in traffic snarls for the best part of 2 hours a day!

Seems appropriate that Centrelink and FACS are in Tuggeranong to me 🙂

Why is Gungahlin any different than Tuggeranong? They are both ‘the end of the line’. Why should Tuggeranong be blessed with Centrelink and FACS and whatever else is out there. It seems entirely reasonable that government departments should move out to Gungahlin – especially if the price is right.

I see Woody is still acting as a true man of the people.

Nice sentiments indeed, chap.

Ah the triple bottom line – an entirely foreign concept for most Department Heads. I think you’ll fing that the single bottom line (cost) is the majority consideration and then the next one is the building code of Aus. Anything extra seems to fall by the wayside. You’d like to think that the Gov could lead with some cutting edge practises for building efficiency etc but it all comes down to cost.

When it comes to location the problem with Civic is that it’s in the middle of Canberra – making it relatively attractive to all prospective employees when it comes to travel time. (but not when it comes to parking!)

I would think that a big decision point for the departments would be overall cost. $40M for prime Civic land would have to be *at least* double the cost of land in Gungahlin.

VY: if mine moved to Tuggers I’d quit too. But conversely, if DEST moved to Gungahlin, guess what department I’d be looking for a job in???

I’m in a department where bit by bit it is being shifted to the airport. Many people don’t like that and go elsewhere. Hasn’t stopped the department moving…

But for any department having trouble encouraging new staff into say IT vacancies, then it would make perfect sense to consider Gungahlin because that’s where the new land is – it offers the whole package.

But ultimately it gets back to whether you support the original satellite city concept behind Canberra, or are happy to see it go the way of every other city in this country – centralised and congested.

If you want to live in Bumblefuck, South Goulburn then that’s up to you. Don’t expect the Feds to compensate for your silly choices, though.

Governments (and government departments) have a responsibility to make good decisions. Good decisions are not only based on economic values, but need to take into account social and environmental values – the triple bottom line.

It would be great if our ACT government gave some consideration to creating jobs in outer suburbs to get some balance between economic, social and environmental values. Put the jobs near where people live. This and past ACT governments have failed dismally to consider anything other than economic values – they always give in to the developers.

If your job moves, you have a choice. Move with it or find another job. Perhaps we could call it “workchoices”.

If my job moved to Gungahlin I would quit.

Surely departments should locate to areas that are convenient for them. I very much doubt there’s noone working for DEST who lives south of Woden – how convenient will that be for these people? Nowadays people change jobs often enough that the concept of living and working in the same ‘satellite’ area is invalid for many people.

Also, it’s a common misunderstanding, but the Chief Minister’s Department does not mean the political staff working for the Chief Minister.

It’s a public service department in the same way as the Department of Education, and equivalent to the Federal Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.

Just reading through the article, there’s no indication that Stanhope has implicitly or explicitly approved of this statement by the department. It will be interesting to hear what he says about it.

Exactly!

Sorry, there are no compelling arguments as to why any government department should have its hand forced into moving to Gungahlin.

Where departments locate themselves is a commercial decision, and should be determined by markets.