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The Coalition government wants country towns to put in their bids to have Canberra public service departments forcibly relocated to the bush. Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce has called for an expansion of his scheme that is seeing hundreds of public servants in his own Agriculture portfolio moved from the capital to rural or regional Australia. Mr Joyce also wants his party colleagues to take up the banner and drum-up submissions to the inquiry, providing talking points and quotes for Nationals MPs and Senators around the country to simply copy, paste, insert their names and electorates and distribute. The minister has been under fire for his insistence on forcing the Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority out of Canberra and to heart of his own electorate in Armidale, northern NSW, in what critics have described as an act of "blatant pork barrelling". Mr Joyce has persisted with his plan in the face of almost universal condemnation, a cost-benefit analysis showing little or no economic benefits, the refusal of nearly all the APVMA's regulatory scientists to move and criticism from every industry group in the sector. Now the minister has used the decision of the Senate to refer the policy to a committee for inquiry, to encourage small towns to pitch for their very own Commonwealth department or agency. After Labor and the Greens combined to vote for the inquiry, The Senate Finance and Public Administration References Committee will investigate "the operation, effectiveness and consequences of relocating corporate Commonwealth entities, as well as the economic, environmental and capability implications." Mr Joyce reacted to the move by calling for an expansion of his policies, urging country towns to take their pick of Commonwealth agencies. "We have been trying to get Labor to engage in the conversation about decentralisation, which is growing jobs into regional Australia and relocating government agencies out of major cities," Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources Barnaby Joyce said. "Every town that has ever wanted Centrelink or a tax office, every town that has ever wanted a Centre of Excellence, every town that has wanted an agency such as the Grains Research and Development Corporation or the Murray Darling Basin Authority, now is the time to make your bid." Mr Joyce's idea would be a 180 degree reversal of recent government policy which has seen the ATO abandon offices in country NSW, Victoria, Tasmania and Queensland to save money and Medicare shut shopfronts around Australia in an effort herd its customers onto its online services or more centrally located "one-stop-shops". "Every Council, Chamber of Commerce, CWA and community association in every regional town is invited to make a submission to this inquiry, to tell Canberra and the Labor Party, why regional Australia deserves Commonwealth agencies bringing well-paid, skilled jobs to your area," the minister said. "Your views must be made clear in this inquiry or they will be at risk." The Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation, the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation and the Grains Research and Development Corporation are also being forced out of Canberra or establishing regional presences, in moves that are expected to cost the taxpayer tens of millions of more dollars.

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