The government department for developing country Australia is to shut its regional offices around the nation

Public servants at the Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development were told on Monday that cuts to grants programs and the scrapping of the National Disaster Recovery Taskforce meant a retreat from the regions was on the cards.

Offices in Hobart, Wollongong, Bendigo, Newcastle and Orange are set to be shuttered by January 2016 with the department's presence in Brisbane, Melbourne and Adelaide looking shaky.

Only the department's Townsville site is safe, being spared to administer the Abbott Government's agenda for northern Australia.