Hundreds of state public service positions in Melbourne will be moved to regional Victoria under a plan to spread more government jobs around the state, Premier Daniel Andrews says.
The government has not outlined how many people will be required to relocate to Ballarat if they want to keep their jobs, but the process is under way to fill 600 positions in the recently announced Ballarat GovHub.
"It's not the Melbourne public service, it's the Victorian public service," Mr Andrews told reporters in Ballarat on Thursday. "There's a process of advising staff and agencies and that's going on as we speak, and we'll do this in a respectful and co-operative way."
Mr Andrews said Ballarat was a beautiful city and he did not think the government would have trouble getting people to move there.
The $47.8 million government hub, funded in Tuesday's state budget, will be home to up to 1000 government employees, including the 600 new positions.
It is due to open in 2020. The jobs will be spread across eight departments including VicRoads, Services Victoria and the Department of Justice and Regulation.
AAP