A Rural and Regional Committee has called for forced public service teleworking quotas, to push government jobs into regional areas.

The Victorian Parliament committee has recommended the move after months of investigations including 25 submissions, 11 public hearings and a study tour across the US.

Nationals MP Paul Weller the State Government should; “Send a strong signal to the rest of the economy about what is possible.”

“One relatively simple way the Victorian Government can do this is to actively encourage telecommuting across all departments," he said.

"Advances in technology mean that more public servants should be working remotely away from central offices, both increasing their productivity and taking pressure off crowded roads and public transport systems."

Targets have been set for telework percentages by the Federal Government, which is pushing for 12 per cent of workers to forge formal telework arrangements by 2020.

One of the federal measures to achieve the goal is a trial for workers to ‘telecommute’, using high-speed broadband in several departments. This is a practice that would be made possible if regional areas had more consistent high-speed broadband access, but the current Federal Government is lagging in its efforts to deliver that.

The Victorian Rural and Regional Committee says it wants to rebalance the state’s workforce. Currently close 1.6 million people work in greater Melbourne, with just 600,000 working in the rest of the state.

“The most immediate economic benefit of telecommuting is that it keeps workers regional for a percentage of their work time and injects money directly into a local economy,” the committee report said.

“Regional Victorians who commute to Melbourne to work are spending money at lunch time and after work in Melbourne.”

The Government will respond within six months.

The full Final Report for the Inquiry into the Opportunities for People to Use Telecommuting and E-Business to Work Remotely in Rural and Regional Victoria is accessible here.