Moving "the lion's share" of a government department to Wollongong would mean a multi-million dollar boost to the local economy, Wollongong MP Paul Scully said.
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Should Labor win the election on Saturday, it will move 200 Liquor and Gaming NSW jobs to Wollongong.
Mr Scully said that represented the majority of jobs in the government department.
Not only does it inject up to $16 million a year in salaries into our local economy, it also has a multiplier.
- Wollongong MP Paul Scully on Labor's plans to move Liquor and Gaming NSW to the Illawarra
"It's a large chunk," Mr Scully said.
"Some of the people in Liquor and Gaming would stay in Sydney because they deal with the casinos and those larger venues on an regulatory basis all the time."
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The relocation has been part of Labor's Illawarra Jobs Action Plan since the 2016 Wollongong byelection.
Mr Scully classed the move as "a huge investment in Wollongong's future".
"Not only does it inject up to $16 million a year in salaries into our local economy, it also has a multiplier," he said.
"You've got 200 jobs, 200 families who are spending money in the local economy."
Mr Scully conceded that the direct jobs created will be limited as most of the Liquor and Gaming NSW workers would move to the Illawarra.
"With any sort of relocation we know some people decide for family reasons or for all sorts of other reasons to stay where they are," he said.
"The estimate is there will be a turnover of staff, around 20 to 30 per cent."
Mr Scully said the move would happen within the next 12 months if Labor forms government.
An office location for the Liquor and Gaming staff is not yet known.
They would not be working out of the State Office Block in Crown Street as that is already fully leased.
Mr Scully said the move would allow a commercial building developer to secure "a long-term anchor tenant".
The Liberal government has a Decade of Decentralisation policy, where CBD public sector jobs are pushed out to other areas.
"The Decade of Decentralisation the Liberals have claimed has delivered 32 jobs to Nowra, not even to Wollongong," he said.
"It's delivered a lot more jobs to Western Sydney and to Parramatta. We're talking about real decentralisation, getting public sector jobs out of the Sydney CBD and into regional areas like Wollongong."
Glen Humphries
I'm an award-winning senior journalist with the Illawarra Mercury and have well over two decades' worth of experience in newspapers. I cover the three local councils in the Illawarra for the Mercury, state and federal politics, as well as writing for the TV guide. If I'm not writing, I'm reading.
I'm an award-winning senior journalist with the Illawarra Mercury and have well over two decades' worth of experience in newspapers. I cover the three local councils in the Illawarra for the Mercury, state and federal politics, as well as writing for the TV guide. If I'm not writing, I'm reading.
