THE "decade of decentralisation" is off to a slow start, but the NSW government remains convinced it can bring more residents and jobs to rural parts of the State.
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In 2011, the government committed to relocating 1500 public service positions to regional NSW by 2021.
Three years later, about 200 of these positions have been relocated - 13 per cent of the target in almost a third of the timeframe.
Deputy Premier Andrew Stoner said there was "much more to come" in terms of moving public service positions, but also that there was more to decentralisation than simply shifting the public service.
"The Regional Industries Invest- ment Fund is aimed at the private sector to create jobs in regional NSW," said Mr Stoner.
He said towns such as Glen Innes, Orange and Eden had already benefited from jobs created by private sector projects that were facilitated by the government's Regional Industries Investment Fund.
There would be 300 jobs created in Orange through the expansion of the airport and 138 jobs created in Glen Innes through a pilot training facility, Mr Stoner said.
Other government investment in infrastructure such as roads, bridges, schools and hospitals in rural NSW was also helping decentralisation, by creating jobs that helped local employment figures and put money back into rural communities, he said.
"There has been $13 billion already spent or committed to projects in regional NSW... with 2000 more nurses, teachers and police," Mr Stoner said.
The total number of new jobs in regional NSW since 2011 was 25,000, Mr Stoner said.
This total was a combination of public service jobs moved from Sydney, construction jobs from infrastructure spending, new private sector jobs facilitated by the government and new nurses, teachers and police in regional NSW.
However, mayors in rural NSW said more needed to be done.
Cobar Shire Council Mayor Lilliane Brady said the government needed to look further west for a true decentralisation of the State.
"Decentralisation is a wonderful thing...but we need more facilities in western NSW," Ms Brady said.
"There is Western Lands (the Western Lands Commission, a division of the NSW Department of Natural Resources) in Dubbo...but Dubbo is not really in western lands," she said.
"It could be moved out here, the ag department (Department of Primary Industries) could be out here...it's important to bring people from the city to the bush."
Ms Brady applauded the efforts of the government in trying to decentralise, but said "there is a long way to go yet".
Mayor of the Liverpool Plains Shire Council Ian Lobsey said the creation of jobs in rural NSW had to be at the forefront of any plans to move people out of the cities - or even to keep rural residents from moving away in the first place.
"Agriculture has become highly mechanised...we had 21pc less people working in our shire since the last census," Mr Lobsey said.
"The crucial thing (for encouraging people to live in rural NSW) is having a job."
Mr Lobsey said further efforts from the NSW government in decentralising State agencies would be vital for rural centres.