Federal Member for Canberra, Gai Brodtmann, will introduce a petition into parliament calling for the retention of the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs in Tuggeranong. The department has announced it is looking for new space for its national office as part of a plan to consolidate more than 2700 staff into one or two buildings. It says it will consider remaining in Tuggeranong or moving to Woden. The Tuggeranong Community Council (TCC), Hyperdome shopping centre and Communities@Work are collecting signatures on the petition calling for the federal government to ”locate in Tuggeranong CBD the required 40,000 to 42,000 square metres of space that is needed to house the newly consolidated Commonwealth Government Department of Families, Housing and Indigenous Affairs.”. The petition calls on the government to ”maintain and improve” existing public service jobs in Tuggeranong. Ms Brodtmann said she supports the petition and has spoken to the secretary about keeping the department in the town centre, and will approach the relevant ministers to discuss the issue. “I am making the petition available for people to sign on her website and I will present it in Parliament during the next sitting,” Ms Brodtmann told the Canberra Times. ”There’s a number of different positions that are attached to the department, and it’s very important that you have jobs in various parts of Canberra so you keep each pocket of Canberra alive and keep the economy alive, and it’s a particularly important part of Tuggeranong,” she told journalists while launching the petition. Lynne Harwood, chief executive of Communities@Work, said it would do great harm to an area already disadvantaged if the department was relocated. ”To take away a workforce of that size from an area, you’re also taking away the buying power and the spending power of the area, so it’s not just about the immediate jobs, it’s about the whole impact that would have,” she told the Canberra Times. Hyperdome centre manager, Jodie Marques, said Tuggeranong was experiencing stagnant population growth and a decline in public service jobs in the town centre could see existing residents leave the area. She told the Canberra Times the Hyperdome had good business from department employees and she expected strong support for the petition when she distributed it within the centre and to other local businesses. The TCC is encouraging Tuggeranong residents to add their signatures to the petition by visiting; http://www.gopetition.com/