Heather Henderson, the daughter of former Liberal leader Sir Robert Menzies, has labelled Coalition plans for forced public service relocations from Canberra "retrograde" and questioned why millions will be spent to make government less efficient.
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As part of a new decentralisation push championed by Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce and the National Party, ministers are being required to justify to cabinet why departments and agencies in their portfolios shouldn't face relocation from Canberra, Sydney and Melbourne.
As Australia's longest serving prime minister, Sir Robert Menzies was integral to the development of Canberra in the 1950s and 1960s, including through the National Capital Development Commission and movement of some public service functions to the growing city.
The Menzies government is credited with contemporary civic and town planning for Canberra, the creation of national institutions and the development of Lake Burley Griffin.
In a letter to The Canberra Times on Tuesday, Mrs Henderson quotes her father's famous statement of the late 1950s: "We are stuck with Canberra, whether we like it or not, so we might as well do it properly".
She said ministers being able to see and speak to their departmental officials was a critical function of the public service.
Canberra's population grew from 28,000 in 1954 to 93,000 by the time Sir Robert Menzies retired in 1966.
"He was determined to make Canberra a capital city of which all Australians could be proud. That included bringing government departments not already there to the capital," she wrote.
"Sure, the people involved came kicking and screaming, but they could understand and appreciate that it was practical and necessary to have the relevant people in the same city. There is no doubt it has helped to create good government."
The Yarralumla resident and author said modern communications made it possible for public servants to work across borders, "but real personal contact remains vital".
The criticism could carry significant weight among Liberal MPs and comes amid opposition to decentralisation plans from ACT senator Zed Seselja and the Labor opposition.
Mrs Henderson said most spouses of public servants were employed in the ACT and being forced to move to regional and rural communities was harder now for families than 50 or 60 years ago.
"Why are we taking this retrograde step, scattering our government?" she said. "Why are we spending millions to become less efficient?"
Labor called on the Coalition to release full cost-benefit analysis assessments of any relocations on Monday, with Canberra MP Gai Brodtmann labelling the latest decentralisation push "half-baked".
On Tuesday, deputy Nationals leader Fiona Nash said state Labor figures and Northern Territory Senator Malarndirri McCarthy had expressed support for decentralisation, quoting former prime minister Gough Whitlam from October 1964
"The planning which has gone into Canberra should have gone into Wollongong, should have gone into Mt Isa, and should go into all other provincial centres in Australia," Mr Whitlam told Parliament.
"The positive way to bring about decentralisation is to build Canberra's in the principal areas of Australia where resources are available for men to process."
