An issues paper considering the National Party-led decentralisation agenda says government departments and agencies should only be forced to move to locations where they can boost the local economy, where sufficient office space and transport infrastructure is in place and when the benefits outweigh the costs.

Citing expert research from Australia and overseas, the parliamentary committee said successful decentralisation moves required destination towns to "have some appeal to public servants and their families."

Pledging to bring a broad interpretation to public service and corporate decentralisation plans, the committee said it would closely examine how well-planned and executed proposals for forced moves of departments from Canberra, Sydney and Melbourne would contribute to regional growth.

Moving public servants could help bring government closer to local communities, tap into specialist skills and experiences and better align specialist agencies with clients.

Among negative factors to be considered are the high costs, the loss of skilled and experienced staff who do not want to move, increased travel budgets, isolation of workforces and "negligible benefits to regional towns and communities to which entities are located".

The release of the paper, the first significant information about the controversial plans since the announcement by Nationals deputy leader Fiona Nash in April, comes as the party's leadership is engulfed in the political citizenship crisis.

Constitutional experts have argued ministerial decisions made by Senator Nash and Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce could be challenged in the courts if they're found to have been ineligible to sit in Parliament.

On Thursday, Mr Joyce's eligibility was part of the first High Court hearing on the dual citizenship cases of a group of five MPs. Senator Nash is expected to be referred to the Court when Parliament returns next month.

Mr Joyce's forced move of the government pesticides authority to his electorate of New England has raised persistent accusations of political pork barrelling and falling work standards.

The issues paper said no research consensus exists on the best way for development of the regions, while "identifying examples of successful and unsuccessful regional development is problematic."

"The success of any decentralisation policy needs to be measured with regard to the net benefit or growth achieved by the transfer of public and private entities from one location to another," the paper said.

"This includes consideration of the wider impact of job losses in the original location, compared to the gains those jobs may provide to the location where decentralisation occurred.

"The current availability of the National Broadband Network may act as an enabler for decentralisation in some regional and rural areas. However, a lack of access to reliable and fast broadband can be a constraint in other areas."

Select Committee on Regional Development and Decentralisation chair John McVeigh said the issues paper was designed to "stimulate thinking and generate ideas about regional development and decentralisation in Australia."

All Coalition portfolio ministers have been required to tell cabinet which departments or functions are suitable for a regional move in August, with business cases for forced relocations due by December.

The committee's interim report is due before the end of the year, with a final report to be tabled by February 28, 2018.