Mr Venning said he was concerned to find a shared services initiative the Government hoped would save millions had failed to meet savings targets.

According to Mr Venning, the State auditor-general identified a savings shortfall of $124 million in a plan to move 500 rural government administration jobs to Adelaide.

“Families that have been living here for years have been lost - the whole concept has been disastrous,” Mr Venning said.

“Shared services was never going to succeed at meeting the projected savings - the only thing the plan has accomplished is to adversely affect those whose positions were centralised in Adelaide, along with their families and negatively impact regional employment opportunities.”

Mr Venning said the Shared Services Scheme had cost more than it had saved and government agencies would be less effective if moved out of smaller communities.

A spokesman for Treasurer Kevin Foley said the Shared Services Scheme had not forced regional public servants into Adelaide.

“The Government installed a no-forced relocation policy for regional employees with regard to the Shared Services Reform,” he said.

“If the Member (for Schubert) wishes to provide the details of the families we would be happy to look into it.”

The spokesman said Shared Services was a long-term scheme that was still in its early stages and that Shared Services SA was already processing 150,000 payable accounts and 24,000 accounts receivable each week as well as about 100,000 public servant salaries.

“Shared Services is a long-term investment in the efficiency of the public sector,” he said.

“The Government remains confident that significant savings will be achieved in the long run. “