COVID-19 lockdowns and a new-found confidence in remote office work have led some to believe there's an opportunity for a population shift to regions like south-west Victoria.
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Politicians have long used "decentralisation" as a catch-cry to solve Melbourne's overpopulation fears and prophesise economic development for regional areas.
Nevertheless, the Victorian government predicts the south-west's population will increase just 0.2 per cent a year by 2056, or 8900 more people while Melbourne's population grows four million bigger.
But former Liberal premier Denis Napthine, a Port Fairy resident and advocate for decentralisation, believes the coronavirus pandemic has brought on the moment for tree and sea changes.
"Some of the traditional beliefs about distance have been thrown out the window due to COVID," Dr Napthine said.
"One thing COVID has highlighted is quality of life. A lot of people and particularly families are made to reconsider inner city living."
Genevieve Lenehan, a tax advisor at a Melbourne accounting firm, temporarily swapped a Southbank high-rise office for her childhood bedroom in Killarney when staff began working remotely in late March.
Ms Lenehan, who left the region for study and work after high school, said corporate businesses were discovering staff could work from homes "efficiently and effectively".
"I am working full-time five days a week and it's essentially like I am in Melbourne," the 26-year-old said.
"I think when everything settles down and the office re-opens it will be a lot more normal for people to work at home a couple of days a week."
Ms Lenehan said this year proved "anything was possible" including that city-based companies could consider remote workforces in regional areas on an ongoing basis.
"To not have where you live be a hindrance to working for a really big, good company is fantastic," she said.
But Demographic Group's Bernard Salt is sceptical remote workforces will bring a "significant change" to the south-west following the pandemic.
"There's no doubt I think people will move, but I think the most likely scenario is that people will move just beyond the commutable zone. Like the Surf Coast, Geelong, Colac, that direction," he said.
"The reality is that even people who do work from home do need to go to the office every so often.
"That's a big trek even once every two weeks throughout the year if you move to somewhere like Warrnambool."
Dr Napthine said decentralisation could be successful if government's took a lead role in moving departments and agencies away from cities.
"There are already significant incentives for payroll taxes for regional businesses and they ought to be promoted. (But) if government departments move, the others follow," he said.
His government took a plan to move VicRoads to Ballarat to the 2014 state election and he said there were smaller agencies that governments could move to cities like Warrnambool.
"If you look through government handbooks, there are 400 or 500 agencies," Dr Napthine said.
"Many of them operate in the modern world, do all of their work online. They could be placed anywhere in Victoria, and Warrnambool is well situated."
There has been a long line of politicians to spruik decentralisation. In 1911, Premier John Murray argued leading up to an election that investment in Warrnambool's harbour would help spread population growth across Victoria.
Dr Napthine said more recently programs had been unsuccessful because "they have been short-term assistance that isn't sustainable".
He said while upgrades to the Princes Highway, Warrnambool's base hospital, university campus and train line could incentivise workers to move, governments should also directly intervene in shifting public workforces.
"When governments are talking about post-COVID recovery, they are talking about infrastructure projects, but they should also be talking about decentralisation with moving government departments into the regions."
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