Almost 80 staff at Telstra's Ballarat call centre have been sacked this afternoon.The workers were employed by Dorothy Farmer Personnel, contracted to undertake Telstra work.Staff members have told The Courier that the jobs have gone to overseas offices.A Telstra spokesperson said the staff had been given one month's notice.The spokesperson also said Telstra had a mix of domestic and foreign partners who provided call centre services and it was not correct to say that the jobs were headed overseas.She said the job cuts were due to fluctuating workloads.Opposition treasury spokesman Tim Holding, in a statement to The Courier, said: "While these are ultimately decisions for the company concerned, the Coalition Government must reassure the Ballarat community that it has done everything possible to try and prevent these job losses. "The Government has to reassure families in country Victoria that it has a plan to protect and promote regional jobs." Ballarat’s Telstra office was hit hard by job cuts in late 2007, with 82 employees and 87 labour-hire workers out of work as part of a nationwide redundancy program.The Gillies St site was automated.In November of that year, three full-time field officers were also made redundant when 285 jobs were lost across Australia.More to come.