Critics Call Coalition's Ban on Working from Home "Lazy" and Detrimental to Women in the Workforce

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Key Points

A Coalition government would require all federal public servants to return to the office, if elected.
Labor senator Katy Gallagher compared Liberal’s public service policies to Donald Trump’s.
Greens senator Barbara Pocock said the policy would “punish women and carers”.

A Liberal senator says working from home is “unsustainable” for federal public sector workers, saying they need to respect the funding they receive from the public.

Jane Hume said if elected, a Coalition government would force all Commonwealth public servants to return to the office five days per week, with limited exceptions.

“Led by the Community and Public Sector Union, Labor has made work from home a right for the individual, not an arrangement that works for all. This is unsustainable,” she said at a speech at the Menzies Research Centre on Monday night.

“This is common sense policy that will instil a culture that focuses on the dignity of serving the public, a service that relies on the public to fund it, and a service that respects that funding by ensuring they are as productive as possible.”

There were around 185,000 public service employees as of 2024 according to the Australian Public Service Commission, which includes Australian Defence Force personnel and Australian Federal Police staff.

The number of public service employees has increased by around 16 per cent since Labor came into power, while the amount of Australians working from home has dropped in recent years.

About 36 per cent of employed people worked from home regularly in August 2024, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, down from a peak of 40 per cent in August 2021.

The federal public service union agreement, which includes working from home entitlements, runs through to 2027.

This latest push comes after , which he estimated would save the budget $6 billion per year.

Can the government make public servants return to the office?

Australian workers do not have a right to work from home, it’s up to an employer whether they will offer this as a perk.

Public servants are employees of the government, so refusing an order to return to the office could be tricky.

However, some workers do have a right to request “flexible work arrangements” under national employment standards, according to the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) website.

An employee of at least 12 months can have a right to request work from home arrangements if they:

are a parent or carer of a child of school age or younger
are a carer
have a disability
are at least 55 years of age
are pregnant
are experiencing family or domestic violence, or caring or supporting an immediate family or household member experiencing family or domestic violence.

Casual employees have similar rights if they have been working regularly and systematically for at least 12 months.

An employer can only refuse a request on “reasonable business grounds”, which the FWO describes as a request that could be too costly or have a significant adverse effect on company efficiency, productivity or customer service.

Should an employer refuse a request, there is an appeals process through the Fair Work Commission.

Stealing policies from the US, Labor senator says

Labor senator Katy Gallagher has compared the Liberal’s public service policies to those of United States President Donald Trump.

One of Trump’s first policies this year was to order all government workers to return to the office.

Gallagher criticised the Liberal’s approach as a “step in the wrong direction for working women”.

“It seems that every other idea is being stolen from the United States, and they clearly have no idea about how working families manage modern life,” she told ABC radio on Tuesday morning.

“Across the economy, working from home arrangements are in place. They are a feature of modern workplaces.

“They allow women in particular [the chance] to manage some of the other responsibilities they have outside of the workplace.”

Barbara Pocock, Greens spokesperson for employment and the public service, said the policy would “punish women and carers”.

“This is just another clueless knee-jerk, Trumpian response from the Coalition that will drive women and those with caring responsibilities to reduce their participation in paid work and force them back into insecure low-paid jobs,” the senator said in a statement on Tuesday.

Albanese and Dutton trade blows

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has taken a swipe at Dutton, describing the Opposition leader as “lazy”.

“What we have here from Peter Dutton is that he’s so policy lazy, him and his team, that if they hear something on the news — an announcement from overseas about sacking public servants, or people working from home, or DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) the dreaded inclusion policy that they’re so worried about — they say, ‘Yeah, I’ll have some of that’,” he told reporters on Tuesday.

“What we need is Australian policy for Australian conditions, because we are unashamedly the best country on Earth and we don’t need to borrow from anyone else.”

Dutton defended the policy as a commonsense approach, hinting there could be work from home exceptions for some employees.

“I won’t tolerate a position where taxpayers are working harder than ever to pay the bills and housing public servants in Canberra refusing to go to work.”

“I’m not wasting taxpayer money like Anthony Albanese does.”