The Impact of Remote Work on the Federal Election Arena

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A political battleground over the issue of working from home has emerged ahead of the May federal election.

The debate kicked off earlier this month when Opposition finance spokesperson Jane Hume said .

“Work from home arrangements for public servants should only be in place when the arrangements work for the employee’s department, their team, and the individual,” Hume said.

The Coalition later watered the proposal down to “pre-COVID levels” — but not after Labor jumped on the comments, arguing paring back work from home would disadvantage working women.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Sunday this type of flexibility had allowed Australians to overcome “the tyranny of distance”, adding that it was a cost of living issue and could also increase traffic and congestion.

“I’ve met people who have moved into regional Australia and are working in our capital cities, they’re working effectively because they can work online,” he said.

Polling shows the Coalition’s proposal hasn’t been met well by voters and has cost it support in crucial mortgage-belt seats, according to a YouGov poll provided to AAP.

“Policies such as getting rid of work-from-home and impact working families, and they have noticed this, and they don’t like these policies,” YouGov’s director of public data Paul Smith said.

A senior Labor Party source has told SBS News the party was confident the Coalition’s policy was unpopular with voters, and it is an issue the government will campaign on during the election.

Labor is confident the issue has alienated some working women and is seen as failing to understand the modern workplace.

In recent days, there’s been data released separately by Labor and the unions to hammer home their point.

Labor estimates transport and parking would cost workers about $5,000 a year if they had to return to the office five days a week, up from three.

The cost is based on estimates people would spend an extra two hours a week in the car, or just under 100 extra hours a year, with commuters driving an average of just over an hour in the car to get to and from work.

Meanwhile, the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) issued a statement on Monday estimating any federal paring back of work from home arrangements would impact one in three workers.

The peak union body said its analysis of Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data found more than 600,000 workers nationally currently work from home and a further 320,000 employees do so due to childcare or other caring responsibilities.

The Coalition though says it is not proposing a blanket ban on working from home, insisting the focus was only on public servants and their productivity.

“No one is banning work-from-home arrangements, that is a Labor lie,” Hume said on Sunday.

“It’s shameful the way the Labor Party has tried to twist this policy into something it isn’t.”

But the ACTU isn’t giving up the fight, saying any clampdown would have a “flow-on effect” from public to private sector workers.

“(Opposition leader Peter) Dutton would have to tear up the right to flexible work in the Fair Work Act to get the Australian Public Service back to the office,” ACTU president Michele O’Neil told SBS News in a statement.

“That would ruin it for everyone.”

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

With additional reporting by AAP