A Coalition government would order all public servants to work from the office five days a week if elected.

“It will be an expectation of a Dutton Liberal Government that all members of the APS (Australian Public Service) work from the office five days a week,” Liberal senator and the opposition’s finance spokesperson Jane Hume said last night.

The pledge to end working from home for APS employees comes as Peter Dutton claims the government could save $6 billion per year by cutting the number of public sector jobs by 36,000 positions.

The Coalition said there will be exceptions on an individual basis.

“Exceptions can and will be made, of course; but they will be made where they work for everyone rather than be enforced on teams by an individual,” Hume told the Menzies Research Centre, a Liberal-party aligned think tank.

“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.”

Hume said the move would promote productivity among public servants.

But the Coalition’s goal of getting public servants into the office may not be possible for several years.

APS employees have work-from-home rights baked into their wage deal that was signed in 2023.

The deal will not expire until 2027 – toward the end of the next term of government for either party.

Soon after becoming elected, US President Donald Trump made sweeping orders for federal employees to return to office.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese slammed the Coalition’s proposal for copying policies from overseas.

“If they hear something on the news, an announcement from overseas about sacking public servants, or people working from home, or DEI – the dreaded inclusion policy they’re so worried about – they say ‘yeah, I’ll have some of that’,” Albanese said.

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

Peter Dutton denied that the policy would disproportionately affect women.

“It doesn’t discriminate against people on the basis of gender,” he said.

“People refusing to go back to work in Canberra is not acceptable.

“This will not happen under a government I lead.”