Peter Dutton reverses course on remote work policy

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Opposition leader Peter Dutton has apologised after admitting the Coalition’s election policy to stop working from home arrangements for public servants was a “mistake”.

After initially vowing to bring back public servants to the office five days per week if it won government, the Coalition now will not change the current flexible working from home policies, and there would be no mandated minimum number of days for public servants to work in the office.

“We’ve made a mistake in relation to the policy,” Dutton told Nine’s Today program on Monday.

“We apologise for that. And we’ve dealt with it.”

Asked whether he was seeking “forgiveness” from female voters, Dutton replied: “I think I think I am today.”

“We want to spend taxpayer’s money efficiently, but I think Labor’s been able to get away with twisting this into something it wasn’t.”

The Coalition has also walked back a vow to cut 41,000 Canberra-based public service jobs. It still plans to reduce the Australian Public Service by 41,000 over five years, but has ruled out achieving it through forced redundancies.

Instead, this would be done through a hiring freeze and natural attrition.

The move comes after working from home policies became an election issue in recent weeks, following Opposition public service spokesperson Jane Hume saying last month a Coalition government would force all Commonwealth public servants to return to the office five days per week, with limited exceptions.

Dutton at the time said the policy would save wasteful government spending and increase productivity, saying he didn’t think it was “unreasonable” that public servants be asked to return to working in the office.

The Coalition later watered the initial proposal down to “pre-COVID levels”.

On Saturday, Dutton appeared to further, indicating public service workers across the country — with the exception of workers in Canberra — would still be offered some flexible working arrangements.

“The policy doesn’t affect anybody except for public servants in Canberra. I strongly support work from home. I’ve been very clear about that, and our policy doesn’t have any impact in the private sector, doesn’t have any impact on the public sector outside of Canberra,” he said.

“I’ve said very clearly that where you’ve got existing arrangements which happen in Canberra now in the public service, you have EBAs that are there that allow for work from home arrangements, we are not proposing to change those and that’s the reality.”

A woman with dark brown hair wearing a white blazer against a grey background.

Jane Hume said the Coalition had “listened” and understood that flexible work is part of “getting the best out of any workforce”. Source: AAP / Mick Tsikas

In a statement released on Sunday night, Hume said the party had “listened” and “understand that flexible work, including working from home, is part of getting the best out of any workforce”.

“We need the best from our public servants, and that is why there will be no change to flexible working arrangements or working from home arrangements for the public service under a Coalition government,” she said.

Policy reversal comes after backlash

The Coalition’s initial announcement that it would mandate public servants to return to the office full-time was met with strong backlash from Labor and the Greens, who said it would particularly impact working women requiring flexible working arrangements.

Labor senator Katy Gallagher criticised the Liberal approach as a “step in the wrong direction for women”, while the Greens’ Barbara Pocock said the policy would “punish women and carers”.

Both accused the party of borrowing policies from United States President Donald Trump. One of Trump’s first policies this year was to order all government workers to return to the office.

“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,” Gallagher told ABC radio last month.

“Across the economy, working from home arrangements are in place. They are a feature of modern workplaces,” she said. “They allow women in particular [the chance] to manage some of the other responsibilities they have outside of the workplace.”

Pocock had called the plan a “clueless knee-jerk, Trumpian response” that would “drive women and those with caring responsibilities to reduce their participation in paid work and force them back into insecure low-paid jobs”.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also accused Dutton of “lazily” taking cues from Trump’s administration.

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