Labor had a work-from-home plan for the election. Dutton announced his first

The Age

9 hours ago

Labor considered a policy to protect working-from-home rights before the May federal election but abandoned the push to avoid taking attention from then-opposition leader Peter Dutton's unpopular plan to call public servants back to the office.
Two federal sources confirmed to this masthead that the idea of protecting people who work remotely from career penalties was floated within Labor before the election, building on the government's 2023 changes that gave employees a legal right to ask to work from home.
The revelation that federal Labor saw the policy as a potential vote-winner comes after Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan pledged to give workers in her state the right to work from home at least two days a week in an attempt to reach frustrated voters before the state election this year.
Allan's plan has divided opinion, with business groups saying the proposal is a top-down intervention into workplaces that will frustrate career development and hamper productivity, while tech bosses and unions said working from home was useful.
Federal Labor's plan never became written party policy, but would have differed from Allan's because it was intended to focus on protecting against discrimination for people who choose not to be based in an office.
The Coalition, under Dutton, announced in early March that it would force public servants, many of whom work from home at least some of the time, to return to the office five days a week. The Liberal leader was forced to backflip on his policy a month later because of its unpopularity.
'The new proposal was no longer needed because of Dutton,' a government source said on the condition of anonymity.
Australian Council of Trade Unions president Michele O'Neil backed Allan's proposal but stopped short of suggesting there was a federal need for new work-from-home laws.
'We do think that given we've got the flexible work rights in the Fair Work Act, it's important to see how those are operating and that they're operating in an effective and fair way,' she said.