Australia opposition leader ditches plan to end work from home

Australia’s opposi­tion leader has ditched an election promise to end work from home options for public servants after a backlash.

Peter Dutton on Monday said his Liberal-National Co­alition had “made a mistake” and apologised.

Australians will vote in an election on 3 May and the coa­lition had pitched the policy as part of a package – also includ­ing thousands of job cuts – aimed at improving efficiency in the public sector.

However critics, including the incumbent Labor govern­ment, had said an end to work from home arrangements would disproportionately dis­advantage women.

“We got it wrong and we have apologised for it,” Dut­ton told reporters at a press conference.

He said the policy had only ever targeted public service workers in Canberra, but accused Labor of portraying it otherwise in a “smear cam­paign”.

Shadow finance minister Jane Hume said the coalition was now proposing no change to flexible working arrange­ments.

“We have listened, and understand that flexible work, including work from home, is part of getting the best out of any workforce,” she said in a statement.

The Coalition has also clari­fied its proposal to cut 41,000 public service jobs to help fund its other policy promis­es. It has long been asked to detail in which departments it will find the savings, and a key party figure had suggested forced redundancies were on the table.

However, on Monday, Ms Hume said the party – if elect­ed – would attempt to achieve the reduction over five years through a hiring freeze and natural attrition.

She said the coalition had “never” said there would be forced redundancies and had “always planned to sensibly reduce the size of the public service over time”. —BBC