A Coalition government would order all public servants to work from the office five days a week if elected.
Last night, Liberal senator and the opposition’s finance spokesperson Jane Hume stated that under a Dutton Liberal Government, it would be expected for all members of the APS (Australian Public Service) to work from the office five days a week.
The intention to eliminate working from home for APS employees coincides with Peter Dutton’s claim that the government could achieve annual savings of $6 billion by reducing the number of public sector jobs by 36,000 positions.
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.
Albanese remarked, “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’.”
“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.”