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”.
Dutton appeared to contradict her, saying, “we got the policy wrong in that regard and we’ve made it clear, now, our position.”
The Labor government seized on the policy changes when campaigning on Monday.
“This just shows Peter Dutton is all over the shop. Peter Dutton is in the process of trying to give himself the worst face lift in Australian history,” Employment Minister Murray Watt told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
“But the problem for him is that he can change what he says, but he can’t change who he is.”
Some government and industry leaders around the world have been trying to reign in workplace flexibility in recent times.
On his first day back in office, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order demanding government employees return to the office five days a week, and companies like Amazon are also requiring staff to return to the office full-time.
But the policy proved unpopular in Australia, with polling showing that cost-of-living issues are the primary concern for most voters.
