World's first Australian work from home laws face uncertain future

By Amy Bainbridge

A world-first Australian plan to enshrine employees’ rights to work from home in the state of Victoria faces an uncertain future as it runs into fierce pushback from the business sector, the threat of legal action and political opposition.

The Victorian government was due to pass the laws Thursday, giving eligible workers the right to work from home two days per week. Even after making a series of amendments to appease concerns from business groups, opposition and crossbench politicians narrowly voted to refer the bill to a parliamentary committee for further examination.

“Parliament has seen sense,” Victorian Executive Director of the Property Council Cath Evans said in a statement, adding it was “the right call” to seek further review “to properly examine its operation, implications and legal validity.” Evans said business groups had been prepared to challenge the laws in the High Court.

The committee has until Oct. 20 to report back, meaning the government faces a tight timeline to pass the legislation before a November election. Victorian Premier Ben Carroll told local media he has already added additional parliamentary sitting days. His Labor government faces its toughest challenge in years from conservative and right-wing rivals in the Nov. 28 election. 

There are a “lot of moving parts at the moment,” said Zareh Ghazarian, associate professor of politics at Monash University. “It still, as a political issue, will be very important and it will be something that Labor, I suspect, will campaign on very hard.”

The laws were something that “resonated with many voters,” he said, adding it was possible Labor would work with crossbench lawmakers to garner support to get the laws through.

Among the amendments to the original bill was that any work from home arrangement could be temporarily paused for operational reasons, such as a major event or peak trading period. The government this week also clarified that the planned laws would apply to part-time workers. In addition, implementation was delayed until July 1 next year, and for employees of small businesses with fewer than 15 staff, until Jan. 1, 2028.

The Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry reiterated its criticism of the laws on Friday. “We acknowledge that the Premier accepted many of the recommendations that were put forward by the business community,” Chief Executive Sally Curtain said in a statement. “However, we maintain that no amendment can fix what was a bad bill from the start.”