Thursday, 11 September 2025

Ministers statements: working from home

Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:32): For plenty of Victorian families Monday mornings after a nice weekend can sometimes feel pretty tough as you are running around the house getting yourself ready for work, getting the kids to school, making sure they have got their schoolbag, their lunch box and their shoes on. This is what many families are experiencing. They can feel like they are living in that Bangles song – ‘It’s just another manic Monday’ – as they are trying to get out the door. They might dread the daily commute. I have mentioned the school run. But for some, like the Liberal Party state director, you might just dread those around you. But we get it that Mondays can be tough, and that is why we are making working from home a right, because it works for productivity, for families and for the economy – more money in household pockets, more time spent with your family and more time to do that school run or maybe be closer to that school when your kid gets sick. For many parents, particularly for women, it can be the difference between keeping a job or having to give up that job.

Since we have opened consultation on our plan to provide support for working from home, over 20,000 workers and employers have had their say. I am sure for those of us on this side of the house it comes as no surprise that top postcodes of suburbs who have responded are those like Point Cook, Truganina, Roxburgh Park, Wyndham Vale, Sandhurst, which is in the member for Carrum’s electorate, and of course Berwick. Many people in Berwick want to have their say on working from home. We know some want to take it away. There might be some who support working from home on a Monday in their head office, like the Liberal Party does, and those in here are trying to take that opportunity away from Victoria. It tells you all you need to know: one rule for some but not for others. Well, we stand with working people. We are on the side of working families, and that is why we are going to protect their right to work from home.