Wednesday, 4 March 2026

 Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:04): From 1 September this year thousands of Victorian workers will get something they have never had before: a legal right to work from home – a right that means that if you can do your job from home you will be able to have that right protected for at least two days a week. This right to work from home gives families back time in their day. It saves working people and families money. It makes that daily life a little bit easier for workers and their families. We are not just creating this right, we are protecting it in the Equal Opportunity Act ‍2010 so Liberals who oppose this right for people to work from home cannot cut it, cannot rip it away.

My attention has been drawn to some comments online from a woman named Louise, and she talked about what working from home meant for her. Two days a week working from home saved Louise real money. She talked about how she used less petrol. She gets 2 hours of travel time back every single week. And do you know what Louise also talked about? She gets more work done because she has got that time to focus on her job. Louise is a real Victorian, not a bot. She is a real Victorian who is benefiting from the opportunity to work from home.

Members interjecting.

Jacinta ALLAN: It says a lot when the Liberal Party are more excited about bots than real Victorians. That is what their focus is on; they are never focused on real Victorians. Well, we are. We will always support working people and Victorians, and we will back their right to work from home, putting it in law, because Victorians know only a Labor government will do that.