Thursday, 5 March 2026

 Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (17:39): In responding to the member for Mordialloc can I say what an outstanding member for Mordialloc he is. As part of our Labor team he keenly wants to know more details about when working from home will become law, will become a right, for workers in this state. Of course we are doing this because it is only our Labor government that has the new solutions to the challenges that working people and families are facing right now, those challenges of cost-of-living pressures that are so real and placing pressures on household budgets. But also we know that cost-of-living pressure is robbing families of time as well as money, which is why working from home is so good for families. It saves families time. It is estimated, would you believe, that working from home can save workers up to 3 hours a week in travel time. That is time that they have back in their day. That is time that they have back with their family.

Do you know what the data also tells us? It tells us that when those workers have extra time they are putting it back into their work. Many workers are adding hours to their workday, putting hours back into their employer and their business, because CEDA data tells us that workers are up to 20 per cent more productive because they have the chance to work from home. Consider that, plus the fact that working from home means more workers get into the workforce, particularly women and particularly women with kids. I met one of those women this week, Danielle, who is a lawyer. She had a beautiful nine-week-old bub called Noah, and Charlie, his older brother, is two. She had been working three days a week from home, and she talked about what it meant for her, working from home. If she had to go into the office, she would leave at 7 o’clock in the morning, not get back till 7 o’clock at night and not even see her son, because of course anyone with little ones knows they get up at 7 and go to bed at 7. That meant she could see her child during the course of the day. That is precious time that is being given back to families.

Then of course there is the money that is saved as well. It is estimated up to $5000 a year is saved by families – again, precious money back in the household budget, money that can be spent on school uniforms, money that can be spent on groceries and household bills – but we also know it is money that is spent in the local community, in the local cafes, in the local shops, in the suburbs and regions across the state. This is why working from home works, and it is why our government is going to protect Victorians’ right to work from home. We are doing this no matter the size of the workforce, because it is only fair. For businesses of all size, those workers deserve to have the right to work from home.

We also, in answer to the member for Mordialloc’s adjournment matter, will be legislating and having the right to work from home protected from 1 September this year and will do so through the Equal Opportunity Act 2010 as the vehicle to deliver Victorians that right, to protect that right to work from home. Why do we need to do this? Because we have undertaken a survey, the biggest ever survey, and thousands of Victorians told us that they wanted the right to work from home but it had been refused by their employers. Unions every day get told by workers that their right to work from home, their reasonable request to work from home, has been refused. I spoke last year to a worker, and she told me about her experience. She was a single mum in the outer suburbs working from home two days a week. Those two days meant the world to her in keeping her life in balance. She had those two days a week taken away from her by her employer. She was told this on a Teams call by a boss who was working from home themselves. That is why we need to protect workers right to work from home.

There is another very good reason why we need to protect the right to work from home. Liberals across the country are wanting to wind back working from home. They want to cut working from home. We know this is the agenda of the Victorian Liberal Party because they have had meetings with the business community about return to the office – not working from home, return to the office. We know the Liberal Party do not support Victorians’ right to work from home. They do not support it being in law. Why do we know this? Because they have not said that they do, and at every turn they are looking at opportunities to get workers back into the workplace. That is why my Labor government, our Labor government, is going to protect Victorians’ right to work from home – a reasonable request of at least two days a week. We are doing this because it is good for the economy, it is good for productivity, it is good for lifting workforce participation, particularly amongst women, and it is great for those families who need this support, because it gives them time and money back in the day. That is why we are legislating to protect the right to work from home. Only a Labor government is going to protect the right to work from home, and Victorians know the Liberals will cut it if they are given the chance. I thank the member for Mordialloc and our colleagues who are joining him here today to back Victorians’ right to work from home. We look forward to the legislative debate over the coming months. It is going to be a cracking debate in this place as we protect Victorians’ right to work from home, and only a Labor government will do so. I thank the member for Mordialloc for his adjournment matter.

I have another adjournment matter that has been raised, and it is from the member for Kew regarding the removal of asbestos in what was known as the former VicRoads building in Kew. I am very familiar with this project, because of course this is a former office building, a former VicRoads site, and do you know what it is being developed for? Housing. It is a great housing project – 500 homes. At least 10 per cent of those homes will be social and affordable homes. That is why there needs to be safe and appropriate removal of asbestos at this site, because our Labor government is making sure the former VicRoads site in Kew is being transformed into housing for Victorians. This, again, only happens under our Labor government, because there is an alternative policy that the member for Kew released last week –

Jess Wilson interjected.

Jacinta ALLAN: I will talk about the policy. I know the member for Kew and the Liberal Party do not want to speak about a housing policy that is more on sandbagging eastern suburb Liberal-held seats. It is not a housing policy, it is a sandbagging policy. This policy is about cutting our program to build 300,000 homes in exactly the right locations – in those middle suburbs around train and tram stops, particularly those train stations where, for the benefit of the member for Prahran, we have added 1200 additional services to our train network because of the Metro Tunnel, a project the Leader of the Opposition called a waste. The day it opened the Leader of the Opposition called the investment in the Metro Tunnel a waste. We are going to build homes around those train stations, 300,000 homes, but that is what is on the cutting block from the Leader of the Opposition, cutting homes around those activity centres. Do you know what they want to do, though? They want to keep pushing homes into the outer suburbs without supporting the infrastructure, without supporting the schools and without supporting the road network. This is the policy of the Liberal Party – and it gets worse. They want to hand these powers back to local government. It sent a shudder down the spines of the development industry, a proposal to hand the powers back to local government.

I will say about building more homes: we are going to build them everywhere, including at the old VicRoads site in Kew. When it comes to the removal of asbestos on this site, I will remind the member for Kew it has been Labor governments supported by the union movement for decades who have stood up for the right of workers to be protected around asbestos removal. We all remember those awful, awful, awful experiences of so many families whose lives were destroyed because their loved ones either worked in the industry or worked in industries where they were exposed to asbestos material. I am proud to be part of not only a labour movement that for decades has worked hard to protect workers when there is asbestos removal but a Labor government that has put in place strict guidelines around the removal of asbestos. My advice is that the asbestos removal at this site will be done within those guidelines.

But let us remember who is doing this work. The workers who are doing this work are likely to be good strong union members, and I thank them for this work. It is dangerous work. It is difficult work in the construction industry, and those workers deserve safe, strong workplaces. You get that by having strong representation, not cutting into that representation, not wanting to tear down that representation like Liberal Party always do. We will make sure that we remove the asbestos appropriately at the VicRoads site, but even more than that, we are going to get on and build 500 more homes for the people in the queue. We know the member for Kew does not support that. She does not support the building of more homes in the middle suburbs; only a Labor government does.

 Mary-Anne THOMAS (Macedon – Leader of the House, Minister for Health, Minister for Ambulance Services, Minister for Women) (17:50): I thank the member for Ovens Valley for raising with me the matter of the Cobram Cemetery Trust and their plans to expand crypts in order to meet the needs of their community. I will make inquiries to seek to resolve this issue as soon as I can. The member for Point Cook raised a matter for the attention of the Minister for Public and Active Transport, the member for Laverton raised a matter for the attention of the Minister for Planning, the member for Berwick raised a matter for the attention of the Minister for Education, the member for Glen Waverley raised a matter for the attention of the Minister for Housing and Building and the member for Richmond raised a matter for the attention of the Minister for Creative Industries. I will make sure that they are referred to those ministers.

The SPEAKER: Sorry, Minister, there are two more: the member for Broadmeadows and the member for Prahran.

Mary-Anne THOMAS: I am so sorry. The member for Broadmeadows raised a matter for the attention of the Minister for Police, and the member for Prahran raised a matter for the attention of the Minister for Public and Active Transport. I will ensure that they are also referred to those ministers for an appropriate response.

The SPEAKER: Thank you, Minister. As always, I thank the clerks and the parliamentary staff for their assistance this week. The house now stands adjourned.

House adjourned 5:52 pm.