Sunrise host Nat Barr found herself in the centre of a tense exchange this morning between Housing Minister Clare O’Neil and Shadow Finance Minister Jane Hume.
Ms O’Neil had taken aim at the Coalition’s unpopular and now scrapped policy to phase out work from home for public service workers and suggested it contributed to its slide in the polls.
Ms Hume fired back that Labor had spent ‘million of dollars slinging mud’ and then repeatedly interjected while Ms O’Neil spoke to argue a return to the office was no longer the Coalition’s policy.
‘Working from home has become integral to many families in my community,’ Ms O’Neil said, before she was interrupted.
‘Jane, if you don’t mind … I talked to families in my community and they’re saying to me this is the only way that our family can actually get through the week.’
Ms O’Neil then continued, but Ms Hume spoke over the top of her.
‘I’m so sorry, Jane … I’ve been polite, and now I’d like you to be polite to me .. It’s a broader issue for the Coalition.’
Ms Hume replied again that ‘it’s not our policy’.
Housing Minister Clare O’Neil asked host Nat Barr to switch off Shadow Finance Minister Jane Hume’s microphone
Jane Hume repeatedly interrupted Ms O’Neil to point out that ordering workers to return to the office was not part of the Coalition’s policies
‘Jane this is a democracy and I’m a politician trying to have my say. I listened to you politely … Can you silence the microphone please?’
Barr responded that she’d ‘love to [but] I think you got your point across’.
Ms O’Neil then wedged in mentions about Labor’s moves to improve the gender pay gap and lower childcare fees.
Earlier this year, Ms Hume said full-time Commonwealth employees would be required to work in the office five days a week under an LNP government.
‘This is a commonsense policy that will instill a culture that focuses on the dignity of serving the public,’ she told an audience at the Menzies Research Centre in March.
At the time, Ms Hume clarified that the Coalition didn’t plan to enforce a blanket ban on WFH in a statement shared with Daily Mail Australia.
‘Let me be very clear about Labor and the Union hyperventilating: no one is banning work from home arrangements, that is a Labor lie,’ she said.
‘Labor has made working from home a right rather than a request. Working from home has to work for everyone: the individual, the team and the department.’
Under a 2023 enterprise agreement almost unrestricted WFH is allowed for Commonwealth employees.
More to follow.
