Peter Dutton walks back WFH threat, won’t used forced redundancies to slash public service workforce by 41,000 workers in five years

The Coalition has walked back threats to force public servants back into the office, while also revealing key details in their plan to cull the workforce by 41k.

The Coalition’s plan to cull the public service workforce by 41,000 staff over five years will not include forced redundancies, with the Opposition also vowing to not mandate a minimum number of office days in a major walk back of its government worker crackdown.

The softened stance follows negative polling from Redbridge which showed the policy was particularly unpopular among female voters who may use flexible working arrangements to balance parenting duties.

Peter Dutton has also faced mounting pressure to substantiate the detail of the Coalition’s public service cull, with reducing waste in government departments a core tenant of the Opposition’s election platform.

While a newly-elected Coalition government would still reduce the Australian Public Service by 41,000 staff over five years, this will be done through natural attrition, like resignations, retirements and a hiring freeze, and not through forced mass redundancies.

The Coalition has walked back threats to force public servants back into the office. Picture: NewsWire / Thomas Lisson.

Military personnel and reserves are also excluded from the 41,000 figure, with the Opposition Leader also committing to not reducing frontline service delivery staff or people in national security positions.

While the workforce reduction was initially set to only affect Canberra-based positions, data from the Public Service Commission revealed a 41,000 cull would reduce the capital’s public service workers by nearly 60 per cent from 69,438 to 28,438.

The Coalition’s public service and finance spokeswoman Jane Hume said the party had “listened” to the APS, and said they understood that “flexible work, including working from home, is part of getting the best out of any workforce.”

“We need the best from our public servants, and that is why there will be no change to flexible working arrangements or working from home arrangements for the public service under a Coalition government,” she said.

“A Coalition Government will not change current flexible working arrangements, including work from home policies.

“There will be no mandated minimum number of days for public servants to work in the office.”

However she accused Labor of “targeting women” in a scare campaign which hinted that the previous order to return the APS to the office would be expanded into the private sector.

Opposition spokeswoman Jane Human said there would be no changes to flexible working arrangements for public service under a Coalition government. NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Her comments follow a campaign by the Australian Council of Trade Unions which said one in three Australian workers could be impacted by the “flow-on-effect” of the anti-WFH policy, which would drive up commute costs and disproportionately affect working mums.

“We know the importance of flexible work for many Australians, and have always supported the private sector making its own decisions on flexible work arrangements,” she said.

“The Coalition has never had a policy impacting flexible work in the private sector. That is a Labor lie, and it is a disgrace that Labor has concocted a scare campaign targeting women, but that is what we have come to expect from Labor.”

The Coalition’s announcement also coincides with Labor modelling released on Sunday night which state households could lose up to $38,000 a year if women were forced into job sharing arrangements, which is when two or more workers share a single full-time job.

The calculations use census data which state the average full-time working woman’s income of $1850 per week would be slashed by $740 if they were forced to work just three days per week.

Anthony Albanese, who touched down in Melbourne on Sunday, accused Mr Dutton of not understanding “that working from home, when they need to, suits many families” in his vow to undertake DOGE-style cuts to Aussie labour.

Up to 58 per cent of women in Australia were in the workforce, up to 4 per cent from before the pandemic, according to the government’s 2025-26 women’s budget statement, with the “sharpest increase in women working full-time in decades”.

The government credits flexible work arrangements as being a key driver.

Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese said ending flexible work arrangements ‘would have real consequences for Australian families’. Picture: Dan Peled / NewsWire

“Many parents work full-time, while making time for family. And with cost-of-living pressures, many families can’t afford it any other way,” the Prime Minister said.

“Peter Dutton and the Coalition want to end that flexibility, and it would have real consequences for Australian families.

“When Peter Dutton cuts, you pay.”

Women and Public Service Minister Katy Gallagher, who is also the former chief minister for the ACT, said women had “embraced flexible full-time work, resulting in economic participation rising and the gender pay gap falling.

“Peter Dutton’s outdated plan to end work from home will leave women thousands of dollars a year worse off,” she said.

“Peter Dutton’s plan will be bad for the economy, bad for families, and bad for the services that Australians rely on everyday like Medicare and the aged pension.”

Originally published as Peter Dutton walks back WFH threat, won’t used forced redundancies to slash public service workforce by 41,000 workers in five years