Liberal MPs dismayed over party’s work from home backflip ‘mess’

Multiple backbenchers have revealed the Coalition’s plan to get the majority of federal public servants back into the office had proven “toxic” in their electorates, as many voters did not realise the policy would not apply to them.

EXCLUSIVE: Liberal MPs are dismayed over the party’s work from home backflip “mess,” despairing at how badly public sentiment was misread and fearing the move to create distance from Donald Trump will sideline one of the Coalition’s biggest assets.

Multiple backbenchers have privately revealed the Coalition’s plan to get the majority of Canberra federal public servants back into the office had proven “toxic” in their electorates, as many voters did not realise the policy, which the Opposition dumped on Monday, would not apply to them.

One Liberal said the suggestions that women unable to go into the office could move to job sharing had sent a “terrible” message.

“So you’re telling women they can get paid less, valued less at work, that’s mad,” the source said.

Another MP said the need to downplay any connections to the US President’s DOGE program run by billionaire Elon Musk would make it hard for Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, who is the Coalition’s spokeswoman for government efficiency, to play a “frontline role” in the broader election campaign.

An MP said the need to downplay any connections to the US President’s DOGE program run would make it hard for Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price to play a “frontline role” in the broader election campaign. Picture: Gera Kazakov

Peter Dutton was campaigning in Adelaide when he confirmed the Coalition would not be changing work from home requirements for anyone in the public service, and rolled back his plan to cut 41,000 jobs in the sector.

“We made a mistake in relation to the work from home policy and Labor turned that into a scare campaign,” he said.

Mr Dutton confirmed the Coalition would not be changing work from home requirements for anyone in the public service, and rolled back his plan to cut 41,000 jobs in the sector. Picture Thomas Lisson / NewsWire

The Opposition leader distanced himself from comparisons with Mr Trump, and defended his appointment of Ms Price, saying to not look for wasteful spending of taxpayer dollars was to endorse it.

“Is (Anthony) Albanese saying you’ve paid your taxes and we know we’re wasting money in some areas of government expenditure and it’s OK? If he is saying that, it’s reckless,” he said.

But four Liberal MPs on Monday privately criticised the failure to stress test the WFH policy more before its release, such as by having a “proper” debate in the party room or conducting focus group research.

“There was a misunderstanding about how much the community values flexible working,” one Liberal said.

Some MPs speculated finance and public service spokeswoman Jane Hume, who was front and centre of the policy announcement last month and then put forward to be quoted in the media release withdrawing it, was being set up as the “person to blame internally”.

But others were sceptical of this narrative given the policy had been strongly defended in recent weeks by multiple senior Liberals, who had argued the WFH changes were needed to budget costing assumptions.

Mr Dutton had previously revealed the Coalition believed it could make $7 billion in annual savings in five years time from cutting 41,000 public service jobs.

Asked if he was still confident he could back on that under his rejigged plan to only slash jobs through natural attrition and hiring freezes, Mr Dutton said the opposition had worked with the Parliamentary Budget Office to back up its costing assumptions.

“That’s the work we’ve done with the PBO,” he said.