Property Council Victoria chief executive Cath Evans said the work-from-home plan was deeply concerning and risked undermining confidence not just in the office sector, but to the broader pipeline of private investment.
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“Flexibility is and will remain core to many workplaces. But decisions about working arrangements should remain a matter between employers and their teams – not mandated by government,” she said.
“The reality is that investment to drive jobs, upgrade our office assets and keep our city vibrant will be deterred from Melbourne if this latest policy comes into effect.
“We now need the Victorian government to meet us at the table when it comes to decisions that will mould our CBD and keep us open for business on a global scale.”
In stark contrast to business groups, the plan has been welcomed by unions and backed by Australian Council of Trade Unions president Michele O’Neil.
The Finance Sector Union said it strongly supported the government’s plan because it was an entitlement that allowed many workers to balance work, family and their life outside of work.
“Yet, for those workers without strong enterprise agreements, they have no right to flexibility,” the union said.
Retail leasing expert Zelman Ainsworth said vacancy rates had been dropping as more people came back into the CBD – whether for work or entertainment – boosting retail confidence.
“If anything were to distract from driving more people into the city, it’s not going to contribute to this continued improvement we’re now benefiting from,” he said.
Josh Rutman, head of capital markets at JLL, said a working-from-home mandate would not have a direct dampening effect on the office leasing market.
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“If your peak day as a business is a Wednesday, and you need all the space you’ve taken out over the lease, then that won’t change on a Friday regardless of how many go into the office,” he said.
Melbourne Lord Mayor Nick Reece – who has previously urged the government to send workers back to the office – said on Wednesday flexible work arrangements were here to stay. But he also said there was an issue of fairness for the whole workforce.
“Police officers, nurses, teachers turn up to work each day, they have to do their job. Allowing public servants and pollies to work from home doesn’t seem fair to me,” he said.
“Melbourne is at its best when it’s full of people, and I think workplaces are at their best when they’re full of people as well.”
On Tuesday, West Australian Premier Roger Cook told reporters he did not have any plans to follow Victoria’s lead, saying extended lockdowns in Victoria had created different attitudes to working from home.
“We know that in Victoria, there’s a much bigger culture in relation to working from home because that was a fact of their life during COVID; it didn’t become a fact of life for Western Australian workers,” he said.
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