Public servants are on the Coalition’s chopping block and those working from home are being told to go back to the office as the major parties draw up election battle lines.
Some 36,000 workers will be axed under a Coalition government, Opposition Finance Spokeswoman Jane Hume confirmed, vowing to bring the public service headcount back to pre-2022 levels.
“We think that the 36,000 public servants that have been brought on haven’t demonstrated that the improvements to the services, to the public, have been corresponding,” she told Sky News on Sunday.
Senator Hume said there would be no cut to frontline services, although where the cuts would come from hasn’t been detailed.
The Coalition has also criticised public servants for working from home too much, saying they would see workers return to the office.
However, Labor estimates transport and parking would cost workers about $5,000 a year if they had to return to the office five days a week, up from three.
The cost is based on estimates people would spend an extra two hours a week in the car, or just under 100 extra hours a year, with commuters driving an average of just over an hour in the car to get to and from work.
“It’s also enabled people to overcome the tyranny of distance in this great country,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters in Sydney.
“I’ve met people who have moved into regional Australia and are working in our capital cities, they’re working effectively because they can work online.”
Albanese is expected to call the election in the next week, using the final days to spruik Tuesday’s budget which includes a $150 energy bill rebate in the second half of 2025.
Labor is centring its campaign on healthcare while the Coalition is on the attack over inflation as household bills soar.
Fresh from launching the campaign for Nationals candidate Mia Davies in the West Australian electorate of Bullwinkel, party leader David Littleproud called for “gas, gas and a lot of gas” to bring down power prices.
A three-way contest between the Liberals, Nationals and Labor looms in the newly-created seat which is a must-win for the coalition as it works to claw back lost ground in WA.
“Your grocery bill is higher because food processors are paying three, sometimes four times more than what they were three years ago,” Littleproud said of electricity costs.
“If we get our energy grid right, not only can we bring your power bill down, we can bring down your grocery bill as well.”
Mortgage belt seats are set to become a key election battleground as the Coalition campaigns on cost of living hikes under Labor.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton on Sunday announced $5 million for a Headspace centre in Parramatta to give people in the area better access to mental health services.
Alongside Liberal candidate Katie Mullins, Dutton said migration figures were impacting housing affordability.
“We need to get a balance right because if not, young Australians in western Sydney and across NSW and the country will never achieve the dream of home ownership,” he said.
Dutton also pledged $8.5 million for Australia’s first Hindi school during a visit to a cultural precinct in western Sydney, where there is a large multicultural community.
The Coalition pivoted to a national security debate in the previous week as Labor gained ground in the polls.
It reheated debate around a referendum to give ministers the power to strip dual nationals of their Australian citizenship if they engage in serious crimes like terrorism.
The Commonwealth can already apply to a court to have a person’s Australian citizenship stripped.
