Commuters wait to board a train at Central railway station in Sydney, Australia, on Jan.15, 2025. Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images
Australia’s Fair Work Commission says “work from home” issues only comprise a tiny volume of the body’s caseload amid questions on whether to legislate the right into law.
Currently, only Australians aged over 55 or carers can ask for flexible work.
Diab Harb, a first assistant secretary at the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations, said the Fair Work Commission received just 431 flexible work disputes last financial year, out of about 50,000 to 55,000 matters.
The right to bring such a dispute to the body is possible only for eligible employees.
Liberal Senator Paul Scarr asked why the right covered only some workers and required a 12-month wait.
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Acting Assistant Secretary Alexandria Ng called the wait a “long-standing feature” that balanced the needs of both sides, and that only select groups were allowed to bring the action due to their “heightened need.”
The review said there was not yet enough evidence to recommend extending the right to more workers.
Officials gave no view on the bill, as Senate rules bar asking public servants for opinions on policy, and could not say at the hearing how many workers already have the right.
Pocock called that “a pivotal question,” pointing to a survey from a tribunal case on clerical workers, in which 17.8 percent wanted to work from home.
Senator Barbara Pocock addresses the media at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia on June 19, 2026. Hilary Wardhaugh/Getty Images
She said many workers never ask for fear of the consequences, and that women were seven times more likely than men to be refused.
The Department said that survey’s sample was relatively small and it showed that of the 45.5 percent of employees who had asked to work from home, just 6.1 percent were declined.
