Page 1535 - Week 06 - Thursday, 2 July 2020
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
I was concerned to hear reports from staff in some areas that they felt they could ably work from home but had been directed to be physically present. I was especially concerned by reports that this was the case where staff were directed to work even where they had presented a medical certificate or reported a serious underlying health condition, or even reports that some staff were given a hard time when permission was eventually granted for them to work from home. Obviously, that is really distressing for staff; but, more importantly, there is no justification for it. Those are not the values of the Australian public service. It seems that the reason some employees had been told to be physically present was simply that it was more equitable for everyone to be there when only some were genuinely were required.
On top of this, I was concerned to hear that a culture of physical distancing was not being enforced across all offices, including the national office, making many staff who were already justifiably concerned feel genuinely uncomfortable about being there day to day. I would be curious to know just how many staff took their annual leave at the height of the pandemic in the ACT because they were uncomfortable being in the workplace and had otherwise been refused these flexible working arrangements.
Because of these concerns, I took the opportunity to write to Services Australia in early May. I received a response from the chief operating officer. I seek leave to table the letters.
Leave granted.
MS CHEYNE: I table the following papers:
Working from home arrangements in Services Australia—
Copy of letter from the Chief Operating Officer, Services Australia, to the Special Secretary to the Chief Minister, dated 19 May 2020.
Copy of letter from the Special Secretary to the Chief Minister to the Chief Executive Officer, Services Australia, dated 7 May 2020.
I am grateful for the response and that my representations were taken seriously.
Fortunately, things seem to have improved over the past six weeks since I wrote to Services Australia, from at least some of the accounts that I have heard. I think that this has been in part due to the ACT either having one case or no cases in that time, so general anxiety has diminished somewhat. It also seems that more hand sanitiser and a bit more encouragement for people to maintain an appropriate distance could be a good thing in any workplace, especially in Services Australia.
The overall experience is one that remains concerning from an employee perspective. Much more needs to be done in providing consistency for staff and giving training and guidance to management about encouraging and enabling staff to work from home where they can. Most importantly, it is not enough to tell staff that they need to be physically present because they are essential workers. They need to know why their physical presence is required or justified, or why it is impossible for them to
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video