Premier Ben Carroll has been warned not to proceed with the government’s controversial work from home laws, with business groups claiming the proposal will put jobs at risk.
The work from home legislation would give all Victorians the right to work from home at least two days per week, provided their job can reasonably be done from home.
However critics have warned the laws are not only unnecessary but harmful.
The legislation was set to be debated in the Victorian upper house on Friday, but Mr Carroll hit pause late on Thursday, after an hour-long meeting with the heads of half a dozen business and employer associations.
Mr Carroll has attempted to reset relations with the business community and has signalled his openness to amending the legislation.
Victorian Congress of Employer Associations boss Tim Piper said the group had explained to the Premier that there was “no middle ground”.
“This has become a really important issue for business,” he said.
“This legislation should be scrapped altogether.”
Mr Piper said all of the employer associations that formed part of the coalition had been told by their members – both large companies and small businesses – that the laws would cause harm.
“Each of them have got their own issues around this, and each of them finds that this legislation is going to be difficult. It’s going to create disputes, and it’s not going to be good for the economy,” Mr Piper said.
Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry CEO Sally Curtin said they had heard hundreds of businesses tell them in the past week that they would take their investments elsewhere if the laws went through.
“This is terrible legislation. Victoria simply doesn’t need it,” she said.
“We’ve spoken and engaged with another 1,000 of our members this week, and they’re telling us loud and clear that 60 per cent of them are going to take their investment elsewhere as a result of this legislation.
“This legislation is not worth the cost, the complexity, and the jobs (that) impact the young people in this state.
“We implore the government to abandon this legislation and instead focus on investment for this state to put up the open for business sign, and get Victoria more competitive.”
The Property Council’s Victorian executive director Kath Evans said she had heard “loud and clear” from the business community that the legislation would act as a wedge that will prevent businesses entering the state and creating the jobs Victoria needs.
“We are very, very concerned about jobs for Victorians,” she said.
Keith Ryan from the Housing Industry Association for Victoria also said the bill was “bad law” that “can’t be salvaged”.
“Builders want to build. They want to be focused on building the homes that the Victorian government says they want built – 800,000 in 10 years,” he said.
“Instead, they’re being asked to consider potentially even more restrictions, more controls, more red tape on how they employ people and run their businesses.
“They need certainty. They need to know that they can actually have a future in Victoria. And bills like this do nothing to help small business or large business confidence.
“The law, the bill must be dropped. It has to go.”
Australian Retail Council chief executive Chris Rodwell added that the legislation was a solution for a problem that “doesn’t exist”.
“Businesses are already giving work from home opportunities to their people; they don’t need the government to put a rulebook around it,” he said.
“What this does effectively is it sucks the life out of business… especially small businesses.
“It adds a burden of compliance and costs that they don’t need.
“They need to be focused on managing their business or growing their business; instead they’re lumbered with a burden of cost and compliance.”
Mr Rodwell also questioned why this was being done in Victoria when no other state was considering it.
“No other state is doing this, and it’s for good reason. It doesn’t create a single job. It doesn’t support investment in a business,” he said.
“So why would we go down this route in Victoria, especially for an economy that is so challenged at the moment?”
Bran Black from the Business Council of Australia said the business sector was “absolutely united” in opposing the legislation, declaring it was both unneeded and unwanted.
“We already have Commonwealth legislation in this space. But more importantly, we also know that almost four in five Victorian businesses are already offering flexible working arrangements for their staff,” Mr Black said.
“In terms of it being unwanted, you’ve just got to look at the statistics. Victoria has led the country in unemployment for 18 of the last 24 months. That is a leader’s table that nobody should want to be at the top of, and yet Victoria is.”
The Business Council boss also reiterated that it was not enough to amend the legislation.
“We are saying very clearly there is no amendment that is sufficient,” Mr Black said.
“We need to help turn this state around… that starts with scrapping this bill in its entirety.”