Interview with Tom Elliott on 3AW Mornings

Tom Elliott

Well, as I mentioned, the Federal Opposition has had a conversion on the road to Damascus about this issue; during the election campaign it was all about forcing public servants to go back to the office, now it has changed. Our next guest, opposition productivity and deregulation spokesperson, Andrew Bragg. Good morning.

Senator Bragg

Tom, how are you?

Tom Elliott

Well, I'm good. Have you changed your opinion? Were you against working from home, and now you're suddenly for it?

Senator Bragg

Well, in fact, during the campaign, I made it quite clear that I thought that working from home could be productive. And what the Productivity Commission and others have found is that particularly when people are using a hybrid model where they work from home a couple of days and work from the office a few days, it can actually enhance productivity. So we're into individual liberty, we're into agency, and if this is a good model for people, we are keen to support it.

Tom Elliott

But I spoke to your colleague, Jane Hume, during the election campaign. She said she was against it?

Senator Bragg

Well, I don't think that was quite right. And, in fact, most of the evidence comes down to support the proposition that working from home on a hybrid basis actually is good for people, good for the economy, and as I say, we're into individual agency, we want to help families, we want to help individuals, and this is, in many cases, the best outcome for people.

Tom Elliott

Does that include public servants? Because I also spoke to your former leader, Peter Dutton. He said the public servants had to come back to the office?

Senator Bragg

It definitely does. It applies across the board.

Tom Elliott

It's a bit like in Mad Max 2, when Mel Gibson says he's got a deal and they point to a dead person and say, your deal died with him. So, the Peter Dutton policy about getting the public servants back in, that's gone off with him now, has it?

Senator Bragg

Well, I think Tom, as you know, Peter and Jane both made it clear during the campaign that we got that one wrong. And what I'm saying today is that we want to identify any barriers that are holding people back from working from home where it suits them, suits their business. And I think productivity is a very important conversation for us to be having because it's flatlining under this government, and we need to get the economy moving.

Tom Elliott

But are we certain that working from home does enhance productivity? A lot of people say their personal productivity is good, and by that, I mean, they can get dinner ready and do a lot of washing and various other things while they're working from home. But do we know that workplace productivity is enhanced?

Senator Bragg

Yes, we are certain because many Australians work in the services sector. They'll spend a lot of time in the office pinging messages around the office, emails or other messaging devices. There's a big benefit in getting around the water-cooler and having a debate or a discussion about some challenges the business is trying to solve. But when people want to do some deep work, deep thinking, deep reading, often that is better done at home, not in an open plan office, for example.

Tom Elliott

Do you worry about the future of, say, the CBD in a city like Melbourne, which has been particularly hard hit? That's where we are, or maybe Sydney, where you've got half vacant office buildings because so many people are working from home?

Senator Bragg

Well, I mean, obviously, office buildings can be converted into housing. We have a massive housing problem under this Government. And, I would say that where a building can be repurposed into housing, that should be a top priority, frankly. I mean, what we've seen out of this government is a massive collapse in housing construction, and this is one of the most acute issues facing the nation.

Tom Elliott

Do you think politicians could work from home? Instead of tracking up to Canberra every week, could you just have parliamentary debates, but via Zoom or something like that?

Senator Bragg

We don't go to Canberra every week. In fact, we're only going to sit about 70 days this year, which is the lowest in memory. And so we're not in Canberra very often. I don't think there's any proposal to change that. But politicians and all people, where it's possible, should be able to work from home, because I think even a politician that wants to read a lengthy document might benefit from doing that in a quiet environment.

Tom Elliott

What about AI? I mean, there's a view from a lot of the emails I get that if you work from home and you're invisible to the boss, you might find your job being replaced by AI. There are some AI proponents or I don't know, pundits out there. We're talking people who are very senior in the US tech industry saying that AI could cause large scale unemployment because so many jobs, and we're talking white collar jobs, might disappear. Now, that's not directly linked to working from home, but are you concerned about that?

Senator Bragg

I think AI is Australia's best shot at moving our very sluggish productivity. And, the Government appears today wants to put sand in the gears of AI. Technology, generally, is jobs accretive, not a jobs killer. I think what you'll find, most of the evidence coming out US actually is that AI is actually not making any difference to levels of employment. I think what you'll find is that it makes people more productive, more efficient. And so I think that we have to get the settings right on AI because if we are not prepared to take the best of this opportunity, then we will be massively disrupted as a country.

Tom Elliott

All right, well, we'll see. You say it hasn't caused unemployment, but AI has only been around for a couple of years, and it is jumping ahead in leaps and bounds. Andrew Brag there, Opposition productivity and deregulation spokesperson.

[Ends]

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