Australia has held an annual “Go Home on Time Day” for many years, but the amount of unpaid work workers give to their employers and the time their families miss out on remains high. Looking at new data in light of the legislative need for Australian employers to identify and assess psychosocial hazards, there are noticeable changes that employers need to make to comply with their occupational health and safety (OHS) obligations.
Victoria’s consultation on its work-from-home proposals closes this weekend. The government has claimed over 18,000 submissions and interactions, but none of them are yet publicly available. The Business Council of Australia (BCA) has garnered recent media attention, pre-empting the closure of the consultation. The BCA could have a more mature discussion on the concept and practice of working from home, but perhaps it realises that the argument has already been lost.
Safe Work Australia’s recent Research Summit conducted several workshops. Time allowed delegates to only attend two of the eight – a morning and an afternoon. The standout seminar I attended was for “Work as a determinant of our psychological health”.
Two major Australian media outlets are continuing to focus on the issue of working from home (WFH), criticising the concept and some local political moves. WFH offers some significant mental health benefits that are being largely ignored. The front page of The Australian newspaper for September 1, 2025, provides the latest example.
Australia’s Economic Roundtable recycled the same institutions and failed metrics that have long masked our productivity crisis. As Amy Remeikis notes, those who shaped past policy failures now feign surprise at the fallout. Meanwhile, important drivers of productivity, such as safe and quality work, remain ignored. OHS is treated as a compliance chore, rather than a strategic asset. If the Albanese government truly wants productivity reform, it must stop listening only to the “profit class” and start measuring what matters: worker health, dignity, and contribution.
Recently, Australia’s politics were focused on an Economic Roundtable hosted by Treasurer Jim Chalmers. Chalmers sought proactive, low- or no-cost initiatives to improve Australia’s productivity. Occupational health and safety (OHS) is rarely, if ever, discussed at these national consultations. However, if we accept, as many believe, that OHS is unnecessary red tape, does this offer an opportunity for legislative reform?
Prominent in some of Australia’s political and economic debates are issues related to hours of work. This may be associated with the four-day work week, the five-day work week in construction, working from home, or the general debate about productivity, whatever definition you prefer, and there are many.
With the political backdrop of the government’s Economics Roundtable, a very timely new book by Sean Scalmer – “A Fair Day’s Work – The Quest to Win Back Time” was published.
