Australia’s main opposition party has scrapped election pledges to end remote work arrangements for public servants and sack tens of thousands of government employees amid declining support in the polls.
Peter Dutton, the leader of the centre-right Liberal Party, said on Monday that he recognised the proposals were a “mistake”.
“I think it’s important that we say that and recognise it, and our intention was to make sure that where taxpayers are working hard and their money is being spent to pay wages, that it’s being spent efficiently,” Dutton said in an interview with Channel Nine.
Dutton, a former police detective from Queensland, had promised to force government employees to work from the office five days a week and cull 41,000 positions from the public payroll.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who last month called a national election for May 3, cast doubt on his opponent’s about-face.
“Peter Dutton wants to undermine work rights and, in particular, doesn’t understand modern families, doesn’t understand the important role that women and men play in organising their families,” Albanese told reporters.
Albanese’s centre-left Labor Party has gained ground on Dutton’s Liberal Party-led coalition in recent polling, though the race remains close.
In the latest Newspoll survey released on Sunday, Labor led the Coalition 52-48 in a head-to-head matchup, gaining one percentage point from the previous poll.
Cost-of-living issues, including a severe housing affordability crisis, have dominated the election campaign.
Although Labor or the Coalition are all but certain to win the biggest share of the vote, opinion polls have pointed to the strong likelihood of a hung parliament.
Australia last produced a hung parliament in 2010, when former Prime Minister Julia Gillard sought the support of the Australian Greens and three independent MPs to form a minority government.
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