This opinion article by Business Council of Australia Chief Executive Bran Black was published in The Herald Sun on 13 Augst 2026.
This week, Premier Carroll took an important first step towards listening to the concerns of Victoria’s business community by delaying the Allan Government’s work-from-home legislation.
That was welcome, as were his commitments to turn around economic growth and cut red tape to lift the living standards of Victorians.
But if the Premier is genuine about listening, he should abandon this unnecessary Bill entirely. Victoria can’t afford another handbrake on its economy.
The State is already confronting serious economic challenges, including the highest unemployment rate in the country for 18 of the last 24 months.
In fact, Victoria now accounts for around one in three unemployed Australians.
And all this Bill will do is empty offices and cafes, making a once vibrant city even more deserted.
The Premier has rightly recognised this poor economic performance can’t continue, and a new approach is needed with a genuine partnership with business.
Yet this Bill risks taking Victoria in precisely the opposite direction.
It does not solve a problem that workers are waiting to have fixed. Nearly four in five Victorian businesses already offer flexible working arrangements, while employees already have rights to request flexible work under federal law.
Instead, the proposal would impose a one-size-fits-all legal mandate and an entirely new regulatory system for business to deal with, on top of the existing federal system.
Businesses are telling me directly this will change their investment and resourcing decisions and some fear it will make Victoria a pariah state.
Manufacturers have raised concerns about how it will impact their teams’ ability to work together and innovate.
A technology company has told me they are considering leaving Victoria, while health care providers and financial institutions are concerned the Bill doesn’t properly consider protections for patient and customer data.
These are serious warnings from real businesses here in Victoria.
This isn’t an argument against working from home because we know flexible work can be good for businesses and workers.
Victorian employers know that, which is why they already offer it to their workforce. The issue is whether the Government should replace that flexibility with a legal mandate and whether it understands what doing so will cost Victoria.
If Premier Carroll is serious about forging a new partnership with business and restoring Victoria’s economic decline, then he should scrap the Allan Government’s Bill.