ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr has doubled down on the territory government's move to a hybrid work model, and defended against potential flow-on effects for businesses across Canberra's town centres.
Asked about whether he would encourage ACT public servants to return to Civic offices in an effort to "bring new life" to Canberra's CBD, Mr Barr said that pool of workers was limited to about 900-1100 people.
"That's about 1000 people out of more than 50,000 people who work in the CBD," Mr Barr said. "So the ACT public service is not going to be a big contributor to more footfall in the CBD because nearly 95 per cent of our staff don't work in the CBD."
Mr Barr said summer holidays had contributed to a quieter period, but people were also adapting to a new hybrid model of work which includes working from home, from offices across Canberra, and outside of traditional 9-5 hours.
"Not everybody will come into the office every day, we're not shoehorning people back in," the Chief Minister said.
"They're not robots, they're not units of consumption. Their job is to do work for the people of the ACT not to consume in our economy, that's their private business."
"I need to absolutely and categorically address this idea that public servants are just consumer fodder: they are not and I don't accept that and they won't ever be," he said.
Canberra Business Chamber and some small businesses in Civic have expressed concern about the territory government's move to hybrid work, saying it could drain away their consumer base.
The ACT public servants who work in city offices are housed in the Constitution Place building across from the Legislative Assembly, and more will return to the Finlay Crisp buildings which are undergoing refurbishment.
