O'Keefe: Chris Minns' 'dumb' work from home directive singles out working mothers 05:36

Now, working from home, working from home, I think just generally there's the Minsk government's decision is arbitrary and overall a pretty bad idea. And I'll tell you why it's a pretty bad idea. And I've been someone who spent my whole working life without the ability to work from home. So initially it all just felt like a bit of a bludge to me.

But I have changed my mind and I'll tell you why. So if you're a young family with a Sydney mortgage, school fees, childcare fees and associated costs, you can't survive on a single income. Both mum and dad have to work to be able to meet your expenses. Not to mention society has spent the last 30 odd years rightly supporting and encouraging women to chase careers. Those careers pay well, they're fulfilling,

and should be able to continue even during the child-rearing years. We all understand that. We all support that. So the opportunity to work from home, say, I don't know, on a Monday or a Friday, whereby mum or dad can ditch the hour-odd commute into the office, still get their work done while balancing family commitments helps on this front, doesn't it? The work gets done, the family saves hundreds of dollars a week in travel costs and childcare fees. It's a win-win.

But the Premier seems to think no, it is not. Chris Minster seems to think that work from home is bad for productivity and he has ordered the NSW Public Service back into the office. My question is this, does he have any proof that working in the office, or working from home I should say, is bad for productivity?

Has anyone from the Premier's office or anyone in the Department of Premier done any work on Chris Minns' decree? Is it justified? Where are the facts and figures? Look, I agree that working from home five days a week in almost all cases is too much.

But from today, as ordered by Chris Minns and his secretary Simon Draper's incomprehensibly dense missive to staff, all NSW public servants must work five days a week in the office. Well, that's what I think it says anyway. It is a major overcorrection and I guarantee you it will be largely ignored across the public service. Josh Murray, he's the boss of Transport for NSW, said,

And he seems to agree with me. I've been leaked an email where he effectively is telling his managers, this was sent yesterday to his 100 senior executives in Transport for New South Wales, he's effectively told them, ignore the Premier and Simon Draper's decree.

Mr Murray's email says this. Well done, Josh Murray.

That's how a manager should react to such an arbitrary decision from up high. Thanks, Simon. Thanks, Chris Minns. Thanks for your advice, but we shan't be following it. The politics of this is dumb.

Chris Minns has singled out working mothers more than any other group. And it is women he is targeting, unfortunately, ask Victorian Premier Jacinta Allen. She said this, quote, We know that flexibility in the workplace helps more women stay in work and more women in the workforce is better for everyone. Any public servants from New South Wales who like flexibility in their workplace should consider moving to Victoria.

Now, Premier Minns' team argue that work from home doesn't work as well for women because they end up needing to do more housework when at home. And they miss out on mentorship because they're less likely to ask for feedback and guidance if they're remote versus sitting near their boss. Now, I asked a professional working mother, a professional working mother who is employed by the public service, I asked her about this.

And her response was this, quote, Now, is this really all that clever from Chris Minns? Just to get some shallow headline into the newspaper. He claims this is mandatory, but outside of getting the cops knocking on people's doors...

The government departments, I guarantee you, will ignore Chris Minns and they will certainly ignore the Department of Premier and Cabinet boss, Simon Draper, an individual that very few of the department heads respect. And I reckon there will be more than one department secretary, just like Josh Murray, flat out ignoring Chris Minns on the work from home front.

As they should, to be honest. Because this will be one of those things where legitimately nothing changes except men's just getting a swathe of working mums offside. That is the reality of society at the moment. You need two incomes and flexible work-from-home arrangements allows women to be both a mum and an employee. As long as the work gets done, does it really matter?