Dear Department of Internal Affairs,

I am interested to know how much percentage of your staff are working from home (five days each week), can you please split it by gender and department/team for the past two financial years. Also, can you provide the different circumstance why staff are allowed to work from home full time and not required to work on site even at least once a week.

e.g. Payroll - 50% of staff are working full time from home.

Yours faithfully,

Rose Calix

Dear Helen McComb,

Thank you for taking the time to respond to my request. I appreciate your ongoing support for your team and understand that some staff have valid reasons for working remotely full time. However, I believe your response may not fully reflect the current situation. I am aware of several DIA personnel who consistently work from home five days a week, despite the expectation to report to the office at least once a week or fortnight.

While I acknowledge there are exceptions, I also know of individuals in DIA whose circumstances would allow them to meet the agreed in-office schedule. I may come across as overly critical, but my concern stems from a belief that every public servant—whose role is funded by taxpayers—should be held to a consistent standard of accountability.

Yours sincerely,

Rose Calix