Peter Dutton tones down his return-to-office pledge

On Thursday, after two weeks of criticism over the plan, Mr Dutton said the percentage of public servants working from home should go "back to pre-COVID levels".

Opposition finance spokesperson Jane Hume announced the back-to-the-office directive in early March, saying it would help to improve lagging productivity among the public service.

But the move copped fierce backlash from Labor and the Greens, along with experts, who said a sweeping return-to-office mandate would disadvantage women.

At a press conference on Thursday, Mr Dutton said not all public servants would be required to return to the office full-time.

"I think they should return to work, back to pre-COVID levels which was just over 20 per cent of people who work from home, so we could help people get that balance in their lives, but also deliver efficiency in the way in which they are expending the money that's given them by Australian taxpayers," he said.

According to the Australian Public Service Commission, prior to the pandemic, 22 per cent of public servants indicated they worked away from the office some of the time.

Despite the change of tune, Finance Minister Katy Gallagher said it was clear Mr Dutton still didn't understand how flexible work benefits families, particularly women.

"No wonder Peter Dutton's own colleagues are asking what he stands for, especially after he keeps hanging them out to dry to save his own reputation," she said.

"We know what he stands for - 36,000 APS job cuts and a wind back of flexible work arrangements, there is no doubting that."

Mr Dutton's softened language came after a journalist's question on whether tax cuts would be part of the Coalition's election pledge.

"Well, I've said in relation to tax cuts that I strongly support tax cuts and I want Australians, particularly those who are working hard at the moment, to know that their tax dollars are being spent efficiently, which is why I don't believe that in Canberra, 61 per cent of the public servants who are working in Canberra should be working from home," he said.

It was another false statement from the Opposition Leader, who has repeatedly pedalled incorrect figures about the public service workforce and work-from-home rates.

According to the latest APS census, 61 per cent of public servants across the entire country said they worked away from the office or from home some of the time.

Mr Dutton has continued to pitch his public service job cuts as "Canberra-centric"; however, two-thirds of bureaucrats live outside the ACT.

While some have argued forcing public servants back to the office would improve people's wellbeing, many have pointed out the disproportionate impact it would have on women and working families.

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The Community and Public Sector Union's survey of nearly 5000 women in the public service found 97 per cent of respondents considered working from home to be important or very important.

Even if the Coalition wanted to go ahead with its work-from-the-office plan, there "simply isn't enough room" thanks to shrinking office spaces, associate professor of human resource management at UNSW Canberra Sue Williamson said.