Australia’s opposition leader Peter Dutton has reversed election promises to eliminate remote working for public servants and cut 41,000 federal jobs. Citing backlash, Dutton acknowledged the policy mistakes and now intends to achieve reductions in public service roles through natural attrition and a hiring freeze rather than forced redundancies. The policy retraction, which was viewed as an attempt to stabilize support ahead of the May 3 elections, has met criticism from the Labor government, who accused the opposition of mimicking U.S. policies that disregarded flexible working arrangements, particularly impacting women with childcare responsibilities.