A candidate for Lord Mayor of Melbourne has proposed an audacious plan to “enliven” the city centre by mandating that workers spend at least four days a week in their offices. The plan, by former AFL star Anthony Koutoufides, has been slammed by workers’ advocates who say the Lord Mayor has “no right or ability” to interfere. Koutoufides, who made his name playing for Carlton, told 3AW that part of his vision for the city involved getting people back “mingling” with colleagues and patronising businesses in the city.
“In our lovely city, many businesses are closing down, residents currently do not feel safe, shop fronts are vacant, government workers have not returned to the city to work since the pandemic and the current economic and cost-of-living crisis has increased homelessness in the CBD,” 51-year-old Koutoufides said in a statement announcing his candidacy last week. “The pandemic has been over for a long time, so our first priority is to bring government and corporate workers back to the city..
