Gary Pettigrove, pictured back left, with the Broulee Canberra capitals competed in the George Bass surfboat and ski marathon early this year. Credit:Jamila Toderas He said positives included work life balance and more satisfied, committed and efficient workers. Mr Lloyd said flexible work arrangements were negotiated by the employee and their respective agency, and the Balancing the Future gender equality strategy required agencies to adopt a "flexible by default" position. UC urban planning and design professor Richard Hu said while telework was the future for applicable jobs, cultural change was needed first. "I think the barrier [to telework] is more cultural," he said.

"Canberra is a city more likely to have the practise of telework or smart work, but we do find some management culture, organisational culture in the public sector that presented to be a barrier for the practise of telework." He cited managers wanting to see their staff from 9-5 every day as one example. The Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council looks to be one of the first in the region to be preparing for a greater shift to telework. The council will set up a smart hub for APS employees to work from the city next to Canberra, which boasts free parking, rather than having to commute. For someone like Gary Pettigrove, who spends almost every weekend in Broulee, a smart hub would be ideal.

Mr Pettigrove works for the National Audit Office as chief information officer. His department encourages working remotely, but due to a lack of internet at his "weekend home" for him it wasn't an option. He knows of at least 20 other people in a similar position in Broulee alone, and more from Yass, Cooma and Goulburn. "If I could, if I had the telecommunications and my job and position allowed that to happen, I would live and work in Broulee and make that my home," he said. Mitch Jeffery is employed as a manager with the Department of Environment. He works from his home at Narooma one and a half days a week, and has done so for the past 12 years. His preference would be to work from home full-time. "It's a long commute, three hours each way, but it means you get to live down here and still have a full-time job," Mr Jeffery said.

He said it was about balancing the need to be in meetings with his team in Canberra, and being able to do the work over the phone, via email or through Skype. According to a 2016 report by global consultancy PricewaterhouseCoopers, very few people work from home, even occasionally: only one in 10 did so in 2013, when telework data was last reported. The PwC report cited findings that staff "who worked from home at least once a week were 48 per cent more likely to rate their job a 10 [out of 10] on the happiness scale". Canberra-based PwC People and Organisation partner Nick Myburgh agreed a change in mindset was needed to allow greater flexibility across the public service. Loading