Thousands of Australian public service employees in non-essential areas are being prevented from working remotely by the federal and state governments, despite repeated demands for people to take the global coronavirus pandemic more seriously.

Key points: A worker from Services Australia says they are being forced to work in close proximity to others

A worker from Services Australia says they are being forced to work in close proximity to others The public sector is "dragging its heels" in implementing work from home arrangements, the union says

The public sector is "dragging its heels" in implementing work from home arrangements, the union says Some Government agencies, like ASIC and ANTSO, are organising more than half of their workforce to work from home

Instead they are being forced to attend crowded offices, with some sitting next to each other in small pods.

Last night in a media conference Prime Minister Scott Morrison said: "[It] is encouraged, strongly encouraged, to work from home where you can do that."

That has left some public service workers concerned that the Government is saying one thing and doing another.

"We are not practising the 1.5 metres rule of social distancing as we are still sitting in pods next to each other, nor have we been given the option to work from home," a call-centre employee with Services Australia told ABC News.

Services Australia is one of Australia's largest public service organisations, employing more than 27,000 people in areas such as Centrelink, Medicare, and child support.

The employee agreed to speak only on condition of anonymity, due to fear they would be punished for speaking publicly.

"We work with approximately 150 people and are [very] concerned about a possible outbreak and the increased risk of spreading the virus," the Services Australian employee said.

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Public service 'dragging their heels'

"Last night the Prime Minister told the nation that working from home should be strongly encouraged and undertaken where possible," Commonwealth Public Service Union (CPSU) national Secretary Melissa Donnelly said.

"This morning we continue to deal with APS agencies dragging their heels on implementing these arrangements. It is just shocking that they are ignoring this for their own work force."

Ms Donnelly said the CPSU had found four Federal Government departments — Social Services, Education, Infrastructure, and Health — were not responding adequately to concerns regarding the coronavirus pandemic.

"The CPSU is calling on the Morrison Government to ensure all public sector workers who can, must be allowed and supported to work from home. We must flatten the curve, and this move is critical."

ABC News has sought information from more than 30 Federal Government departments and agencies as well as from dozens of bureaucracies in NSW, Victoria, and Queensland, about their work practices.

No government advice

Working in offices not only exposes staff to potential infection, it also forces some to use public transport and travel through highly populated areas, such as metropolitan CBDs.

The issue is also affecting some of the Federal Government's smallest agencies, such as the 205-person Digital Transformation Agency (DTA).

Staff there are being told to turn up to the agency's offices.

"Despite being fully set up to work from home, we are still being directed to come into the office," a DTA employee told ABC News on Monday, on condition of anonymity.

"We are being told this is as there is no Government-wide directive to work from home."

The DTA employee said some staff in the agency were worried they were not being allowed to do what frontline health professionals were asking of them.

"The overwhelming message from everyone on the ground is that we should be working from home to flatten the curve … but we are being made to come in," said the DTA employee.

Around the world frontline nurses and doctors have begged the public to stay at home, so they are not overwhelmed by cases of COVID-19.

Some have taken to social media, holding up signs imploring people to follow their advice: "We stayed at work for you. You stay at home for us."

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In an interview with the ABC hours before announcing a nationwide shutdown of non-essential venues and services on Sunday, the Prime Minister said the public service was also considering how to cope.

"Many workplaces, including public sector workplaces, are engaging in rationing how many people are coming into an enclosed space on each day and that helps actually reduce the pressure on public transport systems and reduce the proximity in which people are travelling together," he said.

ABC News sent questions to the minister responsible for the public service, Health Minister Greg Hunt, but received no reply.

ABC News also contacted more than 30 federal departments and agencies. Only a handful responded.

On Tuesday evening the Australian Public Service Commission (APSC) told the ABC it would not allow departments or agencies to respond for themselves, and instead provided a statement that avoided answering questions put by ABC News.

The APSC also declined to provide information about which departments or agencies were continuing to require the majority of their staff to work from their offices.

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"During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Government considers the Australian Public Service to be an essential service which needs to keep working in order to keep Australians safe, and ensure that services are delivered for the Australian people," a spokeswoman said in a statement.

"APS staff will continue working, and be redeployed as required, to support measures to contain the spread of the virus, mitigate the impacts and deliver critical services to the Australian people.

Each agency has its own business continuity plan and as such, the actions taken by individual agencies will depend on operational circumstances.

"Agencies are testing their remote working capability, and making other arrangements such as minimising face to face meetings, placing notices in meeting rooms about suggested maximum capacity, restructuring teams to ensure contingencies are available, and moving to working from home arrangements for at-risk employees," she said.

The good news

Some departments and agencies, however, appeared to be taking a more considered approach to the concerns of their staff.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has divided its workforce into two teams, with their staff taking it in turns to attend the office in alternating weeks.

"This applies to all at ASIC, in every state, and from the chair and commissioners down," an ASIC spokesperson said.

On Tuesday, the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), which operates Australia's two nuclear reactors, said just under two thirds of its staff were working remotely.

"We know these changes to staffing arrangements may cause some disruption, but we need to make this decision so we can focus on nuclear medicine production, nuclear forensics and critical research."

On Tuesday morning, ABC News was contacted by a mother of an employee at Transport for NSW who was being asked to come into work in Sydney's CBD.

By Wednesday morning, her son's area had been told staff were now allowed to work from home.

"Working flexibly is about helping take some of the load off frontline services," said a spokesperson for the NSW Government, which also declined to allow individual departments and agencies to respond to the ABC.

"It means thinning out the number of people on public transport in the peak periods, by travelling off peak, or working from home. It means placing fewer demands on the health system.

"The NSW Government has long-standing flexible working arrangements: These arrangements are well established, meaning Government can scale-up rapidly to maintain business continuity and service delivery for the people of NSW in these extraordinary times."

(This story was reported by ABC journalists working from home.)