Down in the polls, a long-time Labor state government could make election hay out of its thwarted Australian-first work from home laws.
The Victorian laws, guaranteeing employees a legal right to work from home two days a week if deemed reasonably able to, have landed in political purgatory ahead of the November state election.
The Liberals and Nationals - along with Legalise Cannabis, Animal Justice, One Nation, Shooters, Fishers and Farmers and Libertarian party MPs and two independents - narrowly won an upper house vote to refer the contentious bill to an inquiry.
The committee will report back to parliament by October 20, but no further sitting weeks are slated beyond September.
Shadow attorney-general James Newbury argued the coalition supported work from home but the legislation was "not ready" after the government released last-minute pro-business amendments.
"The reason we're here is because the Labor government has played politics with a policy and not done the work to get the bill ready," he told reporters on Friday.
Mr Newbury would not commit to the coalition putting forward its own election policy on work from home if it comes to office.
"We have a bill before us now. Why would we need to do that," he said.
"The only reason that (Premier) Ben Carroll does not want to recall parliament after the committee has reviewed it is because he wants to play politics with it and avoid accountability."
Mr Carroll ruled out adding sitting days to pass the legislation before parliament is dissolved and the government entered caretaker mode on November 3.
"No, I'm focused on getting ... all of our special prosecutor legislation through, our integrity legislation through," he said on Friday.
"They defeated the bill. It's up for them to answer for themselves."
Mr Carroll vowed to reintroduce the laws, unveiled by his predecessor Jacinta Allan at the 2025 Labor state conference, if the party secured a historic fourth successive term.
Whether the Liberals had fallen into a trap or not, Monash University political scientist Zareh Ghazarian said it could be a "blessing in disguise" for Labor.
"This is something that they can use politically to differentiate themselves," Dr Ghazarian told AAP.
"This has been a serious and significant issue as we saw at the federal election ... I would expect it to be something that Labor would run very hard on."
A scathing Liberal review into the party's disastrous 2025 federal election campaign cited former leader Peter Dutton's ultimately abandoned crackdown on working from home arrangements as a policy that alienated voters.
The November state election should be fought on crime, unemployment, business investment, taxes and debt, Victorian Chamber of Commerce chief executive Sally Curtain said.
"Work from home is nothing but a distraction," she said.
The Victorian coalition is leading Labor and One Nation in the polls, but must hold all of its existing seats and win at least 16 more to govern alone.
