An Ever Changing World !

Only the aged remember when Australia worked a " five day week " !   It was back in the 1950's and on week days the shops opened a 9am  and closed at 6 pm.  On Saturday, they closed at noon and for most people Saturday afternoon was either football - or the pub.

Sundays seemed to be a day of total closure.  The hotels were closed.  The cinemas were shuttered. No sport on a Sunday.  Shopping centres were deserted with perhaps the odd milk bar open for business.  The only activity seemed to be church services.

That was a time when most people accepted the dictum that they worked for five days and had a two day weekend of leisure.  Anything that intruded on that needed a form of compensation - and so the rate of pay was sharply increased for those people who were needed to work on either Saturday or Sunday.   The words " penalty rates " entered the lexicon.

The situation today is entirely different.  It didn't happen overnight, but demand for services saw the supermarkets open at weekends - and then a host of other services followed.  Law changes allowed the pubs to open on Sundays and sport extended into times when crowds were free to come and be entertained,  We gradually morphed into the seven day trading society that engulfs the world of today.

Strangely, those penalty rates persisted   Time and a half for work on Saturday.  Double time for Sunday. That was a positive incentive to create the type of business that reduced the need for labour. As a result, many small businesses either closed on weekends or adopted a self serve mode to reign in costs.  We started to have an unemployment problem.


This month saw the start of those penalty rates being peeled back  The rate that applies will be reduced and there is the expectation that this will create more jobs.  This is bitterly opposed by the unions but the world has changed and we are paying people for a type of imposition that evaporated a long time ago.  Jobs today simply fit into the twenty-four hour work cycle.

Part of the problem is that penalty rates have been in place for such a long period of time that many people have adjusted their lifestyle to that type of wage economy - and now they need those shorter hours at expanded pay to finance their other activities.  By broadening job opportunities, we may extend job opportunities to those languishing in unemployment queues.

At this stage, that peel back is restricted to hospitality and entertainment industries and features only a part removal.   The writing is certainly on the wall.   Thinking people can clearly see that penalty rates are a mechanism that has long past its used by date !