Tony Abbott says cutting penalty rates will create jobs, but voters disagree Tony Abbott has backed the argument that lower penalty rates will create more jobs for young people prepared to work on weekends but said his government would take any new policy to the next election. Recent research shows a large majority of voters do not accept the contention from business and employer groups that there would be more jobs if penalty rates were lower. The union movement is preparing a major campaign against any changes to penalty rates or the minimum wage as a result of a Productivity Commission review. Interviewed on Sydney radio on Friday, the prime minister said he thought the lower penalty rates would allow more businesses to open on weekends, providing more jobs. “If you don’t want to work on a weekend, fair enough don’t work on a weekend. But if you do want to work on a weekend, and lots of people, particularly students, particularly young people, want to work on a weekend, you want the places to be open to provide jobs,” he said, pointing out that the hotel he uses in Melbourne closed its restaurant on Sunday night because it couldn’t afford to pay penalty rates and that he had found it difficult to find a bottle shop open over Easter for the same reason. “I don’t begrudge people the money … but in the end there is a balance that has to be struck here and my preference will always be in favour of more jobs,” he said. But the Abbott government faces an uphill task convincing even its own supporters to back a reduction in penalty rates on the grounds it will create jobs, research suggests. A poll by Essential Media suggests a large majority of voters do not buy that argument. Read more: theguardian/australia-news/2015/jan/23/coalition-faces-uphill-task-convincing-even-their-supporters-on-penalty-rates?CMP=soc_567
Posted on: Fri, 23 Jan 2015 09:11:26 +0000
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