Should Australia Keep Penalty Rates For Weekend Work?

Short answer: Yes. And now for the long answer…

When looking at the future of Australia, penalty rates play a large role in the economy, for one specific reason that relates to almost every Student Edge member: penalty rates support all students in their professional efforts.

I have talked to most of my student friends and Sunday pay rates amount to about half of their total income; for most students, this is the reason they can afford to get to uni, purchase food and pay for text books.

If we look at the average week of a full time student, there are only so many free hours outside of study, sleep and personal maintenance (eating, showering et cetera).

That’s why retail jobs, with their late-night and weekend work opportunities, are the most popular amongst students. However, if we expect any student to survive their studies, they need to be able to earn good money, and unless we are prepared to pay everyone $30 an hour to work retail at all times, every day (a move that’ll surely ruin the economy), penalty rates on the weekends and public holidays are the best and most viable option.

In the short term, yes, this costs businesses more money. However, in the long term, the students that are regularly paid penalty rates on the weekend and public holidays will be benefited because these students can study freely without financial strain.

They might go on to develop and invent something that saves their company millions, or they might become politicians who legislate better conditions for workers.

Penalty rates give the students of this country the opportunity to survive their education with the odds stacked against them. Removing penalty rates could make the odds of students graduating even worse.

In my humble opinion, penalty rates will benefit this country in the long run and removing them will cause many problems.

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