It is living proof of how secular a society Australia has become when the controversial change to Sunday penalties barely raises a murmur about why it was first implemented.
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The unions have been scathing about the loss of income for some of the lowest paid and vulnerable in the hospitality and retail industries. Business has welcomed the change arguing the lower staffing costs will mean employers will be able to put on more people or have them work longer hours.
But if all this comes at a social cost then to a certain extent we are all to blame. The demands for a 24/7 economy is what we have come to expect in the age of instant information and gratification. The market demand, at what once were treated as exceptional times, drives the business need. Yet not wanting to pay exceptional prices for services or goods at these times, we are all part of the cause.
What seems like millennia ago but is only three decades, former premier John Cain went to war with a certain eastern suburbs hardware store about Sunday trading. The prospect of not being able to shop at Bunnings on a Sunday or anywhere else now would have people apoplectic. A declining notion of taking the fifth commandment literally or even seriously, with the exception of some devout folk, is probably at the heart of this major social shift. But John Cain’s argument that he articulated then and to this day, is the advent of free-for-all trading on Sunday would affect the social fabric of communities, particularly families. Desecrate the only “free day” for people, particularly mothers and others from lower socio-economic groups who filled retail jobs, and it will come at a major social cost. But three decades on no one is listening to “honest John” and greet any kind of “closed on Sunday” sign as an outrage or lost opportunity.
The unions say a million low paid workers will be hurt by the Fair Work Commission's decision with some losing up to $6,000 a year. But the Fair Work Commission also said there were likely to be "some positive employment effects" from the cut even if these effects were "likely to be reduced due to substitution and other effects".
It seems odd now but the notion of higher pay was built on a historic concept of there being something `sacred’ about Sunday. Such a cut is certainly a step away from that notion. But the question remains; what is the long term effect of all this? It might add up to being about more than money.
