24 February

Best quote on the Sunday penalty rates, from Crikey: "Today the Fair Work Commission, reflecting three years of Coalition government appointments to the industrial relations body, decided that Sunday penalty rates are too high for retail and hospitality workers and should be wound back. The hospitality sector, despite evidently being hampered by having to pay its workers too much, has grown its employment by 11.4 per cent since 2011, far outstripping the overall workforce, which grew by just 6.8 per cent. But at least the commission has partially solved the problem of major retailer franchisees like 7-Eleven, Caltex, Domino's and others systematically underpaying their workers — now they don't have to pay them as much in the first place."