Finally, after almost a year and a half, Fair Work Australia realised that the Fair Work Act got it wrong re after school minimum hours. The decision announced Monday to cut the minimum shift in small retailers from three hours to one and a half hours is welcome but late.
Government intervened in something which was working. Many businesses, their employees and associations who represent them lost time and money while the ‘independent’ umpire took too long to realise that the politicians got it wrong.
This is an example of government imposing ill-conceived regulation of a part of business which worked well for decades. While the government will say that it was an unintended consequence of broader reforms, the reality is that they got it wrong and caused considerable disruption in small business retailers, including newsagencies, as a result.
What a waste of time.
At least we can get on with business. If only politicians on all sizes were true to their promises of reducing red tape and making doing business easier.