If we want to now why, we only have to look at this coming Easter weekend with its four public holidays in a row.

Small businesses, particularly tourism related business such as cafes, accommodation providers and restaurants, simply can’t afford to stay open during this busy time because they have to pay double-time-and-a-half penalty rates.

A survey carried out by Tourism Accommodation Australia last year showed that 67 per cent of hoteliers said they would close over the Easter holiday period because of crippling penalty rates.

Businesses want to pay a fair wage to compensate staff for working outside what had traditionally been normal hours. But, with working and leisure patterns having changed along with shifts in consumer behaviour there is an argument that penalty rates have remained stuck in the past.

Penalty rates should not be abolished, they are an important right even in a modern, changing world, but they need to be simplified to reflect reality.

South Australia has already taken some steps towards this, reducing penalty rates at weekends for retail workers in recognition that working conditions have changed since its penalty rates were introduced half a century ago.

Tourism operators argue that if penalty rates were not so excessive — 275 per cent on public holidays — they could employ more staff to get the jobs done.

Unions argue that because the workforce has become so casualised, penalty rates are more important than ever. 

They say it’s not just young retail workers. Employees of all ages in hospitality, nursing, the emergency services, manufacturing and more all rely on compensation for working odd hours as full-time work dries up.

It’s a thorny subject for governments, but with businesses being forced to close because they can’t afford to stay open, everyone loses — the employer and the worker.

What’s the point of that?