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Penalty rates

21 Feb 2017

Q. Do you think people who are required to work outside of normal hours – like night shifts, weekends or public holidays – should receive a higher hourly rate of pay?

  Total   Vote Labor Vote Lib/Nat Vote Greens Vote other   Work full time Work part time   May 2013 Jan 2015 Jul 2015
Yes 82%   87% 79% 84% 83%   81% 88%   81% 81% 81%
No 12%   8% 18% 7% 13%   12% 5%   12% 13% 13%
Don’t know 6%   5% 3% 8% 4%   7% 6%   7% 6% 7%

82% think that people who are required to work outside of normal hours should receive a higher hourly rate of pay and 12% think they should not. There has been little change of opinion on this issue since this question was first asked in May 2013.

A large majority of all demographic and voter groups agree that worker should receive higher rates for working outside normal hours – although Labor voters (87%) are more likely to support this than Liberal/National voters (79%). 88% of part-time workers agree compared to 81% of full-time workers.

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