Letters to the Editor - March 1

Retailers roster staff in line with sales volumes and workloads - how either of these would be favourably varied after the newly announced reductions of penalty rates commence is unknown.

Reduced take-home pay (and super in some cases) for the affected employees means less money circulating in the economy, in turn putting pressure on employers’ bottom lines to roster fewer hours proportionally.

Similarly, if sales don’t increase in the retail establishments on Sundays then, all things being equal, the opening of more shops will simply spread the available sales revenues more thinly over them all.

Leaving turnover out of the equation, the savings to be made on award pay scales for a six-hour shift from the rate reductions vary from $58.32 for a senior full-time employee to $29.16 for a 19-year-old casual - big impacts for any employees not on high pay rates anyhow.

At these levels of savings, to employ just one more person for a minimum three-hour shift on Sunday, the retailer would need to be already employing more than three full or part-timers or six casuals.

Few small retail shops have so many salespeople on deck in our region’s shopping centres, therefore not many, if any, job opportunities can be expected in small retail shops.

The larger national retailers, of course, have enterprise agreements in place that traded off penalty rates in favour of marginally higher hourly rates and, therefore, these new penalty rate changes for award-based employees will not apply and they will not create any extra jobs.

Please tell me I’m wrong.

The recently published Amnesty International’s 2016 annual report makes for very distressing reading.

As long term members of Amnesty International, an organisation devoted to addressing human rights violations around the world, we used to be proud of Australia’s human rights record.

It gave us a strong platform to write to world leaders to highlight abuses in their own countries, because we were certain we were citizens of a country with a strong humanitarian record. 

We were ashamed to see the list of serious human rights abuses that took place in our own country that were highlighted in the report. 

The abuse of children in prisons, and the fact that Aboriginal kids are 24 times more likely to be separated from their families and communities in prison is unacceptable.

Similarly, the trauma faced by children, families, and vulnerable people in Australia’s offshore detention centres must end. 

In this climate of fear and uncertainty, it is now more necessary than ever to show our support for human rights for all, in Australia and internationally.

Writing a letter can save a life and we would encourage everyone to come along to our Amnesty meetings or take action from home.

I am trying to trace a family history with a significant base in the Moruya area.

My grandmother was Monica Murphy (born May 24, 1871). Her parents were William Ignatius Murphy (dec October 16, 1922) and Mary (nee Barclay, dec July 12, 1908). Monica had brothers Dennis, William, Sylvester (?), James, Phillip and Roger. She had sisters Margaret and Catherine.

If anyone has any information about the family, I can be contacted on 0417415367.