It's time once again to take a look at happenings down under.
Restaurants are closing en masse rather than pay double time and a half to
stay open on holidays.
Please consider Penalties
blamed for taking high-end dining off menu.
The annual
survey of the 7500- member Restaurant and Catering Australia reveals a 33 per
cent jump since 2011 in the numbers of restaurateurs saying they cannot
afford to open on public holidays.
Public holiday penalty rates require employers to pay double time and a half,
equating to pay rates of at least $40 an hour.
Robert Marchetti, executive chef of Sydney's Icebergs Dining Room and Bar and
North Bondi Italian Food and owner of highly acclaimed restaurants in Sydney
and Melbourne, said some of his businesses - including Neild Avenue - would
be closed today, while those that opened would be providing a "public
service".
"The government are a bunch of monkeys who don't understand
business," he said.
"We're not living in the 1960s anymore. Australia has its head stuck up
its arse on IR.
Following ACTU Secretary Dave Oliver's Christmas Eve call for the Fair Work
Act to be changed to enshrine penalty rates as a minimum entitlement, United
Voice liquor and hospitality division Secretary Tara Moriarty said the issue
was one the industry raised every public holiday.
"Penalty rates haven't made the sky fall in yet, despite them constantly
making suggestions to the contrary," she said.
Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association national secretary Joe De
Bruyn said the closure of some businesses on public holidays would simply
mean more business for the restaurants that stayed open.
"Penalty rates have been part of workers' entitlements for
decades," he said.
Unions were awaiting the outcome of a Fair Work Australia hearing on penalty
rates. "While the unions put up a very strong case for preserving
penalty rates, the employers' case was a pathetic performance," Mr De
Bruyn said.
Double-Time
and a Half Insanity
You have to love the mentality "the sky is not falling yet" mantra,
especially when it clearly is.
Who pays for this absurdity? Consumers in general of course. Business owners
and employees of businesses who cannot afford to pay double-time and a half,
also get hit hard.
House and Land Incentives
Property Observer notes House-and-land incentive and discounts from $5,000 to
$126,000
New housing finance and building approval figures suggest
there will be no swift rebound in demand for new housing.
There was a 10.3% fall in home loan commitments for new dwellings and a 0.3%
drop in building approvals for new houses in November, according to
seasonally adjusted ABS figures.
New home buyers can secure discounts in the thousands and sometimes tens of
thousands of dollars on select blocks of lands and new homes in Melbourne,
the Gold Coast and Sydney.
There are also generous first-home buyer incentives on offer from NSW,
Queensland, Tasmanian and South Australian state governments for those buying
or building new homes.
$30,000
Listed residential developer Peet is offering savings of up to $30,000 on
“certain lots” in residential communities on the outskirts of Melbourne.
$22,000
Listed developer Devine is offering to pay mortgage repayments for up to a
year on behalf of approved purchasers who sign an unconditional contract to
purchase a new Devine house and land package before February 28 2013 under
its Devine Mortgage Break promotion.
Melbourne builder Carlisle Homes is offering a $30,000 discount off the
retail price of double-storey homes and $22,000 off the retail price of
single-storey homes in its luxury Affinity and T Range collections. There is
currently no end date to this promotion.
$10,000
Up until February 25 2013, Stockland is offering approved purchasers a
$10,000 VISA gift card to spend as they wish.
$76,000 - $126,000
Discounts of up to $126,000 are on offer for residential lots in The
Highlands community in the Ecovillage, Currumbin Valley on the Gold Coast.
Massive Housing Incentive, Still No Buyers
Macrobusiness reports Developers Go Completely Mad.
Today, Property Observer has provided a comprehensive list
of incentives being offered by developers in a bid to lift sales, which are
in addition to generous incentives on offer in New South Wales, Queensland,
Tasmania and South Australia.
Clearly, such developer incentives are failing to stimulate demand and could
actually be precluding the new home market from functioning properly.
Australia’s property development industry appears to be caught in a pincer.
If they don’t abandon incentives in favour of transparent land price
deductions, financing of new house and land packages will remain problematic
and sales will likely continue to struggle. At the same time, reducing the
listed price by the same value as the bonuses and incentives being offered
could lower their collateral value, potentially triggering the banks to call
in more equity from bank-financed developers to bring their loans back to
agreed conditions and/or loan terms. Straight price cuts are also more likely
to aggrieve recent purchasers that paid higher prices.
How Fast the Collapse?
The housing bubble in Australia has clearly burst. All that remains to be
seen is how fast things collapse.
Meanwhile, Australia's unions still cling to an already dead model, oblivious
to the fact the boom is over.
Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
