Solomon Lew complains of weekend penalty rate inaction

ELI GREENBLAT
December 2, 2016
The Australian
Rag-trade billionaire Solomon Lew has characterised the past five years as the most difficult he has ever encountered in Australian retail.
Mr Lew, a fixture in the nation’s retail sector for 50 years, has also savaged the current government for doing nothing on the issue of weekend penalty rates.
Addressing shareholders at the annual general meeting for his fashion retail company Premier Investments (PMV), Mr Lew welcomed the “good news’’ this year that the government would finally do something about offshore retailers avoiding the GST when selling to Australian shoppers.
But he said Canberra must now turn its attention to penalty rates.
“Let me repeat what I said in this very forum one year ago because, I regret to repeat that nothing has changed,’’ Mr Lew told shareholders in Melbourne.
“The structure of the current regime of weekend penalty rates is incompatible with the world we live in, where most consumers shop on weekend and can also shop online 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
“Our penalty rate system functions in a way which is economically unproductive and provides less jobs.’’
Premier Investments has a growing overseas base through its retail brand Smiggle, which has opened stores in the UK, Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong.
Domestically Premier Investments is a large employer, with more than 6000 staff, spread across more than 1100 stores such as Just Jeans, Dotti, Portmans, Jay Jays and Jacquie E.
“Our own experience in the United Kingdom shows that, without penalty rates, we can employ more people who want to work on weekends,” Mr Lew said. “This is enhancing the shopping experience for customers whilst raising the level of productivity.”
Mr Lew said it costs Premier Investments more than 100 per cent more per hour per employee to work on a Sunday in Australia than it does in the UK, Singapore or New Zealand, as well as Hong Kong and Malaysia.
“In a global market this is uncompetitive and stops growth.
“I certainly don’t want to be in the position where I am able to again repeat this same point next year. We look forward to the government addressing the issue as an urgent matter.’’
Mr Lew said the environment for Australian business, and retail in particular, had been “extraordinarily challenging”.
The past five years was “a period as difficult as I have ever encountered in Australian retail” and had seen the demise or decline of iconic Australian retailers.
However in the same period Premier’s market capitalisation had more than doubled to over $2 billion.
Premier Investments posted a net profit of $103.9 million for fiscal 2016, an increase of 17.9 per cent.