This article is correct in terms of the 3 economic efficiencies identified but wrong to suggest that the highest pay & conditions on planet earth are also not a problem. Why can't we tackle all 4 problems in a reasonable manner?

This article is so sensible . . . HR are parasites, the legal system beyond the reach of most, and taxpayer funded private schools are the biggest rort of all . . . very well done. 100% common sense.

Most of the affected folk are hospitality workers and shop assistants? And where possible juniors?

We need only look a little higher up the food chain to see just who's being over rewarded, with no limits or restraints placed on their returns?

Notice I did not say earnings given earnings imply effort, endeavor or initiative.

As an employer I paid my subcontracting staff 10% above the odds. And given the work was available, all the hours they wanted!

If new deals are to be struck they must pass the no disadvantage test, given the sheer number of kids, students and single mums in the weekend work area; most of whom would be casuals anyway with little if any return or protection?

And all too often needing to drop everything and attend the workplace on as little as 5 minutes notice or forfeit the employment?

In any event wages are just around 16% of the cost component of doing business, the rest being taxes, energy costs and various sundries?

Eliminate the patently parasitic middlemen(public and private) and his/her profit demands and we'd likely halve the cost of living and indeed, doing business?

And real tax reform would allow us to reduce tax to just 10% of what you earn, and inherently fair, if everyone paid it! No if buts or maybes!

And if we had the gumption to abandon the great white elephant of an energy wasting gold plated national grid; plus our almost exclusive reliance on coal fired power, we'd halve the cost of energy and 25% of our carbon production as the very first consequence!?

Just don't hold your breath waiting for the current crop of pollies to finally get on with it and clean the duck manure out of their ears or whatever else that prevents them hearing and taking effective action, that finally puts we Australians first and foremost!
Rhrosty.

Apart from the fact that there is absolutely no EVIDENCE that removal of the things that peeve Syd would have a beneficial effect, they are simply not going to be removed. It is popular these days to pick a few ideas out of the air, and push them as sure winners. Politicians, some economists and the Left side of politics are all guilty of this.

Without a complete over-haul of society, all these you beaut ideas are useless. We have to go much deeper: back in history (another joke for the cynics) to see how other societies solved economic chaos (our situation is not new); look for real leaders who are not necessarily politicians but who have been successful themselves, and who know what their community and society wants to achieve (that leaves out the likes of Malcolm Turnbull). We need to examine globalism and 'massification' that has seen us having to accept inferior products from remote suppliers. (one of the many elements of the whole problem is the loss of producer/customer contact: nobody gives a stuff, because they don't have to). We have to be more family/community orientated, and stop relying on the State as much - family and community have been just about been stamped out by the Left. We need to put super-egalitarianism aside, and think about hierarchies with mutual benifts and responsibilities. What we have now is people posing as 'elites' who are not really elite in ways good for everybody. They don't know how the 'half lives', and have no idea of what that half really needs.

However, none of this is possible without a big change in attitudes. If attitudes do not change, nobody will get anywhere, and many of us will go under. And, we need to stop listening to the media and unqualified people. I read most things, but unless the writer is a proven expert, or he/she can provide references to experts, I don't take much notice of what they have to say. People should not be swayed by mere opinion.

Not one of Syd’s better articles, I think.

It starts off with a massive straw man:

“The idea that Sunday wage loadings are the great burden on our national efficiency is simply laughable.”

- Agreed. Has anyone actually argued this?

Then Syd goes on to a rather over-the-top attack on the human resources function. Syd gives no evidence for the “horrific expansion of HR” to its “current position of universal domination” that he claims. He also asks, “how many HR people are employed in Asia?” Presumably this is a rhetorical question, to which the reader is expected to reply “not many”. But while a quick google on “HR in Asia” failed to uncover a number, it did show evidence of a widespread and sophisticated HR sector, including academic and professional journals dedicate to the topic, recruitment agencies specialising in the area, and many job advertisements in leading companies.

Admittedly, I’ve worked in organisations where HR policies have been too complex and intrusive, and implemented over-zealously. But having also worked in organisations where HR was under-resourced, I’d say the second were worse. If you can't recruit staff quickly and efficiently, are not not paid the right amount, or have your contract stuffed up when you join an organisation, you quickly learn the value of a good HR department.

Most important, a competent HR team enhances an organisation’s productivity, for example by identifying and plugging skills gaps, and reducing absence rates.

For the record I do not, and never have, worked in HR.

"People should not be swayed by mere opinion." that's one of your best ttbbbnnnkkhgeh...whatever did you blush when you wrote that?