More than half of all Coalition voters think people who work on a Sunday should get paid more than people who work on a Saturday, according to a new poll.
The Essential poll, commissioned by the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) and provided exclusively to BuzzFeed News, also found 63% of all Australians believed Sunday workers should get paid more than Saturday workers.
The new polling data was released on the day the Fair Work Commission announced cuts to Sunday penalty rates in the hospitality, retail, fast food and pharmacy industries.
Saturday penalty rates will not change.
The Essential poll showed 54% of Coalition voters and 73% of Labor voters thought people should be paid more for working on a Sunday than a Saturday.
The changes to penalty rates announced by the Fair Work Commission would see most employees still earning more for a Sunday shift than a Saturday shift.
However, full-time and part-time employees in the fast food industry will now receive a 25% loading on their base hourly rate for both Saturday and Sunday shifts.
Employment minister Michaelia Cash said she wanted to focus on the "positive impact" the decision would have on employment.
“I have spoken to many employers, in particular in rural and regional Australia, who are unable to open on a Sunday,” she said.
“Because of the decision that has been made, they will now be able to be open on a Sunday. That is a good thing, in particular for those who are currently unemployed or who are underemployed."
Speaking to the Australian Financial Review last year Cash described a change to bring Sunday penalty rates into line with Saturday rates as "minor".
"What I get perturbed by is that there are businesses [that] cannot open on a Sunday because the wages bill far exceeds what they can take in," she said.
In 2014 prime minister Malcolm Turnbull said it was "nuts" that businesses were closed on the weekends because of high penalty rates.
Several other government MPs have expressed in-principle support for a cut in penalty rates.
Backbench senator Ian Macdonald – most recently known for his impassioned defence of the "Gold Pass", which granted free domestic flights to MPs – said it made him "physically sick" to hear Labor talk about penalty rates.
He told the parliament people working late into the night deserved additional pay, "But working on Saturday and Sunday really does not demand the sorts of penalty rates that are currently being paid, particularly to young people in the hospitality industry."
The Fair Work Commission is an independent body and is required to review penalty rates every four years.
Labor leader Bill Shorten has pledged that Labor would ensure workers are not worse off under any changes to penalty rates, by potentially increasing the base rates of pay, or via some type of compensation.
However he stopped short at proposing legislation that would guarantee no change to penalty rates.
"We are going to do our best to convince the Fair Work Commission not to implement this decision," Shorten said on Thursday.
In 2016 Shorten said he would accept the decision of the Fair Work Commission if it resolved to cut penalty rates.