From July 1, Sunday and public holiday rates for employees in the retail, fast food, hospitality and pharmacy sectors will be slashed. 

That means only the Queen’s Birthday holiday (on June 12) is left between now and the start of next financial year – when the cuts are set to be gradually phased in.

The changes would see holiday penalty rates for full-time and part-time employees in hospitality and retail cut from 250 per cent, or “double-time and a half”, to 225 per cent. 

Casual staff in those sectors would see their 275 per cent penalty rate reduced to 250 per cent. 

The Fair Work Commission (FWC) made the penalty rate cut ruling in February, with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull throwing his weight behind the plan. 

Labor claims the decision would affect more than 600,000 workers, while the government says the number of people who regularly work on Sundays is closer to 285,000.

Federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten had the rate cuts high on his agenda during a visit to the Illawarra and Shoalhaven last week, describing them as a “nightmare” for workers.

Labor’s “protecting penalty rates” slogan was printed on every side of Mr Shorten’s bright red ‘Bill Bus’ rolled through Wollongong and Nowra on Thursday.

At a town-hall meeting in Nowra, Mr Shorten vowed to “fight every day between now the next election to oppose the arbitrary cutting of people’s penalty rates”.

“It’s not a gift, it’s a nightmare and we are not going to stand by and not fight this; that’s what this region needs,” Mr Shorten told the crowd, taking a swipe at Liberal Gilmore MP Ann Sudmalis along the way. 

Ms Sudmalis came under fire earlier this year after she told the Mercury the cuts to penalties would be “a gift for our young people to get a foot in the door of employment”. 

The comments were made in the context of Gilmore’s youth unemployment rate of more than double the national average. 

Mr Shorten’s visit came as senate hearing responses revealed the federal government had not done any modelling on the impact of the FWC’s decision to cut penalty rates.

In answers to questions on notice from Senate estimates released on Friday, Treasury said it would assess a range of policy decisions when reviewing forecasts for the upcoming May budget.

“But this would not entail a specific modelling of the Fair Work Commission recommendation,” a statement from its macroeconomic division said.

“There are likely to be some positive employment effects from a reduction in penalty rates, though it is difficult to quantify the precise effect.”