It’s no secret that Australia‘s business elite aren’t huge fans of the underclass. They invest a lot of energy into sooking about penalty rates, because the idea of the poor being given a boost on their usual meagre stipend for giving up their weekend absolutely galls them.

Which is all well and good. Your opinion is your opinion. A tiny piece of advice for our cashed up betters, though: when you’re advocating for slashing penalty rates, try your best not to do it while standing on a fucking yacht.

Props to Fairfax, who managed to capture exactly that. Reporter Sarah Danckert attended the annual Couta Boat Classic sailing regatta at Sorrento on Wednesday, and took the opportunity to ask the plutocrats in attendance about their thoughts on the “pressing issues for the year ahead”.

So what the article looks like is quotes about how slashing penalty rates is good and big bank regulation is bad, alongside photos of the business and political elite having a lovely time aboard a yacht – like so:

A quote from former Reserve Bank board member Donald McGauchie (while, we stress, on a literal yacht):

The days where the majority of people are going to church are no longer. We all accept the fact that for people working outside normal working hours there will be some additional payment, but those things need to be more balanced than what it currently is.

Former Federal Treasurer and current Future Fund chairman Peter Costello confirmed that he agrees with the the broad vision of penalty rate reform (also – and I cannot repeat this enough – in the proximity of a yacht). “I think we should look at industrial relations because there’s still areas where outdated work practices are holding us back,” Mr Costello said.

There we go. Advice: save it for when you’re on dry ground.

Source: Sydney Morning Herald.

Photo: Wolf of Wall Street.