Domino’s wage investigations continue … NSW doubles tax for foreign home buyers … Entrepreneurs “live on the street” for SBS show

By Dominic Powell and Emma Koehn 

The scale of potential underpayments of workers at Domino’s Pizza Enterprises is continuing, with both the Fair Work Ombudsman and Domino’s itself continuing to review the issue, reports Fairfax. 

On Wednesday a Senate Estimates committee heard the Fair Work Ombudsman had increased the number of investigations into the pizza chain to 26, while Domino’s also updated the Australian Securities Exchange on its review of workplace practices.

The company said its nationwide audit of all franchised stores was taking “longer than anticipated” and the market would have to wait until the end of the year to read a report on the internal review.

Claims of underpayment of workers and actions of Domino’s franchisees, including asking for payment for visa sponsorship, came to the surface in February after a Fairfax investigation.

New South Wales doubles home buyer tax

In an attempt to make home ownership more accessible to Australian residents, the New South Wales government today upped stamp duty for foreign investors to 8%, reports Fairfax. Foreign homeowners’ annual land tax surcharge will also increase from 0.75% to 2%.

The announcement comes ahead of the NSW government’s budget, which will be handed down on June 20. Changes are also being made to the first home owners’ bonus, which will be expanded beyond buyers of just new homes to buyers of existing stock.

Housing affordability has been a growing point of contention for federal and state governments alike, with the recent federal budget providing some measures to address the issue, including options for young workers to sacrifice their superannuation in order to save for a house deposit.

SBS launches TV show with “filthy rich” entrepreneurs living on the street

Public broadcaster SBS has unveiled a new three-part television series titled Filthy Rich and Homeless, which will air from June 27. The series will put five wealthy individuals in the shoes of the homeless and ask them to live on the streets for 10 nights to find out “what it’s like to go from having everything to having next-to-nothing”.

“Filthy Rich and Homeless is confronting, heartbreaking, and at times incredibly heart-warming as it shines a light on a part of our society often overlooked and ignored. By helping to make the invisible visible, the series aims to spark a national conversation around much-needed change for Australia’s significant homeless population,” said SBS director of TV and online content Marshall Head in a statement.

One of the contestants is founder of cosmetics company Cherry Blooms, Jellaine Dee, whose company landed a deal with US retailer Nordstrom in 2015, and was on track to turn over $10 million in 2016.

Dee told SmartCompany at the time her advice to other aspiring entrepreneurs was to build relationships and “say yes more to things, it could lead somewhere”.

The other participants on the show are “self-made millionaire” Tim Guest, artist Kayla Fenech, pub operator Stu Laundy and model Christian Wilkins.

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