The new black

Tomoe* flew home to Japan in November after a two-year working holiday in Australia. She had six employers in that time. All bar one of them had either underpaid or not paid her, or had avoided tax and other obligations by paying cash.

By Tomoe’s account, a Japanese restaurant in the inner-Sydney suburb of Newtown paid her $12 an hour as a waitress. In cash. No payslip. A cafe in Paddington paid her $19 an hour as a pastry chef. In cash. No payslip. Only Fratelli Paradiso restaurant, in Potts Point, paid Tomoe formally.

With that exception, Tomoe’s Australian stay was funded through the take-it-or-leave-it terseness of our growing black economy. And, apart from a couple of bright spots, she had a rough ride.

There has been a cultural shift in Australia. In some sectors, underpaying is the new normal – not just in the black economy, where...