Page 5068 - Week 14 - Tuesday, 17 November 2009
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hitherto had been a high point for the hospitality trade. It was seen as having a negative impact on traditional workplace occasions because workers were no longer celebrating Melbourne Cup together. We almost saw the end of the traditional workplace sweep as a result.
Most importantly, the bill shows yet another backflip by the Stanhope Labor government because it failed to think through the impacts of its impetuous brain snap when it put the holiday on Melbourne Cup Day. Had it thought through the issue properly in the first place, we would not be spending time debating this today.
Mr Barr: That was the outcome of the first round of consultation, Vicki. It is what the business community wanted. That was community consultation for you.
MR SPEAKER: Mr Barr, you will have a chance in a moment.
MRS DUNNE: If Mr Barr wants to justify himself, Mr Speaker, I am sure that they will find time to do so, given the considerable time and the paucity of business on the blue today. Had the government thought through the issue properly in the first place, we would not be spending time today debating what should have been a more established declared public holiday. The government will claim that the first iteration was in response to its initial public consultation process. Maybe that is the case, but the point I am making is that the government took that consultation on face value without analysing its broader implications.
Indeed, it was the exact reverse of the government’s approach to consultation on the closure of the Griffith library when then Minister Hargreaves, the Minister for Territory and Municipal Services, said that the government would not be consulting on the closure because he knew what the answer would be. This time it was a case of saying, “We will consult and we don’t care about the consequences of that consultation.”
Let me turn briefly to the question of whether we actually need another public holiday at all. Currently in the ACT, including the Family and Community Day, there are 12 public holidays, plus an extra holiday for public servants during the Christmas week and a bank holiday in August for bank employees. The only other jurisdiction in Australia that has 12 public holidays is Victoria. New South Wales has 10, plus a non-state-wide bank holiday. Queensland has 10, plus Exhibition Day, which is for Brisbane only. South Australia has 11 public holidays and Western Australia has 10. Tasmania has 10 and the Northern Territory has 11. Both have a number of regional holidays, not state-wide holidays.
Every public holiday, whilst a welcome break for workers, has an impact on productivity and the economy. In the case of the ACT, public holidays usually mean an exodus to the South Coast of New South Wales. That exodus is not balanced by an influx of tourists. The question of what is the right number of public holidays is not one that has been tested. However, we could be guided by the practice of other jurisdictions, where the average is about 10½.
I am not sure that the government gave any consideration to this in deciding that the previous union picnic day should not only be retained in the holiday calendar but also
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