ACT Public Holiday on Melbourne Cup Day?

Ant: Most agreements have the capacity to observe extra public holidays where they are declared (either by law or through the actual text of the agreement), so don’t worry about losing a public holiday somewhere else.

The Federal Parliament doesn’t have to sit to overturn the ACT’s declaration of a public holiday; all it takes is for the Governor-General, acting on the advice of Cabinet, to disallow the public holiday.

The VAST majority of workers do bugger all on Melbourne Cup day, don’t see the big problem with declaring it a public holiday.

I think it’s something to do with agreements… there’s X many holidays in them. So if people get the November day, they lose a day somewhere else, like that extra day at Christmas.

It’s typical Stanhopeless laziness that the public holiday hasn’t been gazetted, and its just over a month away. This gives businesses lots of time to plan.

Why would public servants lose that third day at Christmas? There’s no logical reason why that would happen – especially as that third day at Christmas isn’t a public holiday anyway.

Personally, I’m all for staying home on Melbourne Cup day – that way I don’t have to pretend to care about horse racing 🙂

Not all public servants got that day at xmas.

And now you can invite your friends over for chicken and champagne and fancy hats, instead of your colleagues who you have to drink chmapagne to put up with.

It’s all a bit annoying. Public Servants will lose that 3rd day they get at Xmas. That 5 days was always awesome, 4 days just isn’t the same.

Melbourne Cup day is only fun if you’re at work, doing the silly hats and sweeps and greasy chicken thing. What on earth do you do at home?

No amendment, no holiday. I understand from our HR boffins that the amendment was supposed to go through in August, but didn’t for some reason.

…lets just all take the day off work, that way we all can’t get in trouble.

The aforementioned release is on the ACT Government web site here. The appropriate act is here, and you can see that it hasn’t been amended yet to make Melbourne Cup day a holiday, nor has a notifiable instrument been published yet to do so. The Minister has until a week before the day to do that, though. If there really was a chance of the Feds putting the kybosh on it maybe he was waiting until Federal Parliament stopped sitting this session?

welll……if it isnt approved, there will be a lot of non government school kids having that day off as schools have been advised it is a public holiday……

I thought when the idea was brought up that the federal government overturned it.

Note that the release says “the ACT Government will make” (emphasis added) – not “has made”.

The ACT government website lists it as a holiday though, clicky: http://www.cmd.act.gov.au/holidays.shtml

Longer working hours my ass. What a f@cking assclown. I’ll take the holiday though.

The following was sent around my workplace on the 13th. Email states it was a media release from Andrew Barr but cant see reference to it on the ACT Government website…..

FAMILY AND COMMUNITY DAY PUBLIC HOLIDAY

Workers in the ACT will get a day off to spend with their families, with the first ever ACT Family and Community Day to be held on the first Tuesday in November 2007.

Minister for Industrial Relations, Andrew Barr, made the announcement this weekend, saying Canberra’s workers were worse off under the Howard Government’s Work Choices legislation and needed time to spend with family and friends.

“Australians work the longest hours in the developed world and as the Howard Government enforces a retrograde industrial relations system that encourages less work-life balance, workers are spending less time with their families,” Mr Barr said.

“As a way of compensating Canberrans for these changes, and to encourage more time to be spent with family and friends, the ACT Government will make the first Tuesday in November, Melbourne Cup Day, a public holiday.

“To be known as Family and Community Day, this day will enable workers to take a break from their hectic working lives and spend some quality time with their families and friends. This will go a small way to protecting that work-life balance which the Howard Government seems so intent on attacking.”

Mr Barr said the ACT will now have 12 public holidays, an amount not unusual in Australia with both Tasmania and the Northern Territory having 12, and the NSW Government this year declaring an APEC public holiday for Sydney.

“The decision on this holiday was consulted on extensively with business groups and the community and Melbourne Cup Day did have the support of the majority of those with whom we consulted,” Mr Barr said.

“I hope that this day is utilised by all Canberrans to spend some quality time with their families and friends and that it goes some way to restoring the lost family time that longer working hours have meant.”