I’ll be at work tomorrow – with a lower than average student and staff attendance.

Bring on the ‘extras’! (Extras = relief lessons)

I had thought about going to Sydney to farewell my husband as his ship leaves early Tuesday morning.

With so many other people being away, I don’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of getting there.

Beats me why they didn’t call it in the Christmas/New Year period – everyone would have still benefited but as most people are on leave anyway, business would not have suffered. But when did common sense have anything to do with ideology anyway.

“Penalty rates for the day are pegged to be a huge cost with many places not even opening as they expect Canberra to be a ‘ghost town’.”

Great, maybe people will get the holiday then instead of being forced to come into work just because the boss wants to turn a buck from the pubes having a day off.

I thought that melbourne cup day was the only day of the year where most office workers got to drink at work in the middle of the afternoon. Loosing that does destroy just a little bit of tradition.

Enjoy the next two days. I will bet that the fallout will be so great that this is the only time this nonsense will be foisted on us.

As also said in the CT, this is an ACT government tilt at the Workchoices laws.

maybe if the act gov’t was to give us every monday off…

I don’t know why they didn’t just give us the Monday off.

So many people will be buggering off tomorrow and the rest of us poor saps will have to pick up the slack….

I don’ mind getting a holiday on a Tuesday.

It works in Melbourne, and businesses have not gone broke there. Good on the ACT govt for making a quick decision, and not forming a committee to decide in two years.

To be fair, I usually take a day or two off a week and it dosn’t seem to affect business too much …

Here’s an idea – move the horse race to a Saturday, like just about every other horse race.

i spoke with the guy in the chicken place in city markets and his opinion about the day was an expletive i’l not repeat on this family site…

i wrote to stanhope about the ‘consultation’ allegedly conducted and andrew barrrrrr responded in typical bland politician-speak. he rekkuned they done all the consultation wit small business and that it was a good idea – crap! this poor bloke was closed down for renovations last year and now is fucked for this year and everafter – having forseen that he’d be up cooking chooks half the night to cope with demand, now rekkuns he’ll be home in bed by half three… what a farce!!

and i’ll be out avoiding knowing anything about a mob of equine whippings happening in a democratic and fair state south of nsw…

and to be fair indgeegoodbee, you don’t seem to reflect the masses – the economy and small business doesn’t run on your timetable and ethic, it seems…

Stanhope should be booted for this one. “Most small business friendly jurisdiction” he promised in the Canberra Plan (wish we had our own rock star telling the truth).

When is he going to realise that many people live in the real world not in his socialist fanasties.

The main problem is that Canberran will not make his government pay – they will keep rewarding him. Thank god the feds have propped up the economy or Canberra would have gone the same direction as most socialist utopias.

Do I need to say this? The Melbourne Cup day public holiday works in Melbourne because that’s where the Melbourne cup is held. Melbourne Cup day in Canberra just means everyone buggers off for a long weekend, businesses here close down, and I miss out on the boozy lunch, and comraderie with work colleagues we’ve had in our office as long as I’ve worked there. Thumbs down again Stanhope government.

Yep. on Friday, i got a shoal of out of office messages saying their senders would be back on Wednesday.

This has killed the good old silly hats/office sweeps/Calcuttas/greasy chicken and warm champers in plastic cups thing, that’s for sure.

Having the race in late arvo was the first nail, and this is the final one. I’ll be doing chores and odd jobs at home on Tuesday.

IF the race is only relevant to Melbourne, then why did you used to celebrate it with your colleagues. Most Melburnians never go near the track. Instead they congregate at each other’s houses and drink cheap champers and eat chicken. You just need to start a new tradition of doing that.

I thought bogans did that with goon and KFC every night.

I be taking a sickie on Monday (heh) and be enjoying Tuesday and some friends place getting stoned.

Yep all those Calcuttas gone. Going to to the local club for a flutter gone.

Thanks Sonic you have fracked-up up a 25 year old tradition and I aint a fracking union member, prick.

Canberra should not have a day off for the Melbourne cup. It’s fine for Melburnians to have a day off, it’s their day in their state. For us in Canberra, at least for our office social club and work mates, it was a great lunch and an excuse for colleagues to get together and enjoy all the things ant mentioned. But it’s never been a full day off work! Also, I do not need to start a new tradition of inviting 50 or so people round to my place on some arbitrary day of the year. Next year I’ll be better organised and will go to the coast like everyone else.

Anyway, this ACT government initiative has nothing to do with Melbourne cup. It’s a dummy spit at the feds over work choices, and doing away with the union picnic day. And that dummy spit has cost businesses money, and me a good time at work.

One business I was talking to absolutely hates it… he makes so much money by catering work functions… now almost nothing.

For him it’s literally thousands and thousands of dollars gone, which will never be recovered.

Its not a holiday for the Melbourne Cup… its the Family & Community Day Public Holiday. It makes up for the prior union day public holiday that the blue collar workiers used to get years ago which was scrapped. I am not complaining that it just happens to fall on the same day as Melbourne Cup. We need more public holidays in the second half of the year! (and any excuse to get away from the freak people I work with is welcome!).

I’m working today and tomorrow *sad sigh*

There’s some interesting issues coming out here. For one, it seems that a sporting event in another State seems to have been linked with the Family and Community Day holiday held in Canberra.

The bit I find hilarious is the hysterical carry on about how the holiday has “destroyed” a so called tradition of bludging off the afternoon for the cup. What a wank! If you’re low brow enough to enjoy that sort of thing nothings stopping you.

An as for business bleating on about how the world’s going to end because of a holiday – build a bridge people! If your business is that marginal that something like this is going to push it over the edge then you’ve been done a favour.

I don’t get all the fuss. Why is this public holiday so much more costly than any other? if it’s not held today it’ll be some other day instead and all the poor businesses will have the same problems. So far the issues I’ve heard are;

1. We have to pay staff holiday rates, we’ll lose money. A: No-one is being forced to be open and lose money, so if paying holiday rates is an issue, close the store and have a holiday yourself.

2. People aren’t spending money on chickens/champagne/party hats for work parties. A: But they will be spending money for similar celebrations at their own house, or out at a pub somewhere.

3. We miss out on the work party. A: boo-fucking-hoo. Have your own party. And if nobody would be working anyway it sounds like the perfect day for a holiday.

4. Everyone takes Monday off as well. A: So what? people take leave (and sickies) all the time around public holidays to make super long weekends. Everyone still has the same number of working days over the year so it should make no difference to getting things done.

1) Astrojax’s comments are -really- hard to read.

2) @ingeegoodbee: The day of Melbourne Cup used to be the Union Family Picnic Day, iirc. Which I am led to believe (by work union people) became specifically illegal under Workchoices. So Standhopeless and Bizarro Barr decided to Stick it to the Man by inflicting a mid-week public holiday on everybody linked to the same calendar tradition as the Melbourne Cup, wether they wanted it or not.
The fact that it is named after something people can’t argue with is fairly Standard Operating Procedure for Govt.
Next up, the Flags for Orphans Act (Politician Salary Increase 2007 Amendment)

On a lighter side note: anybody notice the link on Chief Minister’s Dept website for “Strategic Policy and Direction” leads to a page which “Cannot be found”?

What would be even better is a holiday on the day AFTER Melbourne Cup day. That way the people who don’t care about the cup still get a day off to do whatever, and the people (wierdos!) who want to bond with their workmates can still do it.

It would be a huge night in town with everyone kicking on, safe in the knowledge they have a bludge day to come …. so the businesses would make squillions.

And, if you want to take a day or two and have a long weekend, you still can, except it would be EVEN LONGER.

I cannot see a flaw in this brilliant plan.

LIC,

The horses are on fseven days a week usually homie. god bless the little midgets and all their hard work riding horses

Ponkygirl = evil genius

I’m at work today but can’t say the same for a lot of colleagues. Its a joke really I mean come on, if it’s a spade call it that not a manually operated digging device.

dalryk wrote:
2. People aren’t spending money on chickens/champagne/party hats for work parties. A: But they will be spending money for similar celebrations at their own house, or out at a pub somewhere.

clearly, from my chat with the chicken chap, he has almost no [none, not any, a total dearth of] orders for chickes, so presumably, people will not simply transfer their ‘celebrations’ of m/cup to their homes. it is this effect against small businesses that rely on a few small coups over the year that is the prime stupidity of the holiday being on this day. what, otherwise, is so f***ing special for families and communities on the first tuesday in november? anyone? anyone?

and sorry skidbladnir, what is so hard to read? s’all in latin font and all the words make sense to me…

cry me a river

you told me love was too plebian, you told me you was leaving me, ingeegoodbee.

what could i do?

shall i cry it over you; or down in the dry and dusty remnants of the murrumbidgee..?

so, you’ve a good answer to what is so special about first nov tuesday for families and communities, then? eh? ‘ave ya?

shhhhhh, then. we’re all asleep….

Nothing Astro. Zip, Zilch, Zero. It’s a day off that’s what. It’d be un-Australian (sorry Ralph) to whinge about getting a day off wouldn’t it?

I’ll be home continuing the struggle against nature – trying to master the assortment of paddock grasses that constitutes my lawn that has exploded with vigor following this recent rain, maybe I’ll stop in the arvo to have a stubbie and watch the race.

Ok Astrojax, so your grand argument against the holiday is that one chicken shop owner has seen a decline in business. No sorry, has seen the one day a year on which he *relies* to be able to feed his family cruely taken away from him by the evil government.

Apart from the stupidity of a business model that relies upon one day a year to make ends meet, my point is that money saved in one area will be spent somewhere else. Businesses on the South Coast are loving this holiday, and no doubt there are plenty of other businesses that will see an upturn in trade.

Any time there is a change there will be winners and losers, but you can’t use the example of one loser to argue against an otherwise good idea.

And Skid’s point about your writing being hard to read probably relates to the lack of capital letters, unecessary abreviations and slang and sentences that ramble along for 5 lines without pause. One idea, one sentence. It’s a simple rule.

no, that’s not my whole argument.

what is the correlation between the first tuesday in november and the concept among canberrans of family and community?

i’m not against a holiday, per se. i just fail to see why the financial bonus for canberra businesses should be transferred out of the territory with nothing at all in recompense.

and i can use the example of one loser to illustrate the point quite well, i thought, so that line’s wrong too… and i certainly never said the chicken chap’s business plan relied on a single day to make ends meet (go tell santa photographers, or hamper businesses, or florists about valentines day, about the stupidity of a single day yada yada…) i take it you don’t operate a small business, then, just a small mind?

btw, which abbreviations were unnecessary? which sentences had more than one idea. and why is that a hard and fast rule anyway? or are we all deemed to be simple..?

a is for apple
b is for bland
c is for

Look, you asked why your writing was hard to read – I told you. I don’t really feel like going through every post to point out how you could have written things better, you’re supposed to learn that in school.

I will re-emphasise the capital letters thing though. It really helps to break up a paragraph, clearly indicating the start of a new sentence, and making the whole passage easier to read. Teenagers might consider it “kewl” to ignore grammatical norms when writing on the ‘net, but to most people it just looks lazy and/or stupid. U no wat i iz sayin?

Communication is a tool to help convey ideas and there are good and bad ways to go about it. Sometimes breaking the rules is more effective, most times not. But do whatever you want, not my beef if you come off looking like an idiot.

Aaaanyway… back to the issue: I still see no reason why having a holiday on this day as opposed to some other day somehow costs the ACT 300 bajillion dollars. Maybe if we had no holiday at all some people would make more money, but any full time employees would have to work an extra day for no extra money. So the business lobby can shove it up their ass as far as I’m concerned.

dalryk, spot on re comments on business lobby.

per my comments on other ‘Vox pop’ post these are the same wankers who always bitched about the trades and labour day holiday, probably related to Terry Snow.

Those who adovate that this will have little or no effect OR that believe that businesses that go to the wall on the basis of this are marginal, should spend a day in in small business.

The people most impacted by this are more like the people that Stanhope professes to support.

They are not millionaires but battlers making a living – they are migrants who are entreprenerial and trying to make a contribution, they are employers of the least skilled or part time work force.

Why are Woolies open? Because large multi-nationals can absorb the cost – the working families of Canberra’s small caterers and fish ‘n’ chip shops cannot.

Nice generalisations Truth. I own a small business and I think this whole things a beat up. I spend every day in the shoes of a small business operator – so I know that you make your own opportunities, so a few chickens wont get sold, so cry me a river.

Melbourne has a long and proud history of horse racing and the Melbourne Cup is the culmination of the highly regarded Spring Racing Festival. The third time the Cup race was run, the winner from the previous two years (Archer – NSW) was unable to compete because his registration arrived late. (Infrastructure circa 1890’s) As a result more than half the owners boycotted because they were unable to fairly contest the Cup against the one and only winner resulting in seven horses running, down from 17. Not long after that the first Tuesday in November was gazetted as an official public holiday so that everyone would know when the race would be run and when they had to nominate their horses by.
These days, horses are entered from all over the world for a share of the $5.6 million (2006) prize money for the winning horse and it pumps billions of dollars into the local economy. Winnings from the TAB, workplace sweeps all go back into the economy. We are a consumerist culture. It was estimated in 2000 that over 80% of the adult population placed a bet on the Melbourne Cup in some way. Call it a dollar per person, one doesn’t have to win a sweep to know that a little bit of workplace bonding and fun goes a long way. In the ACT we don’t celebrate Melbourne Cup day, we celebrate Family and Community Day. Union Picnic Day was less controversial, as it fell on a Monday.

Instead of pumping money into the local economy, the ACT government has successful managed to take $300million dollars (Canberra Business Council estimate) out of the local economy and encouraged a culture of idleness and “family bonding” as “Canberrans always embrace holidays, head down the coast and spend their hard earned money elsewhere. “People are settling in for four days of partying.” This isn’t the lucky country so much as an avaricious Territory of public servants and the undeserving.

For reasons that I completely fail to understand, the Australian Hotels Association is also complaining about this. Hello AHA – what do you think Canberrans have been doing for the extra day(s) off – getting well and truly shmackered = more coin for AHA members (albeit not necessarily ACT ones) = quit complaining!!

Ingeegoodbee what type of small business are you in?

You can illustrate the point all you like with your one chicken shop owner. But you haven’t proved the point.

It might take time for people to start the new traditions of having a cup day party at home, but I’m sure it will happen, and then the food shops can relax again.

This date is a good day for a holiday, as everyone knows most people only do half a day’s work anyway.

Tiny caterers form what – 0.01 percent of Canberra – why have they become so vitally important in this debate?

astrojax – do you work 9-5, or does this holiday not apply to you?

Because they are people sepi with kids and families trying to make ends meet.

The cranes over Snowton will not be operating on the holiday. Bastards! Bring back the 60 hour week I say and let them eat cake.

What do you mean bring back the 60 hour week…. it never left unless you have a benevolvent benefactor guaranteeing your income … oh I see your point.

I love the 60 hour week! Nothing like a quiet week to let me spend some time looking at the kids asleep in their beds. Then again it’s all billable hours baby!

Apparently the ACT Chamber of Commerce decided if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em, and closed the door for both Mon & Tues.

Wish I worked for them.

Ingeegoodbee – Well at least the billable hours comment shows that as a small business owner you probably are not a poor migrant chicken shop owner or other retailer.

The gaul of this is Stanhope has played with peoples living for his cute little game.

I just don’t buy the conspiracy theory BS Truth, and I dont get why the shallow end of the business spectrum getting shafted is somehow more or less evil than any other component of the economy. A holiday is a holiday is a holiday. So a couple of chickens dont get sold, big whoop.