29 July 2007

Melbourne Cup Holiday

| Kramer
Join the conversation
25

According to the ABC, Andrew Barr announced the ACT’s newest public holiday at the Labor Party Conference. Great! Another day off work, but should we (Canberra) really be celebrating Melbourne’s biggest party? Should we be encouraging gambling (we know Jon Stanhope is)? Isn’t there something better for us to celebrate, with our own public holiday? Maybe Scott 24 Hour Recovery Day on Monday 15 October – I’ll be taking the day off work anyway…

Join the conversation

25
All Comments
  • All Comments
  • Website Comments
LatestOldest

Too bad for ACTTAB, as I’ll probably disappear to go mountain biking and not get around to putting a bet on (as you do on a normal business day…).

and wednesday as an (alcohol induced) sickie as well.

This echoes in a new wave of stupidity the Melbourne cup is run on a Tuesday. You would have to be insane not to realize a hell of a lot of people are going to make a holiday out of it and take Monday off as a sickie.

Business is going to love this.

Thats EXACTLY what I was thinking thumper.

Just another boring day off now… whoop dee fucking doo.

Oh an dI work fpr the public service too – for everyones reference.

I am usually found to be at my desk at 0645 and can have call outs 24/7 for IT support or facilities management issues so please do not stereotype me as a lazy do nothing public servant.

hairy nosed wombat9:30 am 31 Jul 07

This is no good, who is going to look after my kids while I go to the race track and get faced, like what most of the people who go there, do.

Absent Diane8:15 am 31 Jul 07

We work too hard anyway.. far too much emphasis on working and too little on playing…

It was only made official in the past day or so.. so that is why it was mentioned now and yes it was first discussed months ago… moving on now..

I don’t think most people will mind the extra day off.. except anyone who owns a business lol

I hold the opinion that it is really a load of bull, but I’m not complaining!

Instead of losing half a day work all government agencies will lose 2 days from their staff, everyone will now flex off on the Monday.. as Melbourne Cup.. sorry I mean “Family and Community Day” is a Tuesday, 4 day long weekend here we come!

Ah well Labor/Unions sure must miss their picnic day.. it wasn’t even a gazetted day off nor was it granted to everyone, only by the suckers of bosses.

I’ll enjoy my paid days off, thanks!

And you obviously don’t bother to read the other comments, because I’ve already posted a link to the old riotact story.

What on earth is going on with RiotAct. Not only was this news broken back in April (three months ago), but Johnboy posted it on RiotAct on April 6th. Nothing has changed. Just Labor re-releasing an old policy to attract the attention of some bored and out-of-date media!

For those who think public servants don’t work hard (OK, some don’t) – my last 3 days at work: 14hrs 5 mins; 7 hrs 25mins; 8 hrs 45mins.

-I eagerly await my public service medal next Queen’s Birthday.

Bwahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!

Whatever Dave does Danman, you can bet it’s more worthy than what you or I do. He obviously doesn’t have time to grow a brain.

This was discussed here when it was mooted back in April.

DarkLadyWolfMother9:56 am 30 Jul 07

I work for a private company and we tend to take exactly the amount of time away from work to watch the cup and work out who won. The rest of the day is work as usual.

So I’d be happy with another day off. Though personally I think we should just take the holidays we already have and redistribute them more evenly throughout the year.

So what do you do for a crust BigDave ?

Suck golfballs through hoses ?

Methinks BigDave doth protest too much

If BigDave were to have an indian name, it would be Wanker-Who-Speaks.

Oh, the poor public servants! Paid huge amounts of taxpayers money to sit on their arses. How terrible it’ll cost them that extra day! My heart bleeds…

The Feds (liberal or labor) will never allow it.

I’m surprised the new public holiday isn’t set down to mark the release date of David Hicks, since Stanhope was such a champion of his cause!

Actually, for most public servants it won’t be an extra day off because their workplace agreements stipulate a set number of public holidays. At the moment, the ACT has one less public holidays than most regions (no show day) and they get an extra day off at Christmas. By gazetting this as an official public holiday it will cost public servants their extra day at Christmas.

Who cares what it’s for… it’s another day off!

Seems like a decent choice if you’re going to make another public holiday, does anyone actually do any work on Melbourne Cup day anyway? Usually turns out to be a day long lunch in my experience.

Great! Now I can get down to the racecourse to meet Nikki, Kelly & frenchie who adorned one of Kerces’ photos last year.

And their mate, the lawyer wot can’t spel.

As far as I am concerned, celebrating melbourne cup is about as relevant as celebrating the Queens Birthday. Its a day off, hang out with your family and mates and be happy that our country is run a despot with scant regard for his fellow aussies, and put a bet down, or learn to. May as well make the day educational none the less.

How ridiculous! If we really do need another public holiday (someone explain to me why) why are we celebrating a horse race in Melbourne???

That said, I will be enjoying my day off like everyone else. November’s a great month for a holiday!

Daily Digest

Want the best Canberra news delivered daily? Every day we package the most popular Riotact stories and send them straight to your inbox. Sign-up now for trusted local news that will never be behind a paywall.

By submitting your email address you are agreeing to Region Group's terms and conditions and privacy policy.