Craig Emerson (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Service Economy, Small Business and Independent Contractors) Share this | Hansard source

We just witnessed an extraordinary statement from the minister that they would not support Good Friday as a reasonable ground for getting a day off because we did not put in Easter Sunday. Have you ever heard anything as astonishing as that? In my electorate of Rankin, Greenbank RSL has 85,000 members. They will be very interested to know that the government opposes Labor’s position that participating in an Anzac Day ceremony is a reasonable ground for not working on Anzac Day. This is amazing. If the government had any goodwill at all, it would have acknowledged today that this is a very sensible amendment and would have supported the Labor amendment. I would not have even minded if the government had said: ‘We’ll move the amendment. Having been given the idea by Labor, we’ll move the amendment.’ I am sure the member for Lalor and Deputy Leader of the Opposition would have said: ‘What’s really important is that the amendment is passed. If you want to move it, that’s okay.’ Instead, the government has said, ‘No, we’re not going to provide an assurance that attending an Anzac Day ceremony is a reasonable basis for having that day off.’ All of the members of the Greenbank RSL and all of the members of RSLs all around Australia will be shocked to know that the government is treating Anzac Day with such contempt. I am disappointed. The minister went to the Kokoda Trail—and good on him for doing that—but he really needs to follow that action up and give Australians that basic fundamental right in relation to Anzac Day. He has not done so and RSL members and leaders around the country tonight will be shaking their heads when they hear this broadcast and when they find out what has happened in the parliament tonight.

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