Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today I wish to present a petition, which has been through the Petitions Committee and is in order, signed by over 180 people in Victoria objecting to Easter Sunday becoming another day for the shops to open. This is an outrage. Victoria is now the only state in Australia where shops can open on Easter Sunday. The petition is calling on Fair Work Australia to recognise Easter Sunday as a public holiday, because it is not a recognised national public holiday. Previously, people got Easter Sunday as a holiday because the shops were shut. Surely there is time in this life to have one extra day. Currently there are 3½ days in Victoria when the shops do not open. Surely you can organise yourself and retailers can work out that this is a day of significance not only to Christians but for people taking a break. We are still a majority Christian country. We should recognise the significance of this day and we should say to shops, 'You can shut for this one extra day.' It is the only state.

The Liberal government rushed this through with no announcement. People were forced to work, to make changes. They had no notification of it. Surely we can have some respect for Christian values and say that Easter Sunday the shops are not open. Even the Liberal government in WA has not sought to have trading on Easter Sunday. I call for it to be made a public holiday. (Time expired)