Mike Symon (Deakin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today I would like to present a petition, by 50 petitioners, that I have received and taken to the Standing Committee on Petitions. It has been found to be in order. The petitioners are requesting that the National Employment Standards in the Fair Work Act be amended to provide an additional public holiday rather than a substitute day whenever Christmas Day, Boxing Day or New Year's Day falls on a Saturday or a Sunday.

I spoke about this issue in this place in June last year. It is a particular issue for Victoria and I understand it is also an issue in South Australia and Tasmania, where additional days are not necessarily granted for Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day when they fall on a Saturday or a Sunday. There are differences between the states.

There is a bigger issue these days than there used to be because shops are open a lot longer, and many days that were never considered to be trading days in years gone by are now considered to be open slather. I think that everyone deserves to at least have the major public holidays of the year off and, if they do have to work them, that they not only be compensated for the public holiday they work but actually get the time—the time to spend with their family and friends, their loved ones. Many people who work in essential services have had to work these days for years, but quite often their awards or their workplace agreements have contained provisions which have allowed them to have that time.

In Victoria we now have a problem with Easter Sunday as well. Easter Sunday is not a public holiday in Victoria but Easter Sunday shop trading has now been legislated for in Victoria by the Baillieu Liberal government, meaning that it can be impossible for someone who works in retail to have a long weekend at Easter. Even though the days surrounding that day are considered to be public holidays, Easter Sunday is not. Whilst that was never a problem when shops legislated against trading on the day, it is now a very big problem for those workers in that industry as legislation allows shops to trade on that day.

There is a great deal of history with regard to public holidays in Victoria. It is a subject I have looked at over a number of years. Some of the issues that remain, despite the National Employment Standards, do so for the very reason that, although the state government ceded its industrial relations power to the Commonwealth government back in the years of the state Kennett Liberal government, it kept some parts of those powers, including for public holidays. So, although most of the remainder of the workplace relations system was sent over to the Commonwealth, parts were kept and those parts now directly impact on people who live not only in my electorate of Deakin but right across the state of Victoria.

This petition, which has been presented to the petitions committee, means that the issue is still live. It is still most important to so many working people. It is an issue of receiving compensation not only for the day but also for the time. I would hope that many people in this place would recognise that time is the hardest thing to get—time to spend with your family or the people that you want to be with whilst having a short break from work.

This petition has been presented by other members right across Australia for different reasons in different states. It is interesting to note that states such as New South Wales and Queensland have both legislated, with cross-party support, for additional public holidays when those days fall on the weekend. In New South Wales in 2010, support from both sides saw that Easter Sunday was declared a public holiday. To me that just means that the other states need to catch up. Whether it is done by state legislation or by a change to the National Employment Standards to ensure that everyone gets that opportunity, it is a great benefit to working people that that comes about. On that note, I present the petition to the House.

The petition read as follows—

To the Honourable The Speaker and Members of the House of Representatives

This petition of certain citizens of Australia draws to the attention of the House that:

We therefore ask the House to:

Amend the National Employment Standards in the Fair Work Act to include:

1. An additional public holiday (not a substitute day) on the following Monday and/or Tuesday whenever Christmas Day, Boxing Day or New Year's Day fall on a weekend.

2. Easter Sunday as a public holiday.

from 50 citizens

Petition received.