Australians have displayed a remarkably lackadaisical attitude in recent decades to the advancement of their rights to paid time off work, including public holidays.
At its worst, the present schedule is confusing, inconsistently applied across states – creating significant headaches for business – while also being poorly designed to give workers an optimal break throughout the year.At its best, the public holiday schedule delivers an important structure of planned days off for workers to rest and unwind with loved ones.
Innes Willox, chief executive of the national employer association Ai Group, says having a set long weekend would minimise economic disruption. “If you looked at it purely economically, it would be simplest and less disruptive to celebrate Australia Day on a set Monday to create a long weekend at a set time of year.”
Recently, both South Australia and Queensland declared half-day public holidays for Christmas Eve and Boxing Day. In 2020, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews declared the Friday before footy finals as a day off, arguing: “It’s about working to live, not living to work.” Offsetting this, the Commission also found “genuine social benefit” from “widespread community engagement in events, especially on days of cultural or spiritual significance”. “There is … empirical evidence that more shared days of leisure enrich the relationships of people with their friends and acquaintances, which then improves the quality of leisure on other days, such as weekends.”
Jess_Irvine It's only 18 years since 26 January alalone became the public holiday. Previously it was a floating long weekend on the Monday nearest (after?) 26 January (my parents called it ANA Weekend) - let's revert to a long weekend at the end of January under any other name?
Jess_Irvine End of summer is end of February. Autumn starts 1 March
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.