Victoria’s small business minister is reconsidering his government’s decision not to make Christmas Day a public holiday after federal pressure and a backlash from unions.
“Somebody I respect and value spoke to me about it just the other day – about their experiences as a worker on Christmas Day,” Philip Dalidakis told reporters on Thursday morning.
“That made me realise that maybe, just maybe I’ve got it wrong. I think in public life it’s OK to sometimes get things wrong if you acknowledge that and look to remedy the situation.”
Earlier this week Dalidakis confirmed that Christmas Day, which falls on a Sunday this year, would not be a public holiday and therefore staff working that day would not be entitled to penalty rates.
It also made Victoria the only state not to recognise Christmas Day as a public holiday, with every other state declaring public holidays from 25 December through to 27 December.
The decision prompted the federal Greens to launch a petition and announce that they would introduce a fair work amendment bill into the federal parliament. The bill seeks to ensure that public holiday penalty rates would be paid to people working on Christmas Day, 25 December and New Year’s Day across the country.
The Victorian government has also been criticised for the decision by the federal opposition leader, Bill Shorten, who said on Wednesday that “I believe that Christmas Day should be a public holiday, full stop”.
The premier, Daniel Andrews, introduced two new public holidays to Victoria last year: one for Easter Sunday and another for the Friday before the AFL grand final.
