WARRNAMBOOL City Council wants to choose its own public holiday if a state government proposal goes ahead.
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The government plans to make the Friday before the AFL Grand Final and Easter Sunday public holidays, but the council has concerns about the cost to business.
It also wants the pre-grand final holiday to flexible, similar to the Melbourne Cup holiday, so it can be used for a local event like the Warrnambool Show.
Councillor Jacinta Ermacora moved the original recommendation be split, so decisions on sending a submission and on seeking flexibility if the grand final eve holiday goes ahead could be made separately.
She voted against sending a submission against the holidays, saying it formed part of a broader attack on workers’ penalty rates.
“I’m concerned what the recommendation is really about,” she said.
“It focuses on the impacts of penalty rates on business. There are 3300 workers in our city who rely on penalty rates, that doesn’t include police, nurses, ambulance or firefighters.
“We need to be aware a number of low income workers rely on penalty rates. For them it may be the difference between paying the bills or not. We need to advocate for both sides.”
Cr Kylie Gaston said she was not supportive of extra holidays. She said they made no sense, especially the planned grand final eve.
“I think it was a thought bubble made prior to an election,” she said.
“I even have trouble getting my head around making Easter Sunday a holiday.”
Cr Rob Askew agreed, saying Victoria has more holidays than any other state. He said he was happy to support a submission as long as it was balanced and took into account workers’ views.
But Mayor Michael Neoh said there wouldn’t be an impact on workers’ existing penalty rates because they were new holidays being added.
He said the grand final eve holiday had no merit because people who generally work on the Saturday of the event get no additional rate.
But the four councillors at Monday night’s meeting all agreed if the grand final eve holiday is gazetted, local governments should be able to choose what day they use it.
Cr Neoh said there should be an opportunity to chose a day which had the best potential outcomes for the city.
The vote for flexibility around the date of any grand final eve holiday was passed unanimously.