The Federal Court found mining giant BHP had broken the Fair Work Act by forcing 85 Queensland miners to work on Christmas and Boxing Day without any extra pay.
The court declared it was unfair for an employer to command people to work on public holidays and that bosses must request employees to work. The court ruling will now override whatever is written into existing employee contracts.
The court also said employees may refuse to work the public holiday if they had reasonable grounds for doing so.
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For the first time in more than 70 years, the public holiday honouring Australia’s monarch will be known as the King’s Birthday.
June 12 is a public holiday in:
- ACT
- New South Wales
- Northern Territory
- South Australia
- Tasmania
It’s not a public holiday in these states:
- Queensland
- Western Australia
This year in Queensland, the King’s Birthday public holiday is on October 2.
Western Australia will mark the day on September 25.
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Victoria is also the 12th 
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Chances of a Matilda-inspired holiday reduced today with the subject not discussed at the leaders’ meeting.
BTW. Today is a RNA Show holiday in the Brisbane City Council area as most places in Queensland get a show holiday at some point during the year. This one is a little complicated. Surrounding areas have different days off this week including schools getting a holiday so Redlands had Monday off. In the distant past the RNA coincided with school holidays but when the terms changed the extra holiday was introduced. Alos, people in Brisbane would go to the adjacent council areas for shopping on the Wednesday but that isn’t necessary any more as most shops are open.
Don’t understand why this is being pusued by the media. Do other countries declare public holidays when a national team wins a tournament?
I never thought Albo was serious with the suggestion, just going with the mood of the day and suggesting something that was probably not quite his priority.
Of course the likes of Dutton and Littleproud couldn’t resist taking a potshot at Albo because their precious small businesses apparently can’t handle the heat for a PH.
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Yeah, I think so? Still, would rather he just put some funding into the sport…
Doesn’t have to be a tournament win even
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i just want another public holiday, an additional day off, so definitely fine with me
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A day off work and getting paid for it = yes please.
Remember, Melbourne gets a public holiday for both Melbourne Cup Day and for the AFL Grand Final Eve.
For the public holiday if the Matilda’s win, NSW said yes to it. So fingers crossed. But would be a week after the win, as apparently they need 7 days notice.
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I think a fair compromise would be a half-day holiday say from 1pm in the afternoon, on the day that there’s a big celebration of their win (if they get that far).
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Breaking:
C'mon Spain. #FIFAWWC #Matildas #TilitsDone pic.twitter.com/pcwAvCOv0m
— Tim McDonald (@TheTimMcDonald) August 16, 2023
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As mentioned on The Cheap Seats tonight
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They weren’t already?
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As the article says:
Currently, when Christmas Day falls on a Saturday (in SA), the public holiday is moved to the following Monday.
This practice sometimes leaves workers without the benefits of a public holiday when they are rostered to work, away from their families and loved ones…
The legislation will also bring South Australia in line with other mainland states by declaring Easter Sunday as a public holiday. Currently, most stores are not permitted to open on Easter Sunday, despite it not being recognised as a public holiday.
Also, South Australia used to have a public holiday on Proclamation Day on December 28 each year.
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But they did take that in lieu of Boxing Day - they never used to get Dec 26 off. They moved the holiday to Boxing Day in 1993, hence why Dec 26 is still referred to there as the holiday for Proclamation Day, rather than Boxing Day. Of course the formal ceremonies still take place on the 28th.
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The Public Holidays Bill 2023 also included a shake-up to the traditional naming of public holidays, with the SA government agreeing to replace the name of several holidays with their dates.
Anzac Day will instead be April 25 and Christmas Day as December 25.
Despite the renaming move being labelled as “un-Australian” by the opposition, the government says the change guarantees all holidays will be honoured and ensures workers will receive penalty rates on public holidays.
Silly.
So ANZAC Day and Christmas Day gets a name change to “not offend”, but Easter remains? What about those who came to Australia from countries that dont have a monarch? The Kings (and Queens) Birthday could be “offensive” too?
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The Easter holidays have to be referred to by name because they don’t have a fixed date each year.
The Holdiays Act 1910, which the new bill is replacing, did not name the King’s/Queen’s Birthday holiday by name either. Only Christmas, New Year’s, and ANZAC Day used their name in the legislation.
Regardless, it isn’t stopping people from using the names of the holidays, just ensuring that the legislation is clear on what the holdiay dates are for penalty rate purposes.
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What is offensive about “ANZAC Day”? I can understand January 26 being renamed but ANZAC Day?
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