Page 2125 - Week 06 - Thursday, 26 June 2008
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history will not, I suspect, pass the Senate until some time later in 2009, and that means that the prohibition on union picnic day remains in place.
I was pleased to hear Mr Stefaniak indicate support for a return of union picnic day and I do note that that was not the position that the Liberal Party took prior to the federal election last year. If this is now a belated recognition from the ACT Liberals that Work Choices was punitive, most particularly the aspect of Work Choices that stripped away the entitlement for those workers under their awards to have that day off—that the stripping of that away was a bad thing—I am pleased that Mr Stefaniak has come to that conclusion.
I must confess some disappointment with Dr Foskey’s comments on the same matter. This is an important day, and I think it is too easily dismissed by those of us who have, through public sector employment, access to a certain number of days off, public holidays; we would be concerned if one of those days was stripped away from us for purely ideological reasons. The capacity to address that loss of entitlement was only available to the ACT government through the Holidays Act, and that meant declaring a new public holiday. So we went to extensive consultation and by far the most popular day that was chosen for the replacement holiday was Melbourne Cup Day. So that is the day that the government went ahead with.
There has been seemingly some confusion about this. Even though Mr Stefaniak directly asked me the question in estimates, he appeared not to pay attention to the answer and raised the issue again today, so I reiterate that the government has gazetted Family and Community Day as the first Tuesday in November for 2008 and 2009. We indicated at the time that it would be our preference, when Work Choices is overturned, that the entitlement to union picnic day is returned, and that way we could return to the traditional arrangements that had been in place. I think that would be an outcome that all would endorse.
It is worth noting, on the selection of the day, that in New South Wales it is on Melbourne Cup Day. In New South Wales under many awards the union picnic day is known as the first Tuesday in November because, again, under the Work Choices legislation it was not allowed to be called union picnic day. But that entitlement is recognised and celebrated on the first Tuesday in November. So it is not unusual for states other than Victoria to have that day off; there is nothing particularly unusual about selecting Melbourne Cup Day for this holiday. It perhaps reflects on the more comfortable position of those of us in here who seem to want to scoff at the fact that an entitlement to a day off was stripped away and that the ACT government has sought to address that and restore that entitlement.
Mr Mulcahy: Eighty-three per cent of people have never had it.
MR BARR: It is important for those families and those members of the community who participated in last year’s family fun day in Glebe Park. Some 3,000 or 4,000 people were involved in the course of the day, and I think their view and the view of the vast majority of Canberrans was in support of the day.
Having heard the comments from Dr Foskey and from Mr Stefaniak, I do not want to hear again the Greens or Liberals decrying a lack of work-life balance—when a
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