The Premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, has announced that her government will legislate Easter Sunday as a public holiday commencing in 2017.
The SDA has been lobbying the government since it took office in 2015 as this is an important issue for our members and their families.
The SDA strongly supports the Palaszczuk government’s decision because Easter Sunday is no ordinary Sunday. Good Friday is a public holiday, Easter Saturday is a public holiday and Easter Monday is also a public holiday but Easter Sunday has not been a public holiday. That is not fair to weekend workers and their families.
State Secretary Chris Gazenbeek said the Palaszczuk government was putting in place something the vast majority of Queenslanders supported; in fact, most people already believe Easter Sunday is a public holiday in Queensland.
“Easter Sunday is a public holiday in NSW, Victoria, the ACT and many countries around the world, including our nearest neighbor, Papua New Guinea.”
Easter Sunday remains a very important religious day with an estimated 30% of the population attending Church on that day. Even for those who are not religious, Easter is an important time to share with family and friends.
Our members in retail, warehousing and fast food and many employees across the State work extremely hard at very unsociable times to provide a seven-day-a-week service to the public. Surely no reasonable person would begrudge retail, warehousing and fast food workers the right to a public holiday on Easter Sunday or to public holiday penalty rates if they work.
The SDA applauds the Palaszczuk government’s decision to support working families and providing an opportunity for an improved work life balance at an important time of the year.
Comments are closed.
