Public holiday swap won't be delayed - Brisbane Times

Parliament is debating a proposed law to return the Queen's Birthday holiday to the second Monday in June. Photo: Glenn Hunt

The Queensland public holiday swap won't be delayed by a year despite a request from a parliamentary committee.

State Parliament is debating a proposed Newman government law to return the Queen's Birthday holiday to the second Monday in June and push Labour Day to the first Monday in October.

The shift comes after the former Bligh government passed a law that moved the Queen's Birthday holiday to October from this year onwards.

A Liberal National Party-dominated parliamentary committee recommended the bill be passed.

However, the Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee also suggested the Newman government should “delay the commencement of the bill until 2014 to lessen the impact, both socially and financially, on those community groups and other organisations that have already committed to activities over the currently scheduled 2013 Labour Day long weekend”.

In Parliament on Tuesday afternoon, Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie said the government rejected the recommendation to delay the holiday shift as it would lead to “increased uncertainty”.

Mr Bleijie said a delay would contribute to disruption to production and services caused by the current concentration of holidays in the April to May period, during which Easter, Anzac Day and Labour Day were marked.

He said the Newman government's proposed law would provide extra respite and rest to workers by creating a more even spread of holidays over the year.

Mr Bleijie said the reinstatement of the Queen's Birthday in June, traditionally a quiet time of year, would help the tourism industry.

He said despite any impacts on particular groups and organisations, the government believed the advantages of the change would outweigh the disadvantages posed to particular events.

However, Opposition Leader Annastacia Palaszczuk said the bill to shift Labour Day to October continued the Newman government's “obsession with attacking working Queenslanders”.

She said Labour Day had been commemorated in May in Queensland since 1891.

Ms Palaszczuk said it was an important day to celebrate hard-won advancements, such as the eight-hour working day, right to negotiate as group, workplace health and safety protections, the minimum wage, and the principle that men and women deserved a fair day's pay for fair day's work.

She said one of the first Labour Day marches in world was in Barcaldine on May 1, 1891.

Ms Palaszczuk pointed to a submission by LNP Gregory MP Vaughan Johnson, who serves as chief government whip.

In a letter to the committee that looked into the bill, Mr Johnson said there were a number of reasons “that must be considered towards keeping the Labour Day holiday in May if not in its entirety for the state than at least for the Barcaldine Regional Council area”.

“As you would be fully aware the history of Labour Day goes back to 1891 with Barcaldine being the birthplace of this event,” Mr Johnson said in his submission.

He pointed to the Barcaldine Labour Day Festival held on the Labour Day long weekend in May.

“Moving the Labour Day date to October would be very detrimental to this small but vibrant community. Lastly the weather, namely the heat and often floods and fires make October too late in the year for holding such an event,” he said.

The Bligh government moved the Queen's Birthday holiday to October this year, but for 2012 only kept a public holiday in June on the usual day to allow the transition to occur.

Mr Bleijie argued the Newman government's plan to move Labour Day to October and the Queen's Birthday holiday back to June would provide better uniformity with other states.

Committee chairman Ray Hopper said some communities “no doubt would be impacted” by the changes, but said after a couple of years “people will soon get used to it”.

Brisbane South Labor MP Jackie Trad said the LNP’s decision to shift Labour Day was symbolic of the party’s “disgust for the rights of working people”.

Ms Trad pointed to the Newman government’s moves to cut 14,000 public sector positions, change the Industrial Relations Commission, bypass unions during pay negotiations, allow the industrial relations minister to unilaterally end industrial action at a whim, and strip away employee entitlements from agreements and allow more outsourcing.

“This is very much an attack on tradition,” she said.

Toowoomba North LNP MP Trevor Watts said moving Labour Day to October made good sense and it was “absolute nonsense” to portray it as an assault on workers’ rights.

“It’s not an attack on workers’ rights. It's just bringing it into the modern world,” he said.

Broadwater LNP MP Verity Barton said the decision had “touched the nerves of those opposite”.

Ms Barton acknowledged the history of Labour Day but said it was a “great shame” that the Labor party and the union movement would not evolve.

“We are an evolving society. The Queensland of 2012 is very different to the Queensland of more than 100 years ago,” she said.

Ms Barton said she believed the significance of the Labour Day event was not changed by moving the date.

Rockhampton Labor MP Bill Byrne said the Queen’s Birthday holiday was not even held on Queen Elizabeth II’s birthday and many LNP MPs spent their time “fawning for the monarch”.

He said the changes were “nothing more than a bunch of Tory royalists sticking it to the Labor party”.

The parliamentary debate continues. The law is set to pass with support from the large LNP majority.