Legislative Council Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1) 55 1 Parliament of South Australia Legislative Council published Question Time Public Holidays Public Holidays The Hon. H.M. GIROLAMO Legislative Council Public Holidays The Hon. H.M. GIROLAMO (15:12): Can the Attorney-General explain the impact on business owners with Easter Sunday becoming a public holiday and how this impacts the affordability of opening four public holidays in a row and potentially making it unviable for many businesses to open? The Hon. K.J. MAHER Legislative Council Attorney-General Minister for Aboriginal Affairs Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector Public Holidays The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Attorney-General, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (15:12): I thank the honourable member for her question. We will consult about public holidays in South Australia; we have made that commitment. But I can tell you one thing that the consultation is showing up very, very clearly, and that consultation showed up very, very clearly in ballot boxes on 18 March, and that is Christmas Day public holiday. We saw in this chamber and we saw in the other place those opposite, those who are now in opposition, vote time and time again against declaring a public holiday on Christmas Day. It is the view—the unchanged view—of those opposite, of the member for Black, the Leader of the Opposition, David Speirs, that on Christmas Day people shouldn't have the protection to spend the day with their families, to have that protection to get paid public holiday rates on Christmas Day. I'm very proud that we supported legislation in the last parliament to make Christmas Day a public holiday, as the Hon. Tammy Franks brought before us. I congratulate the Hon. Tammy Franks from the Greens. The Greens supported workers on Christmas Day getting a public holiday, the Labor opposition supported workers getting a public holiday on Christmas Day, the Hon. Frank Pangallo and the Hon. Connie Bonaros supported workers getting a public holiday on Christmas Day. The only people in this chamber who didn't support it were the Liberal Party members—it's a shame. The Hon. H.M. GIROLAMO Legislative Council The Hon. H.M. GIROLAMO: Supplementary question. The President Legislative Council The PRESIDENT: Supplementary question arising from the answer, the Hon. Ms Girolamo.