Bills

Public Holidays Bill

Introduction and First Reading

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (15:23): Obtained leave and introduced a bill for an act to provide for public holidays in the state, to make related amendments to various acts and for other purposes. Read a first time.

Second Reading

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (15:24): I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

Today, I introduce the Public Holidays Bill 2023. This bill modernises and streamlines South Australia's public holiday legislation, bringing our laws into the 21^st century and rectifying longstanding issues that employers, workers and regulators have had dealing with the outdated and archaic Holidays Act 1910. This bill follows commitments made by the government during the last state election, as well as consultations through a public survey conducted on the YourSAy website earlier this year.

I am proud to say that this bill delivers on our election commitment to ensure that Christmas Day is treated as a public holiday every year, regardless of which day of the week it falls on. Currently, if Christmas Day falls on a Saturday, then the public holiday moves to the following Monday and Christmas Day is treated as a normal trading day. That means workers miss out on penalty rates when rostered on to work away from their friends and their families on Christmas Day. We are the only state or territory in the whole country where this occurs.

The former Liberal government had the opportunity to close this loophole when it last occurred in 2021 but refused to do so. Basically, the Leader of the Opposition, David Speirs, and the former Liberal government delivered a lump of coal for Christmas to SA workers when they voted against allowing penalty rates to be paid to workers on Christmas Day when it fell on a Saturday in 2021. In opposition, Labor was pleased to support a private member's bill that was introduced to this parliament by our colleague the Hon. Tammy Franks to make Christmas Day a public holiday and we are even more pleased to initiate this reform in government.

With this reform, we join every single other state and territory in Australia that has now made this change. It is a reform that was supported by nearly 95 per cent of respondents on the YourSAy survey earlier this year. The bill also brings South Australia into line with every other mainland state by declaring Easter Sunday a public holiday. This ensures that workers are appropriately remunerated when rostered on to work on this day and was also strongly supported in the YourSAy survey.

Easter is a special time for many, whether it is for religious reasons, family gatherings, or just a number of days off in a row to refresh. Declaring Easter Sunday to be a public holiday will allow many people to continue those traditions with the knowledge that our workplace relations laws provide certain rights when it comes to public holidays. In addition to the Easter Sunday public holiday, it is not expected to have a significant impact on trade given that, under the Shop Trading Hours Act 1977, most stores are closed on Easter Sunday in any event.

The bill also aligns South Australia's rules for additional and substitute public holidays with the Eastern States. This means that most public holidays will occur on the same day across jurisdictions, reducing confusion and disruption to business and improving interstate tourism opportunities. The bill also introduces a number of technical amendments, including removing outdated and archaic terminology, removing the prescription of all Sundays as a public holiday, and permanently moving the public holiday on the third Monday in May to the second Monday in March, consistent with longstanding practices since 2006.

The bill also includes consequential amendments to the Shop Trading Hours Act 1977 to ensure special trading arrangements applicable to additional public holidays are maintained under these new laws. The bill also amends the Shop Trading Hours Act so that in the case of a special public holiday being proclaimed—such as the Queen's memorial public holiday—the minister may simultaneously declare a shop trading exemption without the need to consult on that exemption.

The total impact of the bill will be an average of 1.1 additional public holidays each year over the next decade. This takes into account every year having Easter Sunday as a public holiday and the changes to additional and substitute public holidays, which largely balance out evenly.

If passed, the government intends for this bill to come into effect from 1 January 2024. I can inform the chamber that the only change in the 2024 calendar year would be the addition of Easter Sunday as a public holiday. I commend the bill to the chamber and seek leave to have the explanation of clauses inserted in Hansard without my reading it.

Leave granted.

Explanation of Clauses

1—Short title

2—Commencement

These clauses are formal.

3—Days fixed as public holidays

This clause sets out the days that are public holidays in each year and provides for additional and substitute public holidays as follows:

where 25 December or 1 January falls on a Saturday or Sunday, the following Monday will be an additional public holiday; and

where 26 December falls on a Saturday, the following Monday will be an additional public holiday; and

where 26 December falls on a Sunday or Monday, the following Tuesday will be an additional public holiday; and

where 26 January falls on a Saturday or Sunday, the following Monday will be a public holiday instead of that day; and

the Governor may, by proclamation, substitute another day to be a public holiday instead of a day appointed by this clause to be a public holiday.

4—Part-day public holidays

This clause provides that the part of the day from 7pm until 12 o'clock midnight on 24 December and 31 December are public holidays.

5—Additional special public holidays may be proclaimed

This clause allows the Governor to appoint a day to be an additional public holiday, or part of a day to be an additional part-day public holiday, by proclamation which may apply throughout the State or within a specified district or locality.

6—Public offices to be closed on public holidays

This clause provides that all offices of the Public Service will be closed on public holidays unless an office is specially required by law to be kept open on the public holiday and nothing in the measure prevents the responsible Minister in charge of an administrative unit from requiring the services of officers of the unit during a public holiday in case of an emergency.

7—Bank holidays

This clause provides that all Sundays and public holidays are taken to be bank holidays. It allows the Governor to substitute another day to be a bank holiday instead of a day appointed by this clause to be a bank holiday, appoint an additional bank holiday or appoint a part of a day to be a bank half holiday by proclamation which may apply throughout the State or within a specified district or locality.

All authorised deposit-taking institutions within the meaning of the Banking Act 1959 of the Commonwealth (ADIs) must be closed on bank holidays and during a bank half holiday but the Governor may, by proclamation, authorise the opening of ADIs within a specified area on a bank holiday or bank half holiday.

8—Payments and other acts on public holidays etc

This clause provides that a person is not compellable to make a payment or do an act on a public holiday, bank holiday or Saturday that they would not be compellable to make or do on a Sunday before the commencement of this Act. It also provides that an obligation to make a payment or do an act on a public holiday, bank holiday or Saturday will apply to the next day that is not a public holiday, bank holiday or Saturday, unless the law specially requires the person to make the payment or do the act on the public holiday, bank holiday or Saturday. A reference in this clause to a public holiday does not include a part-day public holiday. This clause applies in relation to a day on which a bank half holiday occurs as if the whole day had been proclaimed a bank holiday.

Schedule 1—Related amendments, repeals and transitional provisions

Part 1—Amendment of Adelaide Cemeteries Authority Act 2001

1—Amendment of section 20—Plans of management for Authority cemeteries

Part 2—Amendment of Bail Act 1985

2—Amendment of section 3—Interpretation

Part 3—Amendment of Bills of Sale Act 1886

3—Amendment of section 2—Interpretation

Part 4—Amendment of Botanic Gardens and State Herbarium Act 1978

4—Amendment of section 27—Regulations

Part 5—Amendment of Building Work Contractors Act 1995

5—Amendment of section 36—Right to terminate certain domestic building work contracts

Part 6—Amendment of Children and Young People (Safety) Act 2017

6—Amendment of section 16—Interpretation

Part 7—Amendment of Classification (Publications, Films and Computer Games) Act 1995

7—Amendment of section 4—Interpretation

Part 8—Amendment of Fair Trading Act 1987

8—Amendment of section 43—Unlawful actions and representations

Part 9—Amendment of Fire and Emergency Services Act 2005

9—Amendment of section 3—Interpretation

Part 10—Amendment of Land and Business (Sale and Conveyancing) Act 1994

10—Amendment of section 3—Interpretation

Part 11—Amendment of Legislation Interpretation Act 2021

11—Amendment of section 4—Standard definitions

Part 12—Amendment of Magistrates Act 1983

12—Amendment of section 15—Recreation leave

Part 13—Amendment of Marine Parks Act 2007

13—Amendment of section 3—Interpretation

Part 14—Amendment of Mental Health Act 2009

14—Amendment of section 3—Interpretation

Part 15—Amendment of Mining Act 1971

15—Amendment of section 9AA—Waiver of exemption (including cooling-off)

Part 16—Amendment of Parliament (Joint Services) Act 1985

16—Amendment of section 18—Recreation leave

Part 17—Amendment of Public Trustee Act 1995

17—Amendment of section 3—Interpretation

Part 18—Amendment of Residential Parks Act 2007

18—Amendment of section 3—Interpretation

Part 19—Amendment of Retail and Commercial Leases Act 1995

19—Amendment of section 20E—Implementation of preferential right

Part 20—Amendment of Second-hand Vehicle Dealers Act 1995

20—Amendment of section 3—Interpretation

Part 21—Amendment of Shop Trading Hours Act 1977

21—Amendment of section 4—Interpretation

This clause amends section 4 of the principal Act to delete the definition of public holiday which currently excludes Sundays.

22—Amendment of section 5—Exemptions

This clause amends section 5 of the principal Act to provide that certain subsections of that section (that set out matters the Minister may and must have regard to when deciding whether to grant or declare an exemption, circumstances in which the Minister must not grant or declare exemptions, consultation requirements and judicial review entitlements in relation to a proposed exemption) do not apply to an exemption granted or declared in relation to a day appointed as an additional public holiday by proclamation under section 5(1)(a) of the measure.

23—Amendment of section 13—Hours during which shops may be open

This clause makes amendments to section 13 of the principal Act consequential to the enactment of the measure and removes references to specific public holidays where referring to public holidays generally is appropriate.

Part 22—Amendment of Stock Mortgages and Wool Liens Act 1924

24—Amendment of section 4—Interpretation

Parts 1 to 20 (inclusive) and Part 22 of this Schedule make related amendments to the Acts specified consequential to the enactment of the measure.

Part 23—Repeal of Holidays Act 1910

25—Repeal of Act

This clause repeals the Holidays Act 1910.

Part 24—Transitional provision

26—References to public holidays

This clause is a transitional provision that provides that a provision of an Act enacted, or instrument made, before the commencement of the measure refers to a public holiday within the meaning of the Holidays Act 1910 and will be taken to include a Sunday unless the contrary intention appears.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. L.A. Henderson.