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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-05-15 Daily Xml
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PUBLIC HOLIDAYS

The Hon. R.L. BROKENSHIRE (14:49): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Industrial Relations, the Hon. Russell Wortley, a question about Mother's Day.

Leave granted.

The Hon. R.L. BROKENSHIRE: Honourable members no doubt honoured their mothers in their own ways within their families on Sunday, and the observance of Mother's Day is something that Family First naturally wholeheartedly supports. I draw the minister's memory back to the debate we had on the Holidays Act whereby I moved an amendment to relocate the Adelaide Cup day holiday to the weekend that would hypothetically have meant that yesterday would have been a public holiday, being the second weekend in May where the racing industry wants the holiday to go, and it would also mean that Mother's Day each year is a long weekend.

I note, for the record, the holiday was previously on the first weekend in May but was relocated on a trial basis at the request of the industry (represented at that time by a different administration to what it has now) to its current March date. As I say, the industry's current administration wants the holiday relocated to May, but on the second weekend, not the first. In passing mention of Adelaide Cup day, I note that we have just enjoyed the legendary racehorse Black Caviar race twice in this state, including this weekend, drawing great crowds and demonstrating that the racing industry is in good health. Arguably, if the industry had its way Black Caviar would have been racing in a May Adelaide Cup, or at least in conjunction with it. My questions to the minister are:

1. What is the status of the review of the Holidays Act?

2. Given that the racing industry is resolute in its wish to relocate the holiday to the second Sunday in May and given that a vote on the amendment to shift the holiday was narrowly lost by one vote (from memory), has the government had a re-think on this issue?

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY (Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for State/Local Government Relations) (14:51): I thank the member for his question. First of all, the status of the review: we extended the review to allow people from religious orders to make submissions. That has now closed. We had five new submissions. Yesterday, I had a meeting with SafeWork SA, and it is collating all of the information. We will soon be looking at that and trying to make a decision on which way we would like to go. I think it is important that we have gone through a very long consultation period. There are varying views on what should happen, not only with the Adelaide Cup day but with a number of other days in that period, so I think it is important that we take a bit of time to consider all of the options before we make an announcement on which way we would like to go.

With regard to the Adelaide Cup day, the government has not changed its mind. We originally changed the date from May to March at the request of the racing industry because of the weather and the like. They now want to change back, I do not know for what reason; maybe the competition for heads at the racetrack has made it difficult for them, but we have made this a part of the March festival period. A lot of events take place on that weekend; for instance, this year there was WOMADelaide and the Future Music Festival. There were a number of events on that day, and they all had good crowds. The organisers are insistent that, for them to plan ahead, they need know that holiday is there. So, our position is that that day stays in March. I hope that has answered the member's question.

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