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STATUTORY HOLIDAYS BILL 2000 (No. 66)

Second Reading

Mr LENNON (Franklin - Minister for Infrastructure, Energy and Resources - 2R) - Mr Speaker, I move -

That the bill be now read the second time.

Mr Speaker, this is a bill to replace the Bank Holidays Act 1919 with a simple modern Statutory Holidays Act that defines the dates of holidays and removes the current restrictions on banks.

You may recall, Mr Speaker, that a bill to amend the Bank Holidays Act was introduced into Parliament late last year. During debate in the House I agreed to withdraw the bill for redrafting. This bill is the result of a comprehensive drafting process including consultation with the major stakeholders.

Tasmania's Bank Holidays Act goes back to 1903 and reflects the English acts of 1871 and 1875. Those were the days when the closing of banks for a day effectively meant that commercial activity came to a halt and thereby 'created' a holiday. That is no longer the case and yet the current act requires that banks close on any day appointed as a holiday under the act, including local holidays. The same rules do not apply to other financial institutions such as credit unions and the situation is both disruptive to business and clearly anticompetitive.

With the repeal of the Bank Holidays Act 1919, banks will no longer be restricted from trading on holidays. The decision as to whether or not to open on a holiday will then become a commercial decision for a bank. There is, however, a provision for statutory holidays to be bank holidays for the purpose of the Commonwealth Bills of Exchange Act 1909. This only concerns payments, falling due on holidays, being able to be made on the next working day and does not require a bank to close.

The reason that the link between holidays and bank closures has not been tackled previously is the assumption that any change to bank holidays will somehow affect the paid holiday entitlements of workers under awards. Let me make it very clear, Mr Speaker, that this bill does not affect any existing holiday entitlements of employees nor create any new entitlement not provided for in any award, registered agreement or enactment of the State. Holiday entitlements will continue to be derived through normal industrial processes.

Entitlements under Federal awards and agreements will not be affected by this bill. The Federal Industrial Relations Commission will still have the power to determine when a statutory holiday is generally observed in a locality and hence determine it to be or not to be a public holiday for the purposes of those awards or agreements.

Mr Speaker, there will be no change in the status quo of employee entitlements resulting from the introduction of this bill.

At the request of the Circular Head Council, reflecting general community support, the area of Circular Head has been removed from those areas that observe the Burnie Show holiday. This now allows that community to observe a substitute holiday on another agreed day such as a day during Agfest.

The Statutory Holidays Bill 2000 defines the days when holidays occur - for example, the Queen's Birthday is prescribed as the second Monday in June. The holidays prescribed in the bill generally mirror those in the current legislation. However two holiday dates will change as from 2001.

Eight Hours Day will move from the first Monday in March to the second Monday to align with Victoria. Extensive consultation has been undertaken and there is considerable community support for this change.

Following a request from the Royal Hobart Regatta Association, the holiday for the Royal Hobart Regatta will move from the second Tuesday in February to the second Monday. This is to coincide with Tasmania Day celebrations and the Australian Wooden Boat Festival.

Local holidays will no longer be appointed each year. Instead Schedule 1 provides a formula for when statutory holidays for local events fall. The schedule may be amended by the minister following consultation with peak employer and employee bodies and other relevant organisations.

In summary, this bill will deregulate banking days under Tasmanian legislation. Banks will be able to provide limited banking services on public holidays and Saturdays if they so choose. The bill will also provide certainty as to when public holidays, which are traditionally held on the same time each year, will occur in Tasmania. Mr Speaker, I commend the bill to the House.

Mr GROOM (Denison) - As the minister has indicated the previous bill was withdrawn. We believe there were some significant drafting errors and some inconsistencies in the bill which have to be addressed. We commend the minister for agreeing in the course of the debate to withdraw the bill because he immediately recognised that there appeared to be some problems with the bill. Also I think the Opposition did the right thing in the sense of raising those issues because I believe the end result is a better bill. I do commend those involved in the redrafting process because I do feel that this bill makes much more sense. It rescinds the old legislation which had been amended in an ad hoc manner over the years and puts in its place a new bill which becomes an act of parliament so that someone can quite easily read that act and can understand what the holiday situation is here in Tasmania, when holidays will occur.

To be quite frank when you read the former act and you looked at amendments and so on it was pretty messy and very difficult to follow. We will now have an act which is much more straightforward and simple and easy to read for the average citizen and I think that is what we should aim for in an act of parliament. So I do commend those who have been involved in the process of redrafting and consulting and so on, for producing this end product which is as I say a vast improvement.

I note that the bill does protect the rights and entitlements of employees and this was a very important element in the bill to make sure that if there were these changes that any existing rights of employees would not be changed merely through the passing of an act of parliament. I refer the House to clause 6:

'This Act does not -

(a) affect any existing entitlement of any employee in respect of any Saturday, Sunday, public holiday, bank holiday or bank part holiday under any award or registered agreement under the Industrial Relations Act 1984 , any other agreement or any enactment of this State; or

(b) create any such new entitlement not provided for in any such award, registered agreement, agreement or enactment.'

I believe that is a sensible provision to not only protect the rights of employees but also to ensure that this is not something suddenly created which might mean that individuals have, perhaps without seeking it, without realising it, some new entitlement. Of course, I think employers, especially small business people, would be concerned if that were the case. There is also a provision in clause 3, subclause (2):

'Any reference to a public holiday, bank holiday or bank part holiday in any award or registered agreement under the Industrial Relations Act 1984 , any other agreement or any enactment of this State is taken to be a reference to a statutory holiday.'

Again that does protect the rights of individuals and I think that is the right step to take to ensure that people are not adversely affected.

I would like to know from the Deputy Premier what he would see as the current situation in Tasmania as far as holidays are concerned compared with other States and Territories of Australia. There has been a fair bit of debate about this over the years. Some people have the false impression in my view that we have many more holidays than people have in other parts of Australia. I do not believe this is the case. When I looked at this some years we were about average. I think we had one extra day compared with, say, Victoria and one or two other States and we had the same as a number of other States. The difference here is that we do have quite a few of these district holidays that occur on different dates throughout the year. This can cause confusion but there is an historical basis for that. I think any government that moved to suddenly change all of those dates and make them all the same day could find themselves in some degree of difficulty at the local level. But I would like to know if the minister could indicate how many holidays we have compared with other States and what is the latest information there.

One of the steps the bill takes is to totally deregulate bank opening hours. As I understand, this will now be a commercial decision for a bank so there is no longer a restriction. Traditionally when banks closed there was a public holiday because people could not do business because the money was not available, the banks were closed; they had to close and employees therefore had a holiday. This is the link between bank holidays, or bank closure and public holidays. Here we break that nexus completely and the Government is moving to totally deregulate bank trading hours. This means it is a matter for the banks to determine whether or not they wish to open. I would imagine on many of the statutory holidays the banks would not open; they would make that commercial decision but they will have to consult with their employees as well. I do not know whether my recollection is correct but I think there had been discussions with the unions concerned and so on to make sure that there would not be a huge backlash from the employees about this but there would obviously be consultation between the employer and the employee before a bank decided it would open on a Saturday, and I suppose under this act they can open on a Sunday or any public holiday at all.

I wonder just what the position might be for small shopkeepers because it is an interesting situation and it appears on the face of it to be inconsistent because here we are saying banks can open at any old time whenever they wish to - Saturday, Sunday, holidays, whenever; I suppose even Christmas Day in theory - and of course we still have the law in place which I might say we support in opposition that restricts certain businesses in the retail sector from opening on certain dates. I think there is a limit of 250 employees, and here the banks can open any old time and they might have on a national basis thousands and thousands of employees - Westpac, ANZ, National, Commonwealth and so on.

It does appear on the face of it to be inconsistent. However I think probably small business would be in favour of banks having the chance to open because they can deposit their money and get a service that they would not otherwise have as small businesses and you can distinguish a banking business from a retail shop; they are two different types of operations. But it is an interesting issue as to whether the small business sector of the retail industry would be happy about the move because someone might argue that this is the first step towards total deregulation of all commercial operations in the State. I think that is probably going too far to put that case but it might cause some concern and raise some suspicions.

We as an opposition support the notion in this case that the banks should be able to open when they would wish to on a commercial basis and that the Government or Parliament should not determine when the banks should open but we would also agree there should be proper consultation with employees to make sure there is an understanding about when banks should open.

The other point I raised in the last debate on the bill was there were provisions about notice and it was totally inconsistent in the bill as it is to be amended that you had to give certain notices when banks opened and closed on certain occasions and at other times you did not have to give any notice at all. As I understand it, there would not be a requirement for any notice to be given if a bank decides to open or close. It is a totally commercial decision. I suppose the banks would have to give notice to the public; it would be their job as a large commercial operation to give notice as to what they were doing and I feel pretty sure that is what they would do because they are very sophisticated businesses. Their PR is not always excellent but I am sure they would make sure that proper notice was given.

We do maintain Easter Tuesday. At this point the Opposition is not opposing that element of the bill but I do make the point that business has expressed concern about Easter Tuesday. I would like to refer to the Advocate of Thursday 8 April 1999 when the previous bill was being discussed. The Advocate said:

'It's well past time for the State Government to amend outdated legislation by removing the Easter Tuesday holiday for public servants and allowing banks to open.

It is impossible to justify a holiday that applies nowhere else in Australia and to no other Tasmanian employees.

More than on grounds of equity, however, it is unjustifiable in economic terms.'

The Advocate made the point then that this was really a public service holiday, that the public service essentially are the ones who go on holiday on Easter Tuesday but most other businesses are actually operating as a normal working day. Mr Tim Abey expressed concern about this and he claimed the State was a laughing stock as a result of that issue. He said that he thought that the additional holiday - that is Easter Tuesday - is costing the State around $30 million and that we cannot afford it. Easter Tuesday meanwhile is the day on which most businesses reopen after the holiday break and begin their working week.

I would like to know whether the Government has considered that issue and whether it did receive submissions from the TCCI - I know there were consultations - what their attitude is to that Easter Tuesday holiday because, as I say, in clause 4 the Government is proposing that Easter Tuesday would actually remain a public holiday despite the concerns that business people have on that particular issue. We would appreciate some comments from the Government on that matter.
There is some concern on this side of the House about the notion that Regatta Day is to be changed - that is, the Hobart Regatta, a very longstanding event in the history of Tasmania and I think one of the most historic public events - is to be moved and that was explained by the minister in his speech. But part of the reason given for that is that of course it is also the day on which Tasmania Day is to be celebrated but of course the holiday that you are speaking about only applies to the southern part of Tasmania and on this side it seems to be a little bit inconsistent that we are talking about Tasmania Day and making the point that we move Regatta Day to that Monday which makes it a long weekend for the Wooden Boat Festival and also for Tasmania Day, so there is a holiday then for Tasmania Day yet it is only for the southern part of the State.

Mr GROOM (Denison) - Mr Speaker, I was part way through my contribution on this bill, and we had said earlier that we thought the bill was a significant improvement on the earlier bill introduced, which of course was withdrawn by the Government in the course of the debate at the second reading stage of the bill.

I think I had got to the point where I was expressing some concern on the part of this side of the House concerning the suggestion that the Royal Hobart Regatta day will move from the second Tuesday in February to the second Monday in February to coincide with Tasmanian Day celebrations which suggests that Tasmania is limited to the southern part of our State because that is partially there for Tasmania Day celebrations. Of course this should be a statewide celebration and we do not believe that is an entirely appropriate move, but other colleagues may wish to develop that argument to some extent. We note that of course the Royal Hobart Regatta committee has agreed with that move and indeed I think they requested that that actually occur, so one cannot object on their behalf as far as that is concerned.

The bill also aligns the Eight Hours Day holiday with Victoria's Labour Day by moving it from the first Monday in March to the second Monday in March; members will recall that we did express concern about the long delay in dealing with that matter. When the bill was debated last time - that is the earlier bill - the point was made by the minister that we needed to give organisations substantial notice so they could make their arrangements. That is why the bill was being brought in about a year before and would not apply until 2001 to give the organisation sufficient notice. Now of course it has been brought in fairly late. I would like to know from the minister in the course of his response whether in fact he proceeded to proclaim that day under the existing act and you are not now relying on this particular bill. We will appreciate confirmation about that. That at least has removed that concern by organisations who are wanting to organise themselves for next year's holiday.

I had mentioned in question time, I think, a couple of organisations that were concerned about the long delay, in fact I have my note here. The Motorcycle Riders Association's twenty-first annual Tas Rally was in a state of uncertainty about that, and there were other organisations who had expressed some concern about that particular matter. I am pleased to have some confirmation that those organisations are no longer in a state of limbo and do have in fact firm advice as to when that holiday will take place next year.

I note in the bill that instead of there being an annual proclamation or declaration of holidays around the State, the holidays are set out in the schedule so that people can see clearly which holidays will occur and when they will occur at various times and places in Tasmania. For example, on the second Monday in February the Royal Hobart Regatta applies to all that part of Tasmania south of and including Oatlands and Swansea, excluding certain places - Bronte and other places including the west coast are excluded. I think that is a sensible move to set it all out in a very clear form like this, rather than waiting for some declaration to be made involving the Governor each year and therefore organisations did not have a definite decision on which to base their arrangements for the next year or for some time into the future. At least we now know that they are the holidays, but they can be changed, as we note in the bill. They can be changed by the minister giving the appropriate notice, and that is a public notice which is defined as a notice published in the Gazette and in one or more newspapers generally circulating in the State. I do note, and I commend the minister for the fact that he has actually included both the Gazette and the newspaper advertisement because not many people read the Gazette . I think if it is a public holiday, to have it confined to the Gazette is not good enough; to include the newspapers circulating in the State I think is more likely to get to the general public and more likely therefore for them to be aware of what is happening.

The only point I would like to make here is that the Parliament is not given any chance to make a contribution; it does not receive the notice. When you put it in the Gazette and the newspaper, you are not required to actually table that advertisement or the notice in the Parliament. I make the point that it seems a bit unusual because here it is in the act; it will be in the act set out here that these are the holidays in various parts of the State and the detail is there - full-day holidays, part holidays from 11 a.m. So the Parliament is agreeing to these holidays, the minister has the complete power to change the holidays, to omit any one of these - indeed to omit all of them, in theory - to add any holidays he or she would wish to add without bringing it to the notice of the Parliament. I think in principle that is wrong, I think there should be a requirement that there be a notice given to the Parliament.

I would not go as far as to say it should be a notice which has to be approved by the Parliament but I do believe that at least the Parliament should be advised directly when ministers table the notices of various kinds and regulations, and so on, to actually be informed that there is to be a change to the act which we are agreeing to and which will pass, I would presume, the Parliament. If it is set out in the act of parliament, surely we should have some notice directly, not through the newspaper or the Gazette , to know that what we have passed as a parliament in a schedule to an act is actually being changed. I would urge the minister - I am not going to move an amendment to that effect - to consider that point and he might even consider whether or not in the Legislative Council there might be a simple amendment to the bill moved which would say that the notice that the minister is required to give under clause 5(3) must be tabled in each House of Parliament within five sitting days of the public notice being published in the Gazette and one or more newspapers generally circulating in the State. That would give us direct notice of what is happening as far as changes are concerned and I do believe that is a reasonable proposition.

Clause 7 on page 8 - and we will go into this in more detail later if we need to - is an interesting one. Clause 7(2) says:

'Any day appointed by the Governor as a bank holiday or the part of any day appointed by the Governor as a bank part holiday under the repealed Act is taken to be a statutory holiday'.

I do not want to raise further drafting problems but I do urge the minister to look at this issue and look at that provision because it could mean that the first Monday in March, which is the Eight Hour Day holiday at the moment, under this provision remains a holiday and becomes a statutory holiday.

Mr Lennon - I can explain that.

Mr GROOM - You can respond to it, you may have an answer to it.

And the second Tuesday in February, which is the Royal Hobart Regatta Day at the moment, a public holiday, under this provision could well remain because it has been a day appointed, I think, by the Governor.

Mr Lennon - If you want, I can help you on that now.

Mr GROOM - Do it when you sum up if you wish to. There might be answers to it, but when I looked at the bill I just thought that this might be an issue, because it would be unfortunate if this means that the former days remain as holidays and you are then creating new days to replace those days, but it might be covered in some way.

We note that you have said that as far as Circular Head is concerned, at the request of the Circular Head Council, reflecting general community support, the area of Circular Head has been removed from those areas that observe the Burnie Show holiday. This now allows that community to observe a substitute holiday on another agreed day such as a day during Agfest. I would gather that there would be negotiations or consultations and then, Minister, you can gazette it and have the notice in the paper, so you could appoint an appropriate day which could be enjoyed by people at Circular Head in place of the Burnie Show holiday. I do not know what discussions have taken place with the Burnie Show Society in respect of that, because you are removing one area and a lot of people might have had the chance to come to the Burnie Show as a result of there being a holiday in Circular Head and they would not then have that chance to go to the Burnie Show because they might be going to Agfest when Agfest is being held. Then it would advantage Agfest. But I just hope there has been consultation with not only the Circular Head Council but perhaps also the Burnie Show Society as far as that matter is concerned.

The only other point I would make is in respect to the way you describe different areas of the State in Schedule 1 and Schedule 2. You refer for example in part 1 column 3 on page 10 to all that part of Tasmania south of and including Oatlands and Swansea and excluding other areas, and you mention a number of them there. This might be seen to be a pedantic point, but it is an interesting issue as to what, say, Strathgordon would mean. If you look at page 11, column 3 under item 7, you say the towns of Bronte Park, Strathgordon and so on. Towns are defined, towns have town boundaries and so on - I can understand what that is - but if you do not include the word 'town' it is not quite as explicit. I would have thought you should have said municipal area, town of such and such, otherwise it might be a bit uncertain as to exactly what you mean there, and you have in fact included the word 'town' in some areas but you have not included it when referring to other places which are obviously towns. I am making that point because we should be trying to get our legislation right as far as possible. It refers to suburbs, and again that is an interesting concept. A municipal area is well defined and well recognised. The west coast, I think, under the Acts Interpretation Act, is defined, but when you get into suburbs and areas that are not actually mentioned as towns, it becomes a little less certain, and that is something that we should direct our minds to if we are concerned about being accurate in the legislation.
I just conclude by saying that I do believe there is merit in the notion that there should be a notice tabled when there is an amendment, as I said before, to the schedule, so that the Parliament which is passing this law, which specifies the holidays in Schedules 1 and 2, should also be given notice of any changes. I would like to say that this is a better bill, in my view, than the bill introduced earlier. I think it is a simple, straightforward bill, subject to the matters I have mentioned, and I do commend those concerned in its drafting, your officers and so on, who went through the traumas, no doubt, of the other bill being criticised et cetera, for at least working hard to produce a bill which I believe is very straightforward in its expression, and frankly it makes much more sense and will be more workable than the earlier bill introduced by the Government.

Mrs NAPIER (Bass - Leader of the Opposition) - Mr Speaker, there are just a couple of areas I would add apart from the comments that I think the shadow minister has covered. I think he did that very comprehensively, although it was interesting I suppose that a number of us have in our diaries the Burnie Show listed in there and I was not aware until it was drawn to my attention that in fact Circular Head is in future to have an opportunity to identify a holiday at another time other than the date established for the Burnie Show, although it is interesting that the West Coast would remain within that. In fact in a sense there are increasingly strong links being developed between the West Coast and Circular Head as much as there might be an affinity between Burnie, Waratah, Wynyard and West Coast. So, yes, I do trust that there has been good consultation with the Burnie Show certainly taking into account the views of the people in Circular Head.

The argument in your notes certainly seems to relate to the interest that has been shown in Circular Head and Agfest. I would have thought Agfest - there is significant interest right across the north, north-west coast in particular for Agfest which is certainly proving to be not just a local success but certainly a national success, given the number of people who come from other places.

The particular issue I wanted to raise was the decision that has been made in relation to Tasmania Day. I notice in relation to Schedule 1 Statutory Holidays Section 5 under 1. that the Royal Hobart Regatta is to move from Tuesday to the second Monday in February. I am sure that there has been fairly strong consultation with the Royal Hobart Regatta people and how that has been organised. The Royal Hobart Regatta is actually a very enjoyable event. I remember attending it last year; I had a tremendous time and I think it is good to see that tradition being the first - as I understand it - holiday that was ever awarded in Australia that that particular event is associated with, even though we have now moved the date.

What really worries me is that we have continued to link Tasmania Day with the Royal Hobart Regatta. One of the concerns is that quite clearly that is a holiday that is only enjoyed by half the State. As the schedule says, 'All that part of Tasmania south of and including Oatlands and Swansea, excluding Bronte Park, Catagunya, Strathgordon, Tarraleah, Wayatinah and the West Coast'. I think that just reinforces the concern that this side of the House has that the real strength and function of Tasmania Day has been totally lost. I am not sure whether it is the intention of the Government to make it die and to speed up the death with which they might wish to see Tasmania Day go or whether they are just plain uninterested.

I am aware that very little consultation was taken with the Aboriginal community in relation to identifying this date and, of course, that was the reason it was argued as to why 24 November was considered to be inappropriate and that was because this was the anniversary of the sighting of Tasmania by Abel Tasman in 1642. This was identified that, because it was the first public holiday in Australia - it was granted to Tasmania by Governor Sir John Franklin in 1838 - this would be a good day to celebrate it upon. Of course, the problem is only half of the State actually gets the opportunity to be able to celebrate Tasmania Day.

I acknowledge that under the way in which it operated when the Liberal Governments were in power, 24 November could land on a variety of days and there was not a public holiday declared and a great deal of the activities were not just on that day but were spread right across the month of November. I must say that I thought that had a tremendous impact on all of the community groups, in particular, around the State. It encouraged people to celebrate and get involved in a variety of activities within the State. The medals that were struck to be shared amongst clubs and organisations and associations got them to think about Tasmania and what was good about Tasmania, the challenges we had and so on. And even for the detractors who criticised 24 November I found that particularly when you are involved in schools and communities when you see the significance of 24 November was not that this was the fact that it was Abel Tasman in 1642 who had brought about the demise of the Aboriginal community but this was actually a point at which there was the meeting of the two cultures and in a sense that is who we are and what we are. That is the debate that we are having right now about the definition of Aboriginality, the issue of Aboriginal land packages. What does it take to further Aboriginal reconciliation? That date was, in a sense, a signal to the statements of who we are today.

It may be that we do not continue with 24 November but I really think there was totally inadequate consultation by the Government on which day that that might be. As I understand it, that could still be changed under the bill, that as a consequence of consultation with the community the minister may well decide to change Tasmania Day to another time. Personally, I thought November was very appropriate because it was a low time for tourism, when you could tell them there was a month of activity in the State, that they should be encouraged to come down and enjoy, where communities had events, celebrations, where Tasmanians were out and about and alive. It was a good reason to come down to Tasmania in November.

Mr Fry - It's not even in here now.

Mrs NAPIER - Yes, that is right, the bill is silent on the matter although the Government does at least acknowledge it in their notes and that is why I thought it is appropriate to have a discussion about Tasmania Day -

Mr Lennon - It may give us an extra holiday, Bob. You'd be riding on this one.

Mrs NAPIER - and where it is and what significance you give it. I am not suggesting that we create another holiday but I am suggesting that if we decide and if the community decides that Tasmania Day is important enough, it ought to be on a day when there is another holiday. They may well decide that or they may well decide no, there is another date that we consider appropriate and I would be very surprised if they did not support the concept of a month-long period of celebration as did occur. It generated dollars within the community; it generated new interests in Tasmania, new interest in Tasmania as a fun and interesting place to go, where you had an opportunity to go to small community events and really enjoy being part of that.
Michael Field, when he came into power, just dumped Tasmania Day. He said, 'No, you won't have anything of that'. I think it was an anti-Robin Gray statement, but anyway he just dumped it. This Government is slowly letting it die. That is what the process is all about. It has nowhere near the impact that it had, firstly because it is partly seen - wrongly, I think, as it ought not be just a southern event, but it is seen as being a southern event because when it was announced it was actually announced as being a good time to do it because the Regatta Day is on and it can coincide with the Wooden Boat Festival. 'Great', said everyone in the other half of the State in which 50 per cent of the population said, 'We can't get to that because we haven't got the holiday'. So is Tasmania Day just this southern bureaucratic thing that we are not supposed to be involved with? When we talk about the need to get rid of parochialism in this State, that was an act that exacerbated the parochialism in this State. It was a silly move to make. It really was, and you have not improved it, and that is why I think we ought to be having a good debate about Tasmania Day, what kind of consultation might be needed, and what might be an appropriate way to revive the concept of Tasmania Day and the associated impact, because it actually had a social, community and an economic impact upon communities, particularly local communities.

When you take into account the amount of corporate dollars that were put into this event, moved from $250 000 to $500 000 of corporate sponsorship for Tasmania Day to be contributed towards that, we realise that this was valued also by the corporate sector and it helped make it possible. It gave it the significance whereby people could enjoy it, and the materials and the ceremonies that were conducted in schools encouraged children to be conscious of Tasmania, who we are, what our history is, good and bad, and to celebrate what was good about Tasmanians and to recognise what was not so good about our history. It is a moment in the year when you can get an opportunity for people to recognise those points, and I think that is all the better for who we become.

Now the Government in relation to Tasmania Day that is now located on this second Monday in February, decided, instead of having a Tasmanian of the Year, to distribute the rewards evenly, and went for seven individuals and two organisations, and they were worthy recipients overall of the Tasmania Day awards. But what I thought was really sad was that they got an award and everyone forgot about it. There was no role modelling involved; there was no opportunity for them to really be seen to be valued by the Government and the people of Tasmania and to go out and be with people and go to functions, to be able to talk to groups and so on. It was like this little gong that they got which people hardly noticed up in the north. It was kind of whipped in on a Friday night, and invitations were pretty late at that, but anyway that was there, but there was no real significance given to the people who were made Tasmanians of the Year.

When I think back I can immediately think of two excellent Tasmanians of the Year in Professor Nigel Forteath and David Foster. They were excellent Tasmanians of the Year and they valued the fact that not only had they been made a Tasmanian of the Year; they saw it as their responsibility to be a mentor, to be a role model, to go out and spend time for that next year to encourage people to think positively about Tasmania and to work with Tasmanians and Tasmanian communities thereafter.

Mr Cheek - Paul Lennon would have to be a chance next year.

Mrs NAPIER - Paul Lennon for Tasmanian of the Year? Yes, I suppose he could be.

Mr Lennon - Hardly. I'm second to Bob.

Mrs NAPIER - The point I am making is that this is not just about a day, this is about a month, this is about the role model, about the significance that is given to it and if you are not going to do it decently, drop it and we will pick it up when the Napier Government gets back into power.

Mr FRY (Bass) - Mr Deputy Speaker, there are a couple of issues I would like to raise in regard to this bill. The first thing I want to mention is, to take up the point that the Leader of the Opposition was espousing last night when we were discussing this, the issue of Tasmania Day. I know that was an issue that was very dear to the heart of my colleague, the member for Franklin, Mr Hodgman, when he was minister responsible at the time. I would have thought, particularly at the moment whilst we are in a period post-Olympics and just before the Paralympics when many people - I guess you have seen a fair bit of nationalistic fervour about the place, and quite rightly so, for the successes of our Olympic athletes and the anticipated successes of our Paralympic athletes - that this would have been something that would have been to the fore of our thinking at the moment.

I think it is quite disappointing that Tasmania Day seems to have dropped off the map, so to speak, because it is certainly not mentioned in the bill anywhere and there has been no formal recognition of that in the bill, even though in the fact sheet there is some talk of Tasmania Day coinciding with the celebration of the Australian Wooden Boat Festival and the Royal Hobart Regatta. That being the case, I think it is probably a real shame that it is not a statewide holiday and it is only a holiday for some southern parts of the State.

Mr Lennon - Amend the bill - make it a holiday.

Mr FRY - I am sure that would be acceptable, would it not.

Mr Cheek - What, make another holiday?

Mr Lennon - That's what he's arguing.

Mr FRY - No, I am not arguing for another holiday at all.

Mr Groom - He's just making a point about Tasmania Day.

Mr FRY - Absolutely. I would have thought that maybe there could have been some negotiations with people in the -

Mr Lennon - It's on the weekend.

Mr FRY - It's on the weekend every year?

Mr Lennon - That is right. Last year the reception was held in Launceston.

Mr Hidding - It didn't used to be a long weekend.

Mr FRY - No, that is right; there used to be a day.

Mr Groom - But in your own fact sheet you talk about Tasmania Day.

Mr Lennon - Part of the celebrations - it doesn't say it is the day.

Mr FRY - That is your own fact sheet that points that out - it coincides with Tasmania Day and they are talking about it being the second Tuesday. That is not on a weekend; I thought that was in the middle of the week.

Mr Lennon - The celebrations.

Mr FRY - I merely make the point that it has been downgraded and I think that is a pity. I think people should have the opportunity to celebrate Tasmania Day whatever day it is and maybe it could have been something that was negotiated with people in the north of the State as well as in the south.

The only other issue that I wanted to make a point about is in regard to what is called a 'part day holiday' - and these are the Devonport Cup and the Launceston Cup days. Again, I thought this was something that we might have been able to tidy up and maybe talk to people in areas of industry to see what they felt about getting this sorted out to some degree. It is a problem for a lot of employers and I know a lot of employees where you have a situation where you have to turn up for work and then go home at eleven o'clock. You have people who work miles and miles away from where they live, turn up for a couple of hours; there might be other people who start at 6 or 7 in the morning and they turn up for four or five hours and there just seems to be a lot of inequity in the situation here and it is something that could have been tidied up.

Mr Lennon - How?

Mr FRY - Either negotiate to make it a full day for everybody because it certainly is a full day's holiday for people in the outlying areas of Launceston for the Launceston Cup but the people who live in the city and particular suburbs are told it is an 11 o'clock day.

Mr Cheek - You'll get it right eventually, Paul.

Mr FRY - Even business has been complaining about this for quite some time too, having to open up a business for an hour or two or a bank for an hour or two and sometimes it is understood that it is more trouble that it is worth. I just think there could have been a little more negotiation in this respect and we could have got it sorted out before this bill came back to the House.

Mr CHEEK (Denison) - Mr Deputy Speaker, I will just make a few comments on this. Basically I support the thrust of the bill; it certainly is a move in the right direction and I am very pleased to see that the Deputy Premier took it back on the advice of my colleague, Mr Groom, and had it redrafted and tidied up rather than the dismal mess it was in in the first place. I certainly commend Mr Groom for having pointed out those things because there were a lot of problems with it and it is not the first bill to be brought into the House like that. I suppose we are taking on the role of the Legislative Council in a lot of ways in trying to tidy things up before it even gets there and get them sent back to do the job properly.

As I said, I do agree with what he is trying to do. I think it has improved things a lot. As far as the banks go, we all know how ludicrous it was for businesses to be open on a Tuesday and not to have banking facilities. That was an absolute disgrace and a real problem for everybody. So he has deregulated - he is in his deregulation frame of mind for this one - and he has now got the banks where I assume from the bill - and I may be wrong - they can open any time they want. It has been completely deregulated so they can open on a Sunday if they want to, which makes you wonder, as I think Mr Groom may have pointed out, whether this is a forerunner to complete open slather for all traders in Tasmania. I think it would be fantastic for the banks to open on Saturdays -

Mr Rundle - It's probably happened after Gill James' trip, Bob - 24 hours, seven days a week.

Mr CHEEK - Could have done - that could be it. But certainly when he has regulations at the moment on anybody who has over 250 employees, if he has opened it up to the big banks - Commonwealth, National, ANZ, Westpac - and others to open on Sundays, if they want to, he is going to have to tidy up the rest as well. I think he is intending to do this, although we are not too sure about that because the Premier has said he is going to wait until the GST problems are out of the way. I think you have to say they are pretty much out of the way and there were not as many problems with the GST as the opposition would try to paint. There are still a few outstanding chores for small business, particularly with the BASs but overall it has gone very smoothly and no doubt the Deputy Premier is preparing to introduce legislation on shop trading hours. In fact I heard him say shop trading this morning and I jumped up in my seat - I thought this was it, the big moment! I was let down a little with what he said after that but never mind, we live in expectation. The banks were a problem that has been fixed; the next step we will await with great interest.

The Easter Tuesday holiday for public servants - I know that the Deputy Premier would not be game to move on that but I find it absolutely ridiculous that public servants should get a holiday on the Tuesday while the private sector does not. Why should they get a holiday on the Tuesday? Why should it be a statutory holiday? You can extrapolate from that and say it is a holiday for the Government as well, a holiday for government ministers because I presume they could not operate very well without their staff and their public servants who are on holidays, so they are giving themselves an extra holiday too, if you want to take it to its extreme. You can shrug but I presume you cannot do too much work without your staff there.

Mr Lennon - You don't understand the bill.

Mr CHEEK - I do not understand the bill? Right, you can explain that to me - is it not a fact they are getting a holiday?

Mr Lennon - This bill does not decide what days are holidays. People's awards in places of employment - their own awards and industrial agreements - determine which days are holidays.

Mr CHEEK - Right. Well, the private sector cannot afford to give their staff a holiday on the Tuesday, that is the thing.

Mr Lennon - This has nothing to do with that.

Mr CHEEK - That is the thing, they cannot afford to do that, as you would well know, and so therefore they have to work, but the public servants are in a different category altogether and they will be given a holiday because, okay, you say that is in their awards. I think it is totally unfair; you expect private industry in this State to work and give public servants the day off. You can argue it any way you like, but that is basically what you have done, and no business can afford to give that Easter Tuesday off. Also, I must say, it exacerbates the situation by causing a lot of friction when workers in the private sector are coming to work on the Tuesday and they see their public service counterparts having the day off and going to the beach. It is not a good thing. I know the Deputy Premier would not have the fortitude to tackle that one in a big way, and it is the same in other States as well, I think, but I think it is totally unfair and something that one day should be fixed.

And there is also, of course - and I know this is not a very popular one - the fact that Tasmania has more public holidays. I have not seen the very latest figures, but Tasmania has more public holidays than practically every other State - I think it is every other State, but I say practically every other State - and that is not right. I would not expect a Labor government to take a holiday off the workers - I think probably Jeff Kennett was the only one game to do that in Victoria in his early days - but the fact is the State with the weakest economy cannot afford to have more public holidays than any other State. That is the ridiculous situation that we are in, and it would have been nice if the minister could have fixed that one up as well in some way, but he would never tackle that, he would never have the guts to tackle that, I concede that. It is a very difficult one to take a day off employees of any ilk. You can shake your head, but it is pretty hard also to justify having an extra public holiday.

Mr Lennon - You don't understand, Bob. This legislation does not determine holidays. For goodness' sake, how many times do I have to say it?

Mr CHEEK - Right. It does not determine holidays, right?

Mr Lennon - It does not determine holidays. Read the bill.

Mr CHEEK - Okay.

Mr Lennon - It describes what are statutory holidays.

Mr CHEEK - Oh, okay, yes. All right.

Mr Lennon - Whether or not they are observed in particular places of employment is a matter for their award or their industrial agreement.

Mr CHEEK - But you know they are down there in a bill in the House, so the message is sent out anyway, and whether you like it or not you have brought in legislation and it is there in the list. You have more public holidays than any other State. You can argue whether you cannot give the public holiday or give the public holiday -

Mr Lennon - Which State have we got more public holidays than?

Mr CHEEK - but it is government legislation, the fact that we do have that number of holidays.

Mr Lennon - You say we have the highest of all States?

Mr CHEEK - I must admit that I have not had a look at it in recent days -

Mr Lennon - So you don't know whether we have or not, but you say we have.

Mr CHEEK - No, well, going back a short time ago we did. I have not seen the latest from other States to see if that is a fact, but I do know -

Mr Lennon - How long ago?

Mr CHEEK - When I last looked at it.

Mr Lennon - You're the one that's asserting it.

Mr CHEEK - It would be several months ago.

Mr Lennon - Several months ago we had more?

Mr CHEEK - Yes, well, are you saying we have not got more public holidays than other States?

Mr Lennon - You're the one who's asserting we have.

Mr CHEEK - Well, are you saying we have not?

Mr Lennon - I have a list here. You're the one who thinks you know what you are talking about. Which State do we have more holidays than?

Mr CHEEK - You have the list in front of you, so perhaps you can read it out to us. I will admit that I have not seen that list in recent times.

Mr Lennon - So you don't know.

Mr CHEEK - I did speak to a couple of people yesterday who said that we still have the highest number and that we are higher than NSW, Victoria, Queensland and other States. Now you may get up there and say we have not. Okay, I will look forward to hearing that with great interest, but it is my understanding that we have more public holidays than most other States. We have one of the highest number of public holidays and the weakest economy, and that costs us a lot of money. I think the TCCI worked out at one stage it cost us $30 million, the extra public holiday that we have.
Mr Groom - I think that was for Easter Tuesday, just one day.

Mr CHEEK - For Easter Tuesday, was it? Well, it was an extraordinary amount, and no doubt there can be arguments about how it was worked out, but anyway that was the figure there. Okay, well you can clear that one up for me when you rise again, Minister. I will look forward to that, and perhaps you can table the document there that you have. I mean, I can find it out myself but, if you have it in front of you, you can make it easy for all of us.

Mr Lennon - It's on the Web.

Mr CHEEK - The other thing - it may have been discussed before, and I am sure it has - is about the minister being able to amend any of the public holidays to change them around, and it says he has to consult with the TTLC and TCCI. I am not quite sure what that exactly means, taking into account some of the consultation that has been done by the State Government in my experience over the past two years. It means sort of making a decision and then sending them a letter saying it has been done and then having a phone call with them or not even doing that. Now to be fair, I must say the minister has most times had the decency to speak to people like the TCCI and other organisations, but it leaves it fairly open when you say you have to consult. I mean, you can change it regardless and your consultations can be consultations that do not necessarily have to take into account the wishes of the people you are consulting with. That, to me, just seems a little loose but you can explain that one in more detail when the time comes.

As far as Tasmania Day goes, it is a pity that you have downgraded it over there. It is a great pity that you do not see any significance in the day and that has been made pretty evident by the way that it has been disregarded since you came into government and I think the people who have been made Tasmanians of the Year have suffered as a consequence and they have not received the accolades and the same status from that award that they would have done under my colleague, Mr Peter Hodgman.

As far as when the day is observed it would have been nice if you could have perhaps gone up into northern Tasmania and taken their wishes into account, you might have even been able to negotiate one day when we all could have had a holiday and called it Tasmania Day - I mean, they may have even changed their November holiday into February, who knows, if you go and talk to people. But you have taken a very heavy-handed, high-handed decision in moving that and saying, 'That coincides with Regatta Day so that's Tasmania Day'.

I think it is a good idea to actually have Regatta Day on the Monday. I think that makes a lot of sense, so I certainly agree with that but I believe that you leave yourself wide open to people from the north of the State by making decisions like that. And you can shake your head once again and rest your head on your hand and shake -

Mr Lennon - Well, that day's not Tasmania Day - how many times do I have to say it?

Mr CHEEK - Well, it is.

Mr Lennon - It's not.

Mr CHEEK - What are you saying then? You said that it coincides with Tasmania Day.

Mr Lennon - I didn't say that at all. I said that it coincides with Tasmania Day celebrations. Read the second reading speech.

Mr CHEEK - Coincides - well, you are splitting straws all along the way. It coincides with Tasmania Day celebrations -

Mr Fry - He said it was on the weekend before.

Mr CHEEK - Yes, well, when is it? Do you know when it is yourself?

Mr Lennon - Yes, I do but you obviously don't.

Mr CHEEK - You do, right. Well, nobody else does and the public certainly does not.

Mr Groom - I thought that day was to be the day according to the Premier. He talked about Regatta Day being the day.

Mr Fry - And it says in the fact sheet.

Mr CHEEK - I thought Regatta Day was going to be Tasmania Day but you are saying it is not.

Mrs Napier - According to the Premier, it is.

Mr CHEEK - It is not for Tasmanian celebrations. It is not to celebrate Tasmania Day. Is that what you are saying? Well, he is not going to answer me any more. He has gone into his fantasy land again, maybe he will answer that one when he gets onto his feet. If he will clear up the Tasmania Day for us that would be very nice as well and it would be very nice for the rest of Tasmania to know anyway.

I think that just about concludes what I have been saying but I do agree with the overall thrust of the bill. It is a big improvement on what it was and you are finally getting it right and, keep trying, you will go all the way.

Mr HIDDING (Lyons - Deputy Leader for the Opposition) - I have followed this matter with some interest. Having been in business for quite some years it was a matter of great interest to me and a great frustration to me, especially when one of my tasks was to roster 60-odd employees through a system and through a human resource function and every time one of these holidays came up it was a special concern, especially aberrations such as Cup Day and I have seen that change over the years into some amazing -

Mr Green - Aberrations like Cup Day? What have you got against the racing industry?

Mr Rundle - There's a lot of aberrations on the race track on race day.

Mr Cheek - It's a good fishing day, Bryan.

Mr HIDDING - The whole thing is amazing that we actually have a holiday for a race but history forms these things and you have to say it is a very messy thing - all around Australia you have different dates. The Queen's birthday is celebrated on one day in one State on another date in another State - all sorts of weirdo things amongst the States but that is the history of our nation as these things develop. Other countries have days that we do not have. I think it is a long weekend in Israel this week coming up - I think Yom Kippur is on Monday - and of course in November in the States you have Thanksgiving Day which is probably their biggest public holiday and to many people in the States it is more important in many ways than Christmas for those who do not celebrate that.

We could have had Thanksgiving Day in Tasmania because about hundred years ago when the negotiations - in fact all the churches of Australia came together to negotiate a package that they put before the founders of the Federation and said, 'We want three things out of this deal for federation. We want a preamble in the Constitution that refers to God'. The second thing they wanted was that all sessions in Commonwealth and State Parliaments should begin with prayers in their business of the day, and that got through. The third one that did not get through was that there be a national day of thanksgiving. So we might well have had a national day of thanksgiving if they had had three out of three, but two out of three was not bad.

Of course if we were ever to become a republic, I suppose the Queen's birthday would then be a free day to consider -

Mr Groom - President's day.

Mr HIDDING - It could be reconsidered to be a national day of thanksgiving. But we are created by our history and we do have a bit of a circus before us. So it was timely that the minister have a crack at fixing it. He was asked to do so by the business community and by others. We will not go back over the debacle of the minister not making his mind up as to exactly what weekend was going to be the long weekend in March.

Mr Llewellyn - Oh, don't do that.

Mr HIDDING - No, we will not go back over that because finally that has been sorted out and people have been able to make their arrangements.

My main problem with Easter Tuesday was this: that in business over the past ten years or so it became common for the retail industry to have fairly major sales and retail activity on Easter Saturday and then Easter Monday and Sunday for some, but certainly Easter Tuesday. So you had the takings from the Thursday prior to Easter, from Saturday, Sunday for those who traded on Sunday and you also had the takings for Monday. Four days takings in a heavy retail environment was actually a very dangerous period for many retailers because they did not know whether to take the money home; they did not know whether to leave it in the safe at work. For those who had the expensive night safe facilities that was all right but you had to get extra bags and have special arrangements. It was actually quite a dangerous period. And that was a period the Tasmanian police will tell you, there is a period now still, Easter Tuesday, in the past ten years there were extra police rostered on that night of Easter Tuesday to deal with call-outs for business break-ins. The crooks are not silly, they know there are four days takings, whether it be a service station or a major hardware store or whatever it was - four days takings. Our store was rolled twice on an Easter Tuesday night. Thankfully when they finally broke the safe open there was nothing in there but they made a terrible mess.

Mr Rundle - They should've come and looked under your bed.

Mr HIDDING - No, it was not there, I can tell you - my wife did not want it at home.

Mr Llewellyn - In the fridge in a sock.

Mr HIDDING - In a freezer in a sock. We have had the ridiculous situation where we put pressure on banks, to come on and do something. 'Oh, no, it's a bank holiday, we couldn't possibly open'. I take it from this, from my reading of the bill, and I am advised by our spokesman on these matters, that a bank can now choose to open any day and therefore Easter Tuesday they would be able to open. I trust that all four of the major Australian banks will in fact open on Easter Tuesday. It would be unconscionable for them to treat their business -

Mr Lennon - It would be their choice.

Mr HIDDING - It will be their choice.

Mr Lennon - You can't make them open.

Mr HIDDING - That is right. I want to place on the record, Minister, that I believe all banks should open on Easter Tuesday as a service to their business clients. They might not have to open all branches but I suspect if they have a branch in existence, they have shops and clients around, then yes, they should be open on Easter Tuesday. How they work that out with their awards and with their people jumping up and down and saying, 'We've always had Easter Tuesday off', I am not sure how they work that out. But in this day and age they can sit down and work that out with their employees, pay them the extra, whatever it takes, but they should be open. There is now no excuse for them to provide what has been an appalling service over Easter in the past but brought about by legislation. They have no excuse any more.

I understand though that it will still be a public service holiday. Easter Tuesday is still a declared public service holiday.

Mr Cheek - And for government ministers?

Mr HIDDING - Well, it is a statutory holiday.

Mr Lennon - I don't have any days off, Bob.

Mr Cheek - Well, you haven't got any staff, so you have a holiday surely?

Mr Lennon - You wish.

Mr Llewellyn - Plenty of time for him to do it.

Mr Cheek - You're thumping the flesh? Shaking hands.

Mr Lennon - I'll do a check on the holidays I've had over the last few years and see who's had the most days off, you or me.

Mr Cheek - You happen to be a minister. You're getting paid twice as much as me. So you should work twice as hard.

Mr HIDDING - I would like the minister in his response to the second reading to tidy up just exactly what status Easter Tuesday has remaining now that banks are able to open. Exactly who has a holiday on that day? Is it a declared holiday in any way? Can any employee say to his boss, 'Easter Tuesday is actually a holiday'? There is a lot of confusion, Minister.

Mr Lennon - There is no confusion.

Mr HIDDING - Is there not?

Mr Lennon - You just don't understand the bill.

Mr HIDDING - Well, you are going to explain to us exactly what status Easter Tuesday has. I am sure you will.

I would like to raise a matter within the bill in clause 5. The minister can by public notice amend Schedule 1 relating to local statutory holidays by omitting an item or he can insert an item. He can amend the minister's ability to do that. But before he exercises that power he is required to consult with the Tasmanian Trades and Labor Council and the Tasmanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. It is pretty easy to see which party is occupying the Treasury benches and drawing up the legislation because you would not see too much legislation when you are actually seeking to change a holiday; the first people that you have to go and talk to are the unions, not the businesses.

Mr Lennon - Come off it.

Mr HIDDING - I suppose it suggests that you are to consult with -

Mr Lennon - Both. Does it say both?

Mr HIDDING - Yes.

Mr Lennon - If you want to filibuster find something reasonable to filibuster about.

Mr HIDDING - It is not alphabetical and it is just interesting that it is there first. Either way you will consult with them both and any other employer or organisation the minister considers appropriate. I wonder if the minister would consider it appropriate that it should not be in there, considering that these are local holidays and these are about specific areas? For instance, the Cup Day changes - could St Helens and George Town be involved? I wonder whether the minister should not be required to check with the relevant local government bodies in those areas.

Mr Groom - Hear, hear.

Mr HIDDING - If you are checking with businesses, if you are checking with the employees, I think the local government bodies in those areas ought to be consulted as well. I would ask the minister to point out to us whether he would consider an amendment along those lines because it is something that has frustrated local governments for many years. It is usually those who get rung up and asked, 'What's happening with Cup Day? Who's off? Who's on? What's going on?' - and they say, 'We don't know what the Government is up to'. It seems to me that this clears up a lot of the confusion. They have the schedules there. They can have a look at the whole thing but if the minister is going to change it, I believe that he or she ought to be required to contact the relevant local government authorities as well. We would be considering an amendment along those lines.

Obviously we are supporting this legislation but it is important that, as it affects all of this in our electorates.

Mr Lennon - Are you going to move that amendment?

Mr Groom - He just said that. I think we will. I think it's a good point that he's making. We have discussed it. He is the local government spokesperson.

Mr HIDDING - I am the local government spokesperson.

Mr Groom - We have discussed it and I think it has merit.

Mr Cheek - Are you going to agree with it?

Mr HIDDING - We believe that local government ought to be specifically mentioned in here so that giving guidance to the minister of the day that -

Mr Llewellyn - What about Bob's brother-in-law? Will we consult with him as well?

Mr HIDDING - Who?

Mr Llewellyn - Bob's brother-in-law.

Mr SPEAKER - Order.

Mr HIDDING - Who is that?

Mr Llewellyn - I don't know. Uncle Tom Cobley.

Mr HIDDING - That was not your best interjection, Minister.

Mr Cheek - Are you casting aspersions on my brother-in-law, Mr Llewellyn?

Mr Llewellyn - Yes.

Mr Cheek - He's actually in your electorate.

Mr Llewellyn - Is he? I didn't even know you had one, Bob.

Members laughing.

Mr HIDDING - He could be a bishop in the Anglican Church, too. You could be in big trouble.

In all seriousness, we genuinely believe that local government should be specifically included here for consultation because they are obviously keen players in any changes to the schedule. I would ask the minister to address those in his reply.

Mr LENNON (Franklin - Minister for Infrastructure, Energy and Resources) - Once more, this is not a piece of legislation which establishes an entitlement to a public holiday; this is not a piece of legislation which establishes an entitlement to a public holiday. I hope everyone heard that - this is not a piece of legislation which establishes an entitlement to a public holiday. And I think at least the shadow spokesperson understands that -

Mr Groom - What does it do, then?

Mr LENNON - I think at least he understands that because an entitlement to a public holiday, Mr Deputy Speaker, is derived only from the legal employment relationship that an employer has with his or her employees, that is an industrial award made under the Tasmanian Industrial Commission or the Australian Industrial Relations Commission or an enterprise bargaining agreement or some other form of legal contract, that is the only way that you get an entitlement, so please hear that.

What this is, is a reference point for the days on which public holidays, which may be provided for under a legal contract, are to be observed. This is a reference point. I am sure you understand it, but all the colleagues who spoke after you got up - your colleague from Bass argued for two additional public holidays during his contribution.

Mr Cheek - That's not true.

Mr LENNON - He did argue for them. First of all he argued that Launceston Cup day should be extended to a full day for all the people within Launceston, and not a half day - and I hope you have consulted with the business community about that - and he argued that Tasmania Day should be a specific holiday. That is your view.

Mr Groom - He was suggesting it be on one of the other full-day holidays, maybe that it should be - you misunderstood, I think.

Mr LENNON - There were different views being expressed by people all over the place over there. There has been a deliberate misrepresentation going on over there by all your colleagues, apart from yourself, on what this bill is actually trying to do. I am just trying to point out to people that it does not determine the number of public holidays that are available for employees in Tasmania.

You did ask me about Eight Hours Day, Labour Day, and what arrangements had been put in place. I can advise you that there was a notice in last week's Gazette , the statutory rule notice, on that matter, and the ministerial notice will be in this week's Gazette - the next one which I think comes out next week. The newspaper advertisements will appear in the dailies next week - this Saturday.

Mr Groom - In all the papers?

Mr LENNON - Yes, all the papers. Okay. So that was the matter you asked me with respect to Labour Day and the observance of that next year.

I do not have all these in order, but with respect to Regatta Day, you asked me on that matter the change from Tuesday to Monday. Yes, I can advise you that we received an official request on that matter from the Royal Hobart Regatta Association, the main purpose of which was to link it of course with the Wooden Boat Festival. I can advise you that Tasmania Day is not on people's holiday - if you like, the southern Regatta Day - it is the weekend, as it was last year. There is no conspiracy campaign going on here which I think the Leader of the Opposition tried to gather a storm around, about us trying to exclude people from the north from Tasmania Day celebrations; in fact, as I have indicated by way of interjection, last year the actual official commencement of Tasmania Day arrangements was in Launceston.

Mr Cheek - When's Tasmania Day?

Mr LENNON - I just told you a minute ago.

Mr Cheek - When?

Mr LENNON - Read the Hansard . I am not going to go back over this, Bob.

Mr Groom - When is Tasmania Day?

Mr LENNON - This is a piece of legislation which everybody, I understood, supported but you start to wonder after a while.

Mr Cheek - We don't, we're just trying to make it better for -

Mr Groom - When is Tasmania Day?

Mr LENNON - You asked me about -

Mr Groom - You said there was a function up north, you didn't -

Mr Cheek - Very unclear about when Tasmania Day is.

Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER - Order, order.

Bill read the second time.