Media Releases

Nationals Member for Rodney Paul Weller has welcomed the Coalition’s legislation to allow local councils to split public holidays within their shire boundaries.

 

The Public Holiday Amendment Bill 2011 was introduced in State Parliament last week and provides regional councils the flexibility to offer different substitute public holidays for Melbourne Cup Day.

 

Mr Weller said the legislation honoured an election commitment by the Liberal National Coalition to ensure local councils could cater for the varying needs of all towns in the municipality following the public holiday debacle created by the Labor Party.

 

He said the legislation would provide welcome relief to the township of Heathcote which had been forced to miss out on its show day holiday.

 

“The Labor Government passed amendments to the Public Holidays Act in 2009 which removed provisions allowing regional councils to appoint additional and substitute public holidays.

 

“This caused major headaches for some local councils, including the City of Greater Bendigo which wished to offer two different substitute cup day holidays.

 

“The council had nominated Bendigo Cup Day to apply to the majority of the municipality including the City of Bendigo, and Melbourne Cup Day to apply to Heathcote, which was when the town traditionally held its annual show.

 

“However the council was told by Labor that the public holiday must apply to the whole of the municipal district.”

 

Mr Weller said the legislation was entirely inappropriate and had been met with strong public opposition.

 

“This new legislation introduced by the Coalition Government will enable local councils to declare half or full day holidays in different town throughout the shire depending on what best suits each community,” he said.

 

“It will allow communities to support their individual events by giving them a day off work or school to attend.

 

“It also ensures that all Victorians receive the same number of public holidays regardless of where they live, which again delivers on the Coalition’s commitment to govern for the whole state, not just metropolitan Melbourne.”

Tourist towns in the region will welcome the Coalition Government’s move to free up Easter Sunday trading laws, Nationals Member for Rodney, Paul Weller, said this week.

 

Mr Weller said that the Easter Sunday trading ban introduced by the Labor Government in 2003 had been riddled with anomalies.

 

“This has led to a lot of confusion and inconvenience, and had a negative impact on business and tourism. The time for change was well overdue,” he said.

 

Under the new legislation, any business, irrespective of size or location, which wishes to trade on Easter Sunday is legally able to do so.

 

Previously, a business with less than 20 employees could open on Easter Sunday, but larger businesses were prohibited from doing so.

 

“Under the old laws, there were also special exemptions for some businesses and in some locations. The whole thing was riddled with anomalies and needed to be cleaned up. We said we would do this as a pre-lection commitment, and we have now implemented that.

 

“I am sure this will enhance even further the wonderful Easter holiday experiences in our great little part of the world,” Mr Weller said.

The Nationals Member for Rodney Paul Weller has welcomed a decision by the Brumby Government this week to allow local councils to split public holidays within their Shire boundaries.

Mr Weller said the announcement was a win for common sense and an admission by the government that its Show Day legislation was completely misguided.

Earlier this year the Brumby Government passed amendments to the Public Holidays Act which removed provisions allowing regional councils to appoint additional and substitute public holidays.

Mr Weller said the changes caused major headaches for some local councils, including the City of Greater Bendigo which wished to offer two different substitute cup day holidays.

“The council had nominated Bendigo Cup Day to apply to the majority of the municipality, including the city of Bendigo, and Melbourne Cup Day to apply to the township of Heathcote, which was when the town traditionally held its annual show,” he said.

“However the council was told by the government that under the new legislation the public holiday must apply to the whole of the municipal district.

“This requirement was entirely inappropriate in the case of the City of Greater Bendigo, and many other large non-metropolitan local councils, who wanted the flexibility to offer different substitute public holidays for Melbourne Cup Day to cater for the varying needs of towns right across the local government area.”

Mr Weller said strong public opposition to the legislation had resulted in this week’s backflip and was proof that people power could make a difference in achieving appropriate change.

“I congratulate the people of Heathcote and other communities across the Rodney electorate for standing up to the ridiculous demands of this government,” he said.

“I now urge Minister Helper to apologise to the people of Heathcote and the many other communities across Victoria who missed out on their Show Day holiday this year because of his government’s arrogance.”