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Call for Submissions

Submissions closed on Wednesday, 29 August 2012.

Objective of the Bill

In 2011, the previous Queensland Government conducted a review of the Holidays Act 1983.  Community comments obtained through the review’s consultation process indicated there was a majority support to move an existing public holiday to the second half of the year.

As a consequence of the 2011 review, one of the amendments made to the Holidays Act was to move the date of observance of the Birthday of the Sovereign (Queen’s Birthday) public holiday form the second Monday in June to the first Monday in October.

To more evenly distribute the public holidays throughout the year it is considered that the Queen’s Birthday public holiday should be returned to its original date of observance and the Labour Day public holiday should instead be moved to the second half of the calendar year.

The objective of the Bill is (from 2013) to return the Queen’s Birthday public holiday to its original date on the second Monday in June and relocate the Labour Day public holiday from May to the first Monday in October (which is the 2012 date for the Queen’s Birthday public holiday.

Other Information

The Holidays and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2012 and Explanatory Notes are available from the Office of the Queensland Parliamentary Counsel at www.legislation.qld.gov.au.

The Hansard transcript of the explanatory speech for the Bill can be found at www.parliament.qld.gov.au/documents/tableOffice/HALnks/120821/holidays.pdf.

Prior Consultation on the Bill

There has been no consultation by the Government with the Community on this Bill.  The Explanatory Notes state at pages 3 – 4 that the Government considers it is clear from earlier consultation in the preparation of the 2011 amendments that there is community and business support for the movement of the Labour Day public holiday to the second half of the year, rather than the Queen’s Birthday public holiday.

Reasons for the Bill

The reasons for the Bill outlined in pages 1 -2 of the Explanatory Notes state:

Although the Queen’s Birthday public holiday was the holiday moved by the 2011 amendments, a considerable proportion of comments were received at the time of the 2011 review and subsequently advocating the movement of Labour Day rather than the Queen’s Birthday.

Moving the Queen’s Birthday public holiday back to its original date of observance in June will better align Queensland public holidays with those of other states. All states (except for Western Australia) observe the Queen’s Birthday public holiday on the second Monday in June. In contrast, the Labour Day public holiday is observed across different months although New South Wales, South Australia and the Australian Capital Territory observe the Labour Day public holiday on the first Monday in October.

Moving the Labour Day public holiday from the first Monday in May will break up a concentration of public holidays that occur in the April-May period (Anzac Day, three Easter public holidays, Labour Day) and more evenly distribute public holidays throughout the year. The amendments to the Act in 2011 which relocated the Queen’s Birthday public holiday to October has done little to alleviate that concentration of public holidays or diminish disruptions to production and services for business and industry resulting from the concentration of public holidays/long weekends falling in quick succession in the first half of the year.

Report

On 6 September 2012, the Committee tabled its Report No. 9, Holidays and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2012. A copy of the report is available here or can be accessed at Related Publications.

The Government tabled its response to the Committee's report on 30 October 2012. A copy of the Government Response is available here or can be accessed at Related Publications.

The Holidays and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2012 was passed, with amendment, by the Legislative Assembly on 30 October 2012.

Referral

On 21 August 2012, the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, the Hon Jarrod Bleijie MP, introduced the Holidays and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2012 into the Queensland Parliament. 

In accordance with Standing Order 131 of the Standing Rules and Orders of the Legislative Assembly, the Bill was referred to the Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee (the Committee) for detailed consideration.