Victorian’s in Melbourne now have the choice to work on Easter Sunday due to new legislation introduced by the Victorian government.
The legislation has removed a ban that’s been in places for several decades on Easter Sunday trading.
“This is bad for Victorian business people, this is bad for Victorian workers and this is bad for Victorian families,” Labor Party MP Jenny Mikakos told Neos Kosmos.
Mikakos said the legislation was “fundamentally flawed and greatly unfair.”
“Apart from the issue of the ban itself, the legislation that they introduced did not declare the day a public holiday. So if you are a relatively low-paid retail or hospitality worker and you get rostered on to work Easter Sunday, you are going to have a difficulty having an argument with your employer as to why you can’t work that day. There is anti-discrimination legislation to protect you but we know the realities in the work force. Someone might not get rostered on again and some people may lose their job and we think it’s pretty disgraceful that you can’t get penalty rates.”
But Liberal MP Louise Asher said that the problem with making Easter Sunday a public holiday is it’s small business that bear the cost. “If we had one less public holiday that any other states this might be a valid argument but this argument means that we would have an extra public holiday which would mean an extra cost for business.”
Mikakos argued that this legislation will “force” businesses to open on Easter Sunday whereas Asher said that it’s completely the choice of the business. “It’s against the law to force a business to trade,” said Asher. “If someone was forced to open, then a complaint should be lodged with the Small Business Commissioner. At Easter, businesses will decide if they want to trade or not, not the government, it’s the businesses call.”
Easter provides an opportunity for families to get away and the Labor party said that this legislation will impact this.
“I feel sorry for the people working as a lot of people like to take that holiday off and enjoy themselves,” said Mikakos. “It’s the only four-day holiday a year and people like to go away.”
But the Liberal party argued that this could be the way to get Victoria back on its feet after the devastating floods with their million dollar campaign to get people to visit regional Victoria.
“A lot of these flood affected areas have had significant downturns of trade so I see this as an opportunity for regional Victoria to recover from the floods.”
