PUBLIC HOLIDAYS AMENDMENT BILL 2016 Second Reading Speech

Northern Territory Second Reading Speeches

PUBLIC HOLIDAYS AMENDMENT BILL 2016

(This an uncorrected proof of the daily report. It is made available under the condition that it is recognised as such.)

public holidays amendment bill 2016
(Serial 7)

Bill presented and read a first time.

Mr McCARTHY (Minister for Public Employment): Madam Speaker, I move that the Bill be now read a second time.

The Bill will amend the Public Holidays Act to clarify that public holiday will either a day or a part of a day to ensure that an appointed public holiday can be a day or a part of a day and legislates additional public holidays when Christmas and New Year’s Day fall on weekends.

Through an amendment to schedule two of the Public Holidays Act the Bill will provide that if the public holiday for 25 December, Christmas Day, and the public holiday for 1 January, New Year’s Day, were to fall on a weekend then that day and the following Monday shall both be public holidays.

These changes also align with the other Australian jurisdiction that legislate additional public holidays in there relevant holiday acts.

Further, the Bill amends schedule 2 to provide for part-day public holidays on 24 December, Christmas Eve, and 31 December, New Year’s Eve. These public holidays will commence from 7pm and run until midnight. These amendments will provide certainty as to the status of public holidays during the festive period and ensure that workers can access entitlements under the Fair Work Act national employment standards for working during this period.

I will now address each of these reforms in detail. The Bill amends the definition of public holiday in section 4 Interpretation; to clarify that a public holiday means a day or a part of a day that is declared as a public holiday. Currently there is doubt as to whether public holiday could include a part day; this amendment puts this beyond doubt. The bill amends Section 6 Additional public holidays; to provide for the appointment of a day or a part day as an additional public holiday. Similarly, the bill amends Section 7 Alteration of Public Holidays so that the minister, by notice in The Gazette, may declare a day or a part day in a year that would otherwise then by virtue of the Act as a public holiday shall not be observed as a public holiday in that year and provide that the minister may appoint another day or part day in that year to be observed as a public holiday instead.

There is also a consequential amendment to Section 10 Payments and other Acts on Public Holidays; that will ensure that it only applies to whole days that are public holidays. This section provides that when the day on which a payment, notice, act or thing should be made, given or done falls on a public holiday it may be made, given or done on the working day next following the public holiday. It is intended that this section will only apply when a day is a public holiday, not a part day.

The bill also amends Schedule 2 of the Act in two ways. Firstly, it provides that when 1 January, New Year’s Day, or 25 December, Christmas Day, fall on a weekend both that day and the following Monday shall be public holidays. Before this amendment the minister was required to appoint these days as additional public holidays by notice in The Gazette, under Section 9 of the Act, these Gazettal notices are required to be published not less than 28 days before the public holiday appointed in the notice.

This amendment provides for administrative efficiency in that it removes the requirement to deal with these days on a case by case basis. Because it is an amendment of Schedule 2 of the Act it will also provide both business and Territorians with certainty about the public holidays to be observed. Secondly, the bill amends Schedule 2 to provide for two additional part day public holidays. New public holidays will be established from 7 pm until midnight on 24 December, Christmas Eve, and 31 December, New Year’s Eve.

Both Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve are important times for family and community celebrations when Territorians would like to be celebrating with their family and friends. The establishment of Christmas eve and New Year’s eve as public holiday acknowledges that those Territorians who are required to serve us, such as police and emergency services, hospital staff and workers in hospitality and tourism, have the same access to entitlements under the Fair Work Act 2009 than their modern awards or enterprise agreements for working at these times.

Madam Speaker, I commend the bill to the House and table the explanatory statement.

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