The Canberra Business Chamber says it is deeply disappointed that the ACT Government has chosen to ignore the views of the business sector and create an additional public holiday when ANZAC Day falls on a weekend.

“The Canberra Business Chamber completely endorses a public holiday every year on 25 April, as a mark of respect for those who have served, fought and died for Australia. The sacrifices of our servicemen and servicewomen are immense, and they deserve recognition,” Greg Harford, Canberra Business Chamber Chief Executive said today. “25 April should always be a public holiday – but the ACT Government has now announced that, when ANZAC Day falls on a weekend, there will be two public holidays – one on ANZAC Day and one on the following Monday.

“This decision is deeply disappointing and demonstrates that the Government has not understood the costs and impacts on the private sector and on small business. The Chamber has estimated that the productivity impact of this proposal is approximately $30-35 million every year; and it increases the direct wage costs for business who open by between 125 and 200 per cent.

“The decision makes no economic sense, and the Chamber is concerned that there appears to have been no proper cost-benefit analysis of the proposal undertaken.

“For small business owners, the announcement comes at the worst possible time, with many businesses really strugging with increased cost. We need to be clear that, if you are a small business owner, you don’t get paid for an extra public holiday, but you are going to be required either to pay your teams for an extra day off when they are not working; or to pay punitive penal rates to have people working on a public holiday. We will be out of step with most other jurisdictions, meaning that the new rules are a further competitive disadvantage for firms operating in the ACT.

“We should be looking after ACT businesses, not piling extra costs on them during a cost of doing business crisis. ACT Government sought feedback from the business sector and the Canberra Business Chamber provided detailed feedback. We are disappointed that our views appear to have been ignored in the decision.”

For further information, please contact:

Greg Harford

Chief Executive

Canberra Business Chamber

0423 357 066