Book 8 - Parliament of Victoria

PUBLIC HOLIDAYS AMENDMENT BILL 2011
1686 COUNCIL Thursday, 2 June 2011
individuals or collectively as local communities. That is
what this bill is about. It is about devolving decision
making so that local communities can fully determine
what the most appropriate arrangements are for them
for their local Melbourne Cup Day holidays.
I speak about local communities, and I will give some
examples. We know that agricultural shows are a very
significant part of the calendar of each local rural
community, as are, where appropriate, the local cup day
events. Racing clubs and agricultural society shows are
critical to the wellbeing of local communities, because
they provide a social lubrication which very few other
community events provide. They are a massing
together of people who have a common interest, which
is the interest in the agricultural show or the races. The
Sale Cup, for example, has been transformed over
recent years by a recognition that it was difficult to get
a date that suited everybody, so now it is held on a
Sunday. It is a magnificent event. The numbers have
grown from around 1500 to 2000 to over
7000 attendances in the last couple of years. It is a great
event for the Sale community. That event is now an
important part of the calendar for Victorian racing.
The arrangements for other important race meetings in
Gippsland are such that there is a probability that there
has not been an opportunity to create an iconic event for
those race meetings. An example of that is the
Bairnsdale Cup. It is not held on a date that is
conducive to attracting a large crowd. It is an important
meeting because it is part of the calendar for racing in
Victoria. Unfortunately it has not gained a foothold
because it has never been able to find the best time to
have the event.
With this change to the act through the bill before us,
the East Gippsland shire could elect to designate a
holiday on the Bairnsdale Cup day. Already the
Bairnsdale Racing Club provides a race meeting on the
public holiday which is currently declared for the
Melbourne Cup. It is just a Bairnsdale Racing Club race
meeting; it is not a special meeting as such, other than
that it falls on Melbourne Cup race day. As it happens it
is reasonably well attended. It is a great event, and that
is important.
However, it does not make any difference, it would
seem to me, having attended that event for probably
more than two decades, whether it falls on Melbourne
Cup day or not. In fact the holiday better serves other
community events — for example, last year the
numbers for attendance at the Sale Agricultural Show
were down significantly because there was no half-day
public holiday on that day. I know that firsthand
through my role as a volunteer with my local Rotary
club. Members of my local Rotary club and the Rotary
clubs in Sale man the gates for the agricultural show,
and the numbers were significantly down because there
was no public holiday.
The point I want to make is about why this local
decision making is important. If we take the Wellington
shire as just one example, there is the Maffra show, the
Sale show and the Yarram show, all within the one
municipality and all of which are geographically
dispersed and cater to different community interests.
Clearly it is inappropriate for one of those events to be
designated as a day for the whole municipality.
Therefore the provisions of this bill will make it
possible for the Wellington shire to accommodate the
needs of each of those three important communities.
Similarly, as the flexibility under these provisions
comes into effect, it may be that by negotiation between
the Bairnsdale Racing Club and the Sale Racing Club
there could be designated holidays for their special
events, which I have just spoken about as being
important to those communities but where there are
some difficulties in accommodating them in terms of
selecting a day on which to hold them.
I have to say that these are examples of events which
have a great deal more significance to rural
communities than does the Melbourne Cup. One could
count on the fingers of two hands the number of
carloads of people who would go to Melbourne from
far east Gippsland for a Melbourne Cup Day meeting.
The closest they get to it is possibly listening to it on the
radio as they are driving their tractor or their ute around
their farm.
Ms Pennicuik interjected.
Mr P. DAVIS — The interjection from
Ms Pennicuik was something about eating
vegieburgers. Most of those people who might be
listening on their tractor or in their farm ute would not
be eating vegieburgers; they would be probably eating
high-country beef.
This bill provides flexibility. It applies to
non-metropolitan councils, and it has no effect in
relation to metropolitan councils, because clearly
Melbourne Cup Day is a declared public holiday for the
metropolitan area. The bill provides flexibility and a
capacity for a municipality to request an alternative or
substitute day, or two half-days to apply in the whole or
different parts of the municipality.
I note the concern expressed by Ms Pennicuik and
Ms Pulford about entitlements. Under this legislation
the same number of holidays will apply to all residents