Book 8 - Parliament of Victoria

PUBLIC HOLIDAYS AMENDMENT BILL 2011
Thursday, 2 June 2011 COUNCIL 1693
they come up with the money for the Labor Party at
election time and they do a deal, years later they want
to continue the deal even when the government has
gone. They continue the deal, and when the shoppies,
as personified by Mr Somyurek, see a dead horse they
do not just want to flog it; they give it mouth-to-mouth
resuscitation and rush it off to intensive care. That is
how keen they are on this Easter public holiday thing.
The ACTING PRESIDENT (Ms Pennicuik) —
Order! I remind Mr Finn that in his contribution he
needs to stick to the provisions of the bill.
Mr FINN — Acting President, I was just making
reference to the comments that were made by a
previous speaker on this particular matter. I will indeed
move on — —
Mrs Peulich interjected.
Mr FINN — We will get to Trades Hall in just a
moment, because it is very important that we do that.
As I said before, Mr Somyurek is a man of honour, and
clearly, if his union tells him what to do, he will come
in here and do it. That is a very honourable and decent
thing for any Labor man to do. No doubt he will be
sufficiently rewarded when his preselection is next up
for discussion, and most certainly I wish him well with
that. The reason I have jumped to my feet — —
Mr Leane — There is no reason. What bill are you
on?
Mr FINN — I do not know if Mr Leane has
been — —
The ACTING PRESIDENT (Ms Pennicuik) —
Order! Mr Finn has not listened to my previous
reminders to stick with the provisions of the bill. I ask
him to do that.
Mr FINN — I was referring to Mr Somyurek’s
contribution on this debate a little time ago; I do not
know if the Acting President was in the chamber when
he was speaking for a little bit longer than he should
have, but that is another thing altogether.
There is provision for flexibility in this bill. Flexibility
in the workplace, as indeed flexibility in life, should be
a good thing. I think it is good, and certainly members
on this side of the house — members of the
government — think that flexibility is wonderful; it is
good for all involved. But no, even though members of
the Labor Party are apparently going to support the bill,
they have just spent the last hour speaking against it,
and speaking against flexibility and against all of the
benefits that the provisions of this bill will bring to
Victoria, particularly to country Victoria. Those sorts of
comments show a total lack of understanding of what
happens in country Victoria.
I grew up in the country, and I recall that whilst my city
cousins had the day off on Melbourne Cup Day, we
were dutifully sitting in class and listening to the radio.
I remember I backed a couple of winners in those
days — —
Hon. M. P. Pakula — Name them!
Mr FINN — Gold and Black was one of them; I
remember that.
Hon. M. P. Pakula — You weren’t at school then!
Mr FINN — I backed Gold and Black — —
Hon. M. P. Pakula — On a point of order, Acting
President, there is no way that Mr Finn was at school in
1977.
The ACTING PRESIDENT (Ms Pennicuik) —
Order! There is no point of order.
Mr FINN — In fact I was at school in 1977,
although not for much longer than that.
Mr Somyurek — After 10 years in grade 6!
Mr FINN — Thank you very much, Mr Somyurek.
I have listened to a number of speakers on the bill
today, and speakers from the Greens indicated, to my
way of hearing what they had to say, that they would
like to see every day as a public holiday. In a perfect
world, if indeed we were all off with the pixies, that
would be a wonderful thing. However, that would be as
devastating to small business as would be the
introduction of a carbon tax, which strangely enough is
being advocated by the same people. Why would the
Greens want to wipe out small business in that way?
Further, the arguments put forward by the comrades
opposite, and the union delegates who come in here
masquerading as members of Parliament, show that
they do not understand small business. They do not
understand the difficulties that small businesses face
everyday. They do not understand that the true heroes
of the Australian economy are small business men and
women who put themselves on the line — and they put
their homes on the line not only for their own good but
also for the good of the Australian economy — and
they create employment.
Hon. M. P. Pakula interjected.