Book 8 - Parliament of Victoria

PUBLIC HOLIDAYS AMENDMENT BILL 2011
Thursday, 2 June 2011 COUNCIL 1707
holiday, that this full day or these two half-days in these
parts of the shire or the entire shire will be a public
holiday’. All we have done is give them the flexibility
and the choice, as I indicated in my initial presentation.
I believe that is a good thing. It is good for business, it
is good for the shires to have a bit of control and it is
also a great outcome for all those who are operating
under difficult circumstances.
Ms PULFORD (Western Victoria) — I thank the
minister for his response. I am also familiar with the
way in which the public holiday arrangements for 2010
are expressed in the document to which he referred. I
would like to assure the minister that that is a reflection
of the express wishes of those municipalities, so what
the minister has just described as being a — —
Mr P. Davis — Could the member repeat that? We
could not quite hear what Ms Pulford was saying.
Ms PULFORD — Sorry. Those arrangements are
as a consequence of discussions between the former
government and those municipalities. Whilst it may
look a little untidy as an overall Victorian picture, in
that postcode 3444 gets one arrangement — that is
Kyneton, where they have the Kyneton Cup — and
Carlsruhe might have a different arrangement, and in
Yarriambiack we talked about five different townships
wanting to celebrate on five different days, in my
experience those arrangements are very clear to the
communities involved.
In the Golden Plains shire there is a line on the map
expressed in that document that splits the shire two
different ways, so what I would assert to the minister is
that the flexibility he is seeking to introduce with the
legislation has in many circumstances worked well. It
has worked well by agreement and discussion with the
nine councils — out of the 79 in Victoria — that sought
a split-shire arrangement. I could perhaps just take the
opportunity, given that the minister has mentioned the
Yarriambiack shire — —
Mr Koch — On a point of order, Deputy President,
I would like to mention in this committee stage that
what has been indicated by the member is not the case.
The DEPUTY PRESIDENT — Order! That is not
a point of order; it is a point of debate.
Ms PULFORD — Briefly in response, that is my
recollection of how those arrangements were entered
into. Those arrangements are a reflection of the desires
of those municipalities in 2010, so the arrangements
that were made in 2010 — —
Mr Koch interjected.
The DEPUTY PRESIDENT — Order! I will call
Mr Koch if he wishes to make a contribution in a
minute.
Ms PULFORD — The Golden Plains Shire Council
arrangements with the two dates are in the document
Mr Dalla-Riva referred to. I appreciate that the minister
has indicated that the substantive difference therefore is
the opportunity for half-days, and perhaps on clause 3
we might come back to that, but the minister did
mention the Yarriambiack shire experience. I am keen
to understand how the legislation applies to the
Yarriambiack shire, because it was a particularly
challenging situation with five distinctly separate
communities.
When I read the bill I wondered how the split days and
the split localities worked together, because the bill
seems to suggest two half-day options, but how does
that work in a shire that wants to celebrate on five
separate days? As I understand it — and again my
recollection is from dealings on this issue last year —
the bill certainly seems to suggest you can have two
half-days, not five half-days. I would appreciate some
clarification — —
The DEPUTY PRESIDENT — Order! I think
Ms Pulford is raising questions that relate to clause 3. If
members have completed their contribution on the
purpose clause, let us move on and raise the direct
questions in relation to those specific questions. Does
the minister want to respond?
Hon. R. A. DALLA-RIVA (Minister for
Employment and Industrial Relations) — The advisers
have explained the complexities of the way it was
operating, and I stand by the comments I made earlier
to Ms Pennicuik. The legislation has caused mass
confusion. I was just illustrating that with some
examples. As I said, I am happy to provide this
document to Ms Pulford so she can understand it, but
the bottom line is that there are 48 councils that had the
capacity to have different arrangements. Nine shires
had 14 different arrangements. They had no half-days.
The councils could not request half-day or part-shire
holidays unless they went through a convoluted
process. What we are doing with this legislation is very
clearly and simply keeping our election commitment. I
think the details we are getting into now relate to later
clauses in the bill, and I will be happy to go into them.
Ms PENNICUIK (Southern Metropolitan) — I
want to follow up on two things the minister said.
Firstly, he was kind enough to tell me that 6 of the
48 shires he wrote to responded. Could he tell me
which 6 they were?