THE PUBLISHER'S POINT

Queen’s memorial public holiday – simply not worth it

LET me start by saying I have a great deal of admiration for the tradition and service of the Monarchy and truly believe that Queen Elizabeth II was the greatest leader ever to grace the planet. But a sudden and ill-conceived public holiday for a day of mourning – leave me alone. This has been a year of significant disruption in many sectors of our community; not the least of which has been health care. We have thousands of people around the country who have booked surgery, many of those right here in Hervey Bay. People make these decisions a long way in advance, they plan for it, and it is very difficult

to get another day planned simply because you have to be re-booked and rescheduled. There are suggestions the unscheduled public holiday could cost the economy as much as $1.5b. Whilst many local business owners I know understand the sentiment; the holiday will undoubtedly create complications for businesses with store closures and staff scheduling challenges. Many local service operators will have to decide whether to move bookings or run at a loss because of increased costs to staffing. The newly elected PM is enjoying a nice honeymoon period at the moment, but as we all know, that can change quickly if we are

subjected to what appears to be tone deaf decisions. His explanation that ‘tradition could sometimes be inconvenient but was important’ doesn’t cut it and smacks of discord with local small businesses. This public holiday is right up there with the Fraser Coast Show Holiday as one of the dumbest reasons to shut down a city I can lay claim to hear. Take a look around at the cost of living pressures and understand that small business represents over 80% of the jobs in this country. This was a bad call, in my view. Tell me what you think…

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