Industry concerned yet another public holiday could be added to the calendar

A major industry group is concerned another public holiday could be added to our calendar if the government introduces a special day to celebrate our indigenous history.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has floated the idea of introducing a special day to honour Indigenous Australians.

He says he doesn’t want to change the date of Australia Day from January 26th but celebrating our 60,000 years of Aboriginal history on a separate date could be debated.

But would it be a public holiday?

“Of course people are going to demand that it’s an extra public holiday, otherwise it’s going to play second fiddle to Australia Day,” Chris Kenny says.

The Australian Industry Group is hoping not.

Head of workplace relations policy at the Australian Industry Group Stephen Smith says the number of public holidays is already too high.

“We have so many public holidays. We’ve now got this ridiculous Victorian footy Friday public holiday, as well as numerous others.”

He says the number of public holidays can be up to 15 a year, and that puts additional stress on businesses.

“Small businesses, in particular, say how can we pay for all of this?”

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