Minister Dalidakis has taken an extraordinary step by failing to make the 25th December a public holiday in Victoria. This means that the thousands of Victorians who have no choice but to work on an important family holiday will have hundreds of dollars taken from their paychecks.
While the Minister is at home spending time with his loved ones, his decision will be hurting some of the lowest paid people in Victoria.
The Government should reverse the decision and bring Victoria’s treatment of the Christmas period in line with the rest of the country.
Why is this important?
Every state and territory in Australia has dedicated the Christmas public holidays as Sunday 25th of December, Monday 26th of December for Boxing Day and Tuesday 27th of December as an additional day.
Victoria is the only state not to make Christmas Day a public holiday.
Victoria’s work force will be hurt by this decision - retail assistants, petrol station attendants, pharmacy assistants, public transport workers, hospital staff and our emergency services staff.
This decision needs to be immediately reversed so that people can plan their budgets for the holiday period and be compensated for missing out on their families' Christmas celebrations.
