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The Forum > Article Comments > Public holidays - to have or not to have > Comments

Public holidays - to have or not to have : Comments

By Dino Cesta, published 18/12/2014

Should we re-evaluate our existing public holidays, to consider abolishing some and introducing other more worthy public holidays for significant events.

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Dear Killarney,

<<However, national holidays do enforce a sense of what a culture values and what it doesn't.>>

And that's what's horrible about it.

'Enforce' means using force or violence. Who are those values enforced upon? Certainly not over those who already share those values - so the idea is to use violence in order to push certain cultural values by hook or by crook down the throat of those who either oppose them or simply have other priorities.
Posted by Yuyutsu, Friday, 19 December 2014 10:14:46 AM
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Do stop being so damn stupid Yuyutsu, it takes no force at all to get Ozzie workers to take a day off.

They don't even have to know, & mostly don't care, what it is to commemorate to enjoy it.

Our Muslim blowins on the other hand, have no need of public holidays. When you are on welfare, doing nothing at all useful, public holidays are just a nuisance.
Posted by Hasbeen, Friday, 19 December 2014 3:47:10 PM
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Dear Hasbeen,

Of course almost every worker would be glad to have as many holidays as they can, but when the number of holidays is limited and those holidays occur on dates which have no special meaning to the worker at the expense of the dates that are really important for them, then one feels the pain.

Take for example Jewish people - there are so many days on the Jewish calendar in which one is prohibited to work: Jews would use all their annual leave on those, then take unpaid leave and even lose their jobs rather than work on those days against the edicts of their religion. Now say both an employer and their employee are Jewish - why then are they forced to take a holiday on Christmas instead, which for them is like any other day?
Posted by Yuyutsu, Friday, 19 December 2014 6:02:11 PM
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I don't thin kthe issue here is really religion is it? Removing public holidays as a whole is not really about why the holidays are being celebrated and neither is it a matter of how easily a people will be glad to have or not to have them. To me, the whole issue of having public holidays is as simple as ensuring that people get sufficient rest after working for their income and that they deservedly should have a day of rest. At the end of the day, whether there's a reason behind the date itself or not is up for question, but the issue at hand here is whether public holidays are good or not - not for the reasons behind them right?
Posted by MarcioWilges, Monday, 22 December 2014 1:21:40 PM
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On December 3 1854 Australians of many national origins stood up at Eureka near Ballarat to the British state and set in train the events which have led to a democratic Australia. The grovelling element have shunned this anniversary and its symbols to this day, but if ever there was one day in the year which should be a holiday throughout Australia to commemorate those brave people it's December 3.
Posted by EmperorJulian, Monday, 22 December 2014 1:23:00 PM
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Dear Marcio,

<<To me, the whole issue of having public holidays is as simple as ensuring that people get sufficient rest after working for their income and that they deservedly should have a day of rest.>>

To begin with, this is not possible: how can you ensure that someone doesn't do another side-job on their day off? Or perhaps they just fix their roof or run in circles that whole day instead of resting... would you forcibly confine them to bed?

But suppose for a moment that it is desirable and possible to make people rest: why not allow them to choose their own dates? Employees could even submit in advance their list of significant dates to their employer, which would then be treated treated in the same way as public-holidays are currently treated (as opposed to annual leave or sick-leave).
Posted by Yuyutsu, Monday, 22 December 2014 2:06:42 PM
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