'Feds, not Newman, behind holiday limit'

The State Government is proposing to rewrite the calendar for public holidays. Picture: Thinkstock Source: news.com.au

ATTORNEY General Jarrod Bleijie has distanced the Newman Government from a proposal to limit public holidays, saying the plan was a federal government recommendation.

"The fact is having a standard 11 public holidays across the nation was a recommendation from a Federal Labor Party commissioned report," Mr Bleijie said.

"Federal Minister Bill Shorten wrote to me to ask my thoughts on the proposal."

"I told him that any move by the Federal Government to progress this issue would have to be done with greater consultation because we have more than 11 public holidays in some years.

He said the plan – which would effectively cap the number of public holidays to 11 – was "not a Newman Government proposal".

Earlier, The Courier-Mail reported workers would be prevented from double dipping on public holidays under a plan put to the Newman Government.

The plan would rewrite rules allowing an extra public holiday to be added when Christmas, Boxing or New Year's days fall on a weekend.

The plan to effectively cap the number of public holidays on the Queensland calendar to 11 would save business about $300 million each time such a scenario occurred.

However, it would mean hospitality and retail workers would be paid normal rates when rostered for Christmas, Boxing or New Year's days when they fall on a weekend.

Queensland had 13 public holidays last year after New Year's Day fell on a Sunday and an additional day off was granted to coincide with the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.

The next time an additional public holiday is due to be added is for Boxing Day in 2015.

The public holiday cap revelation comes as Justice Minister Jarrod Bleijie yesterday lauded the Government's decision to move Labour Day to October as a win for workers.

"By moving the Labour Day public holiday from May to October, it will break up the concentration of public holidays that generally fall in the April-May period," he said.

"This move will provide a break for Queenslanders during the second half of the year because of an even spread of public holidays."

Mr Bleijie's push to reform public holidays is revealed in a letter to Federal Employment Minister Bill Shorten.

The letter, written in December, came after an independent panel reviewing the Fair Work Act last year recommended limiting the annual number of days when penalty rates are payable to 11.

Queensland Chamber of Commerce and Industry president David Goodwin backed Mr Bleijie.

Mr Goodwin said hospitality businesses often did not even open their doors on public holidays because of penalty rates, a scenario that had a flow-on effect for tourism.

However, Queensland Council of Unions president John Battams opposed the proposal.

"Most of these people are casuals, most of them are very low paid and the penalty rates they get on these days help them ensure ends meet," he said.

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