Free Market Public Holidays?
Public holidays are an important part of life in Australia, providing us with the opportunity to take a break and celebrate the history and culture of our country. However, the current system of predetermined public holidays means that Australian workers often don't get to choose when they can take time off. It is time to consider the merits of allowing Australian workers to take their public holidays whenever they choose.
Each year, Australian taxpayers fund up to ten public holidays for full-time workers. These days, which usually fall on a Monday, give employees the chance to take a break from their regular working week and spend time with family or participate in recreational activities. These holidays, however, don’t come for free; Australian taxpayers are responsible for funding them.
Public holidays are designed to create a sense of shared national identity and to give employees the chance to celebrate religious festivals or cultural events.
For workers, these public holidays are invaluable; they provide a much-needed respite from the working day and can help with mental health, as well as allow employees to recharge and refresh. It’s also important to note that, although paid leave is required for some of these days, most public holidays are paid for by Australian taxpayers. This means that nearly every Australian citizen contributes to the funding of public holidays in one way or another.
As full-time workers in Australia, we are provided with ten public holidays a year. However, many of these public holidays stem from the Christian religion of European settlers and are culturally irrelevant to a lot of Australians. This leaves other Australians who would like to celebrate their own cultural events such as Diwali or Eid feeling excluded from the traditional public holidays.
This lack of cultural inclusion can be felt in other aspects of Australian life too. Many workplace policies favour those from Anglo-Saxon backgrounds and fail to provide for different cultures. This means that people who observe cultural events and holidays are left with little choice but to use their annual leave in order to do so.
This is an unfair burden on Australian workers and goes against the concept of inclusivity. It is especially problematic when there are public holidays that fall on days other than Mondays, as employees who work those days are not given any sort of pro-rata compensation. A better system would be to allow employees the option to swap one public holiday for another, so that everyone has the opportunity to celebrate their own culture without having to use their annual leave. This way, more Australian workers will be able to choose a work-life balance that suits them.