Public Holidays NSW

New South Wales Public Holiday Dates & Information

Easter 2018 Public Holiday Dates, School Holiday Dates & History

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Easter holiday dates New South Wales Easter School Holidays Reasons for Easter

It’s time to get EGGcited because Easter 2018 is nearly here.

We have all of the information on Easter public holiday dates, Easter school holiday dates and the reasons behind the Easter public holidays.

The 4 Day Easter Long Weekend

In 2018, Easter will be a 4 day long weekend for most residents of Australia, excluding those that have to work of course. The 4 day break kicks off with Easter Friday on 30th of March. The Date after Good Friday holiday (Easter Saturday) is on Saturday, 31st of March. Easter Sunday is on the 1st of April and Easter Monday, is on the 2nd of April.

Easter School Holiday Dates

In New South Wales, most schools (eastern and western division) will begin their Easter school holidays on Saturday, 14th April. The school holiday break lasts for just over 2 weeks with most students returning on Monday, 30th of April.

It’s worth noting that school holidays may vary slightly between certain schools.

New South Wales Weather During Easter Holiday Period

The weather during the Easter holiday period in New South Wales is very comfortable, generally sitting between a low of around 13 degrees celsius and a high of around 23 degrees celsius.

The Reasons Behind Easter. Why Do We Celebrate Easter?

Easter is a religious based holiday, celebrating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Good Friday commemorates the crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ. Easter Sunday celebrates the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.

How Are Easter Dates Determined?

Easter and the associated holidays are not fixed dates each year. In recent tradition, Easter Sunday is the first Sunday after the paschal full moon (the ecclesiastical full moon of the northern spring) falling on or after the Spring Equinox (March 21). The earliest possible date of Easter is March 22, while the latest possible date is April 25.

How Did Bunny Rabbits And Easter Eggs Become Part Of Easter?

With origins in Germany, the Easter “Hare” originally played the role of a judge, deciding whether children were well behaved or poorly behaved at the start of the season of Eastertide. The rabbit would carry coloured eggs and candy in a basket to the homes of children. The hare was very popular among christian culture as it was widely believed that the hare could reproduce without the loss of virginity, which led to an association with the Virgin Mary. Also, Orthodox churches have a custom of abstaining from eggs during the fast of Lent. They would boil or roast eggs to prevent them from going to waste and then it is assumed that the eggs would be decorated as part of the celebrations.

The Easter Bilby

The Easter Bilby has become a tradition within Australia. The bilby is a native Australian animal and was used to raise money and increase awareness of the plight of the bilby and has also been used to raise awareness of a problem with feral rabbits in Australia. Most money that is donated from the sale of chocolate bilby’s goes to organisations that are created to help save the bilby from extinction.

The 2017 Australia Day Lamb Ad Is Causing A Stir

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It’s that time of year again. The annual Australia Day lamb ad has just dropped and the media have immediately labelled it as controversial and devisive.

The reason for the controversy? Well the ad could be perceived as making light of the “invasion” of Aboriginal land by overseas settlers. The ad begins with Indigenous Australians on the beach with visitors arriving on boats from other nations. The video has an upbeat, happy vibe throughout with no shortage of tongue in cheek jabs at just about every culture.

Guest appearances in the ad include Cathy Freeman, Wendell Sailor and Adam Gilchrist.

As always, the public opinion seems to be slightly divided. We are guessing the marketing agency responsible for the ad have achieved their goal of creating a media storm to increase exposure.

View the Meat and Livestock Australia’s (MLA) advertisement for Australia Day 2017 below:

Eating Lamb on Australia Day may make you a Sheep

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Australia Day is one of the more popular public holidays throughout our great land. Since 1988 it has been a unified holiday throughout all states and traditionally for most of us it means relaxing, having a BBQ and a cold beverage of the alcoholic variety.

Lamb is one of the more popular meats of choice on Australia Day, especially in recent times, and many of us consider this to be a tradition. As a matter of fact lamb is not at all related to the tradition of Australia Day except for the fact it is one of many meats that can be cooked on a BBQ. Unfortunately, if you believe that lamb is part of Australia Day tradition it seems that you’re just a sheep following the masses that believe everything they see on TV!

Historically speaking, Australia Day celebrates the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788. For indigenous Australians this is not necessarily something to be celebrated and many refer to Australia Day as “Invasion Day”.

In 2005, a massive marketing campaign was undertaken by Meat & Livestock Australia to promote lamb as the meat to eat on Australia Day. The campaign, headed by Sam Kekovich, was so successful that it has become an annual event and each year we’re inundated with advertisements encouraging us to eat lamb on Australia Day. Below is the original Lamb advertisement.

These campaigns are notorious for pushing the boundaries of political correctness and sensitivity, which is a recipe that seems to work for the Australian public, or at least those that intend on eating meat on Australia Day.

The 2016 campaign is ruffling feathers amongst the vegan community. The scene that is causing the most uproar occurs when a man proclaims that he is vegan and a team of special agents apply a blow torch to a bowl of kale on his table. We are taking a punt here in guessing that most Australian’s would think this part of the ad is pretty damn funny and the fact that vegans are outraged is only going to give the campaign more publicity and popularity among the masses. Below is the 2016 lamb Australia Day campaign.

Whether you choose to have lamb, pork, beef of a tofu kebab on the BBQ on Australia Day the main thing is to have a great feed, relax and enjoy the freedom and lifestyle we enjoy in this great land we call Australia.

The Push Is On For Melbourne Cup Holiday

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Betting agency UBET have launched a promotional campaign to push for a Melbourne Cup Public Holiday throughout Australia.

The perfectly timed campaign is led by ex Brisbane Lions champion Jonathan Brown and takes exception at the fact that “the race that stops a nation” only really stops Victoria, since they’re the only state that get a public holiday for the Melbourne Cup.

UBET have promoted the campaign across a number of social media platforms. View the viral video here:

Victoria has been in the public holiday spotlight of late due to the fact they receive a massive 13 public holidays per year with the AFL Grand Final holiday causing a big stir recently. Most other states have around 10-11 public holidays per year with the Melbourne Cup day being one of the more desired dates for an additional day off.

The Melbourne Cup is due to be run on Tuesday, November 3rd. Unfortunately, whilst the UBET campaign is very entertaining, there is absolutely ZERO chance that a public holiday will be added to this years calendar….but we can hope for next year!

War on Penalty Rates is Heating Up

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The war on penalty rates continues to gain momentum in the wake of the productivity commission’s draft report which made recommendations that the Australian Government should amend the National Employment Standards. The report recommended that Sunday penalty rates for non-essential services should be aligned with Saturday rates.

Under the current retail award Saturday attracts 25 per cent plus 10 per cent for casuals whilst Sunday attracts 100 per cent and public holidays attract 150 per cent.

The recent 7-Eleven scandal, which involved underpaying workers, has shed light on the pressures employers are under when it comes to maintaining profitability on weekends and public holidays. We can only wonder how many other employers throughout Australia are attempting to avoid the existing award rates to keep their doors open on holidays and weekends.

Adding more fuel to the fire, the Pharmacy Guild of Australia have placed their support behind reducing penalty rates. Many of us would argue that pharmacies are seen as an essential service, which under the productivity commission’s report would allow pharmacy workers to maintain their existing penalty rates. Many parents would be all too familiar with making a midnight run to the 24 hour chemist to purchase medicine for their sick children.

Pharmacy owners would no doubt argue that the reduction of penalty rates would allow them to be open later and more often due to the lower wage costs. Whilst existing pharmacy workers would be horrified at the thought of losing their penalty rates, no doubt there would be a long line of willing replacements ready to accept a lower rate of pay just to gain employment.

Unfortunately it is the employee that is under pressure here. Many of us cannot afford to lose our penalty rates but even worse most of us definitely cannot afford to lose our jobs. Excuse my cynicism but, when given the opportunity it is likely that business owners will take more than they give.

Penalty rates are awarded because the people working during those times make a significant sacrifice, missing out on the regular weekend, public holiday and night time activities. However, one could question why Sunday rates are more than Saturday rates and why public holiday rates are more than Sunday (or Saturday) rates.

With the removal of penalty rates debate gaining momentum it seems unlikely that workers will retain their existing rates of pay. We suspect that Sunday rates and public holiday rates are the most likely to be affected….only time will tell.

Sunday Penalty Rates Could Be Cut

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Nurses & other essential services are likely to retain their Sunday penalty rates….but not the rest of us.

The Productivity Commission has released a workplace relations draft report which states that Sunday penalty rates for non-essential services such as cafes, hospitality, entertainment, restaurants and retailing should be aligned with Saturday rates. The Commission wants to safeguard the existing Sunday penalty rates for essential service workers such as nurses and paramedics.

The draft report also made recommendation that the Australian Government should make amendments to the National Employment Standards so employers are not required to pay employees for leave or additional penalty rates for any newly designated state or territory public holidays. The draft report made reference to the Grand Final Eve holiday, which was recently declared in Victoria for the Friday before the AFL Grand Final, as an example of a new holiday that could potentially see employers not obliged to pay penalty rates or pay employees for leave on that day.

The Australian Government is being encouraged to drop penalty rates from external sources also. After the release of the latest Roy Morgan poll, Gary Morgan said “The Abbott government must look at the abolition of Sunday and public holiday penalty rates for the tourism and retail industries. These measures have an obvious detrimental impact on small businesses which are forced to close on Sundays and public holidays.”

The Productivity Commission is the Australian Government’s independent research and advisory body on economic, social and environmental issues.

NSW Bank Holiday Information

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The New South Wales Bank Holiday is a public holiday that is generally only observed by Banks and their employees.

It is a statewide public holiday but is unique in that not everyone gets to have the day off or receive penalty rates.

Some lucky individuals that do not work at banks may still be entitled to penalty rates, but it’s likely that your award or agreement needs to specify this.

The NSW Bank Holiday is an annual public holiday and is always held on the first Monday of August.

In 2015, the NSW Bank Holiday is on Monday, August 3rd.

All banks will be closed in New South Wales on the public holiday.

Coffs Harbour prepared for the Gold Cup Holiday

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The Coffs Harbour Racing Club, has been unable to race since last years Melbourne Cup thanks to over 1600mm of rain so far in 2015. That’s all about to change with the club ready to relaunch for the annual racing festival.

In 2015 Coffs Harbour residents receive a part-day public holiday on Thursday, 6 August from midday til 5.30pm as part of the annual two-day festival.

Howard Street will be closed all day on August 6 (9am til 6.30pm) to allow for the safe entrance and exit for all attendees. Parking is available on site but racegoers are encouraged to make use of public transport. Public bus services will be running from Park Avenue CBD and Sawtell/Toormina.

It is expected that over 8000 racegoers will attend the event.

Tickets are available now with general admission costing $20.

The gates will open at 11.30am and the first race is scheduled to start at 12.32pm.

Victorians likely to get two new Public Holidays

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Victorian's may soon be celebrating even harder on AFL Grand Final Day

Victorian’s may soon be celebrating even harder on AFL Grand Final Day

Residents in Victoria are hoping that state government proceeds with its plan to gift them two additional public holidays each year. The additional public holidays would bring their total holidays for the year to 13, which is ahead of all other states. [Read more…]