Don Randall (Canning, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Energy and Resources) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

With Melbourne Cup Day fast approaching, it is timely that the issue of having a truly national public holiday has again come to the forefront. In February 2006 I prepared a private members motion recognising that the Melbourne Cup has become a national event observed by the majority of Australians and, as such, it would be highly appropriate that it be observed as a national public holiday, replacing the Queen’s Birthday public holiday. While the motion was not debated on the floor of the parliament, it remains an issue of considerable importance to me. So I was pleased to read that Tom Percy QC in Perth in his Sunday Times magazine column yesterday expressed a similar sentiment. As Mr Percy points out, why not make the day of ‘the race that stops the nation’ a day where work officially stops across the nation?

In Western Australia the public holiday for the Queen’s birthday has no correlation with Her Majesty’s birthday. It is months later. It is tied to nothing more than the footy and nice weather. Thousands of Perth people gather at Ascot for Melbourne Cup Day celebrations. With a strong racing industry in Western Australia, particularly in my electorate of Canning, it is without doubt that Melbourne Cup Day is as important to Western Australians as it is to those on the east coast.

As public sentiment moves away from traditional ties to the monarchy, the leaders of both major parties have lent their weight to the republican debate, with Malcolm Turnbull, a staunch republican, and Kevin Rudd putting it on the government’s agenda. Perhaps now is an opportune time to reassess the importance of the Queen’s Birthday public holiday in favour of days like Melbourne Cup Day. (Time expired)