'Absurd' and 'anachronistic' public holiday rules must change to help retailers, according to the Shopping Centre Council of Australia (SCCA).
Under the current review of the Holidays Act 1910 (SA), the SCCA has submitted its views on some of the hotly contested issues.
The SCCA executive director, Milton Cockburn, said although the review of the act is separate to the Shop Trading Hours Act, both sets of rules are closely related and affect retailers.
Cockburn said the Holidays Act 1910 (SA) needs to be amended to ensure that every Sunday is not deemed a public holiday.
“It is anachronistic that Sundays are still prescribed as public holidays in SA as Sundays are now routinely regarded as an ordinary working day in many industries in the state,” Cockburn said. “No other state or territory maintains this prescription and it would obviously be absurd, given the interaction between the National Employment Standards and the Holidays Act, for this to be retained and for SA to run the risk that employees would be entitled to be absent from work on Sundays.”
As Easter Sunday is not treated as a public holiday in any other state or territory, except for NSW, the SCCA is also calling for this occasion not to be deemed as a public holiday.
Cockburn said the present arrangements in SA in relation to December 25 and 26 are 'particularly disadvantageous' for the retailing industry, and there is no justification for part-day public holidays being declared after 5pm on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve.
Cockburn said the rules under the current act have on occasions led to 'absurd outcomes', such as in 2010 when non-exempt shops were forced to close on four successive days over the Christmas weekend - and on two further days over the following New Year weekend.
“This had a crippling effect on the retailing industry at a time when the industry was facing increasing competition from online retailing which has no restrictions on when it can operate,” Cockburn said.
To ensure it continues to reflect contemporary patterns of work and community expectations and values, the SA Government intends to introduce an amended bill into parliament early this year.