A mean spirit denies Kiwis their holidays

Nelson Mail editorial, February 4, 2011
In the same week that he announces the election date, when a prime minister could be expected to look for any chance to score brownie points with the electorate, John Key seems to have fluffed his lines. The case for a tweak of the Holidays Act, to overcome the unfortunate situation many New Zealanders face for the second year running of being deprived of two of their public holidays, is clear-cut. Yet Mr Key has resisted the suggestion, sent out muddled signals about whether or not he is prepared to entertain the idea, and left the distinct impression that he has been got to by his more miserly big business mates.
The debate has been sparked by Labour's promotion of a private member's bill to remedy the flaw in the Holidays Act, highlighted by this weekend when the Waitangi Day holiday falls on a Sunday. Along with Anzac Day - which this year coincides with Easter Monday - there is no provision in the law for New Zealanders to be offered a compensatory day off on the next normal working day.
While a raft of excuses as to why this must be so has been offered, the principal argument seems to be that the commemorations both days represent are too important to risk diminishing by shifting the associated holiday to another date. Yet the most obvious evidence that such a concern doesn't stack up can be found at Christmas and New Year. This past festive season, the statutory holiday dates fell on a weekend and workers were entitled to the subsequent Monday and Tuesday off in lieu - and nobody agonised over the prospect that the country might fail to treat December 25 as Christmas Day, or January 1 as New Year's Day for that matter.
To suggest that a similar arrangement would lead to people ignoring that April 25 is Anzac Day is, frankly, silly. The country is mature enough and both Waitangi and Anzac days sufficiently bedded in the public consciousness to ensure they will be acknowledged as they fall. And as has been widely pointed out, the Australians provide for compensatory days off when their equivalent remembrance days fall on a weekend.
The issue is more basic - it is about everyone's right to a certain number of holidays each year. By quirks of the calendar the majority of New Zealanders will miss out on almost 20 per cent of their public holiday entitlements in 2011. It's true that for both days to fall on established days-off is a relatively rare occurrence, particularly for two consecutive years; however, it has well and truly demonstrated that an inequity exists which could and should be easily tidied up.
Mr Key's lack of enthusiasm to remedy this is telling. He has flip-flopped on the issue, telling some journalists that he opposes a fix, others that he is "taking advice".The Holidays Act is clearly resented in some employer circles and at least a few bosses will be privately relishing the opportunity to claw a little bit back. The obvious conclusion is that the Government is reluctant to get off-side with those business interests. Yet the vast majority of Kiwis will see a simple injustice with a simple solution, and a troubling shade of mean-spirited ideology colouring our pragmatic PM's sunny exterior.