Australia Declares Temporary Holiday on 22nd to Mourn British Queen... "Concerns Over Losses Exceeding 1 Trillion"

Sudden Public Holiday Designation Causes Industry Confusion
Parliament Also on Break for Over Two Weeks... "Losses Exceeding 1 Trillion Won"

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] The Australian government’s announcement to designate October 22 as a one-off public holiday and to suspend the federal parliament for more than two weeks following the death of Queen Elizabeth II has sparked controversy. Australian industries are strongly opposing the sudden holiday designation, estimating losses of at least 1 trillion Korean won.

According to the Australian daily The Australia on the 14th, the Australian Parliament announced that October 22 will be designated as a one-off public holiday for the Queen’s memorial service, and the parliament will take a 15-day long recess. The Australian Parliament had already suspended its schedule since the Queen’s death on September 9. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will attend the Queen’s funeral in the UK on the 19th, and the day after his return, October 22, Australia will hold a memorial service for the Queen and designate it as a one-off public holiday.

The sudden announcement of the one-off public holiday has drawn strong opposition from Australian industries. Paul Zahra, chairman of the Australian Retailers Association (ARA), criticized, “The losses to retailers due to the one-off public holiday are estimated to reach 1.5 billion Australian dollars (approximately 1.4 trillion Korean won). Additional labor costs and lost transactions could affect the cash flow of small and medium-sized enterprises.”

Businesses operating by appointment, such as hospitals, beauty salons, and restaurants, are expected to suffer losses immediately. If they operate on the 22nd to keep appointments, they must pay holiday work allowances to employees; if they close, they must break promises with customers or patients. Particularly, designating Thursday, a midweek day, as a public holiday has drawn complaints that it forces a break on the most active day of the week, increasing the damage.

However, the Australian government insists the measure is reasonable and intends to proceed with the holiday designation. Prime Minister Albanese emphasized, “Government regulations state that the national memorial service must be held the day after the Governor-General and Prime Minister return from London,” adding, “It is common sense to give people an opportunity to commemorate the Queen’s life and service.”

Criticism is also growing over the parliament’s long recess. In a situation where citizens are struggling due to rising prices and natural disasters, there are criticisms that the long parliamentary recess delays the passage of support bills.

According to the Australian local media Pedestrian, dissatisfaction is being expressed mainly on social networking services (SNS) within Australia, with comments such as, “Workers get only two days of paid leave when their parents die, but parliament members get paid leave for half a month because the British Queen died,” and “A 15-day recess is absurd.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.