Proposed amendments to the Holidays Act will mean that hundreds of thousands of SA workers will no longer have a public holiday on the Monday after Christmas Day.
Treasurer Rob Lucas said this was an “outrageous attack on worker entitlements” and the Marshall Liberal Government will strongly oppose the Greens’ proposal.
“The Bill, that the Greens have advised they will introduce into the SA Parliament (a copy of the Bill was sent to all MPs), proposes to amend the Holidays Act to make Christmas Day a public holiday and to remove the public holiday from the following Monday,” said Mr Lucas.
“This would mean that hundreds of thousands of SA workers would have to return to work on the Monday after Christmas and the Christmas break would be limited to just the 2 days over the weekend.
“It is almost impossible to understand why the Greens want to act like Christmas Grinches and ruin the Christmas plans of hundreds and thousands of SA families.
“One of the problems with the political guerrilla warfare being waged in the SA Parliament last week is that important legislation is being introduced without proper consultation and discussion about the real impact.
“The Greens must either withdraw this Bill or amend it to ensure hundreds of thousands of SA workers don’t lose their public holiday on Monday after Christmas.”