PREMIER Jay Weatherill has shot down claims by restaurant and cafe owners that they will have no choice but to close on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve if new half-day public holidays are introduced.
Mr Weatherill was responding to warnings by members of Restaurant and Catering SA that they will be forced to close if those days are declared public holidays from 5pm to midnight, as part of proposed changes to the Holidays Act.The change would require employers to pay staff penalty rates of 250 per cent during those hours, which many businesses say would make it too expensive to trade on those nights.Concerned business included popular metropolitan restaurants, such as Lenzerhide and Windy Point Restaurant, and also regional operators such as Banrock Station winery.But Mr Weatherill argued such venues traded "profitably" on existing public holidays and "no sensible argument" had been made for why the new half-day holidays would be any different. "It’s pretty hard to swallow the argument that late at night on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve people are flocking to cellar-door wine tasting," Mr Weatherill said."Similarly, if people are spending hundreds of dollars on high-end dining or accommodation, it is a bit rough to suggest that they would miss a few extra dollars to compensate those people who are working so that they can have a good time."Restaurant and Catering SA chief executive officer Sally Neville told FiveAA Radio this morning many restaurants already close on public holidays.She warned the proposed new half-day holidays would "create an absolute black spot" in hospitality services "from Port Lincoln down to Mount Gambier and everywhere in between".
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