By PAUL MILLAR
THE State Government’s decision to push through a pledge to give Victorians an AFL grand final holiday will cost Geelong companies up to $14 million, according to the Geelong Chamber of Commerce.
Bernadette Uzelac, the chamber’s chief executive, said employers would pay heavily for the pre-election commitment.
However, acting small bvusiness minister Gavin Jennings said that Victorians worked hard and deserved two new public holidays – Easter Sunday and the eve of the grand final.
The pre-election sweetener, however, left a sour taste with the employer group.
“I think it was an ill-thought out election promise,” Ms Uzelac said.
“We’ve done some basic estimates relating to the Geelong region and it will cost employers about $12 million,” she said.
The $12 million related to a loss in productivity, paying for employees who were not working.
There would be an additional $2 million burden on Geelong employers to pay penalty rates to workers the day before the grand final, she said.
“In essence it inhibits business and employment growth,” Ms Uzelac said.
“It just does not make any sense and not everybody follows the football.”
Mr Jennings this week released a regulatory impact ctatement for the public holidays: an independent analysis of the potential costs and benefits of their introduction.
The statement, undertaken by PricewaterhouseCoopers, is open for public comment for 28 days. After public feedback is considered, the new holidays will be officially introduced via a notice in the Government Gazette.
The RIS identifies that the two new public holidays will deliver up to $312 million in benefits to the economy, noting that the benefits could be much higher.
In contrast, VECCI said that on grand final Friday, the cost to pay Victoria’s almost two million full time employees not to come to work could reach $543 million for the day.
Additional wages for the retail, accommodation, food services and recreation industries are estimated to cost small business owners $105 million for the two holidays.
The two new holidays give Victoria a nation-wide high of 13 days, compared with NSW(11) and Queensland and Western Australia (10).
