Holy hell what a braindead idea.

Is it too much to ask to have ONE competent government in this country?

way too much

WA has the right idea with the public holiday on the Monday after.

The Friday is a stupid idea, do that many people really want to attend the grand finale parade that they need to day off?

That's (I assume unintentionally) funny. Because single term liberal governments just make so many smart decisions

bit like comparing diarrhoea to constipation though, these days. both stil sh..

Now I like a good bludge as much as the next bloke. But this is stupid

It's a well known strategy that organisations with bad news choose to release it on a day where bigger news will overtake it.

The Victorian Government has today confirmed that the Friday before the Grand Final will be a public holiday. Am I being cynical or was it announced today because the Government realises it's a dumb idea and wants to bury it under the Hird resignation and the expected announcement by the AFL of a mega-TV rights deal later today?

Of course, not everyone will think having another public holiday is a bad idea.

It wasn't exactly a secret that got launched today under secrecy. It was announced months ago, just made fully official today.

sadly when you consider how many people don't follow afl or even care about it , its a joke of a holiday and if we have a change of government it will be removed

, well so they say . You can never be sure what is promised will happen with any of them

But Victorian state opposition leader Matthew Guy said it wouldn’t last long if the coalition was elected.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl

As a small business owner , to just say pass it onto our customers, its hard enough as it is without having to keep increasing prices

People are fickle and will change shops and places to save a Dollar , I know myself I won't pay the 20% or whatever surcharge as suggested i will go elsewhere that doesn't have it or not bother at all

Hopefully the hordes of non AFL Melburnians will take the opportunity for a long weekend in our regional areas and spread some money around to small businesses there. It's not all about Melbourne.

Given that we have holidays for a horse race, a military defeat, an absent monarch's birthday and the foundation of the world's largest prison, this one actually makes fractionally more sense. But it still seems to be about bread and circuses rather than tackling more substantial issues. Perhaps we should start a tradition of calling it Demons' Day?

Might as well have a state of origin game on the day now or at least the VFL grand final (in the daytime, not friday night like they tried a few years back)

I have no problem with an extra public holiday in the second half of the year. From Easter to Christmas there are only 2 (melbourne cup and queens birthday) so an extra one gives people a break. And it is in school holidays which is important for families.

Anyone who is saying that it will "cost" too much is focusing on that particular weeks balance sheet or just the cost and not the bigger picture. An extra public holiday reduces staff output by 0.4% for the year, or assuming double time would increase wage costs by that much. Assuming staff costs are half your product cost then you are only looking at 0.2% increase in your product price.

Will it impact this year? Maybe. But when you do your business planning and assessment you factor these things into your cost and pass them on to customers. Standard annual wage increases would impact more than this. All Victorian business is on the sane boat so it had minimal impact in competitiveness in most industries.

If you run a small business in hospitality change a 20% public holiday surcharge. People will still pay it.

I'm not sure I like grand final Friday though. It is set up to fail. If the parade flops it will be front and center on the news. I would have picked another day in those school holidays and found another reason to justify it.

You just don't get. You probably get 4 weeks paid annual leave and paid sick days, and you want additional days off. Small Business Owners are lucky to get a week off a year, and casual workers can't afford to lose shifts, like I will because of this inane holiday. BTW, our business isn't price based, so your theory is redundant.

I wonder if the timing alongside the TV rights deal is more than just smoke? Opening the option of a friday night grand final for TV audiences?

Trying to think of other rationales... hmm...

- a long weekend with the grand final in it will encourage people to stay local for their little trips away, boosting Victorian tourism.

- by facilitating a general friday night [censored]-up, as accompanies any decent holiday-for-no-reason, hangovers will reduce follow-up drinking and anti-social behaviour on the day.

- the day off is aimed at giving emergency services a slower day, and households/business some time to erect barricades, in preparation for the possibility of Richmond losing to Hawthorn - a devastating mixing of bitter rage colliding with force against smug superiority that could leave whole suburbs unrecognisable.

I'm also looking forward to Christians, out of respect for the day, agreeing not to engage in any shared prayer activities. Quid Pro Quo for Easter, of course.

Liberal supporters barracking for the Melbourne Football Club complaining about how this will affect money/business.
Really keeping old stereotypes alive there guys. Well done.

I have worked in the city for a decade. The parade, there is a buzz around the city. It's a normal work day, but it's Friday, it's a parade, it's a celebratory atmosphere.

This will ruin the day.

The city will be a ghost town.

Why would a cafe that serves white collars open on that day?

Liberal supporters barracking for the Melbourne Football Club complaining about how this will affect money/business.

Really keeping old stereotypes alive there guys. Well done.

What a stupid post.

Money and business *shock horror* is what gives people a reason to come into the city. Businesses would rather close and make nothing than open and lose money. If you're not spending anything, you're not losing anything.

You don't need to be a Liberal supporter to see how brain dead stupid this holiday is.

A moron in my office said at the election, "I'm voting for the guy that's promising the GF holiday."

These are the morons the policy is aimed at. Vote buyer trash aimed at the lowest common denominator.

And who loses out? Hard working business owners who normally had a bonanza business day due to parade attendees plus normal people working the city.

The city will be a ghost town. BOOKMARK IT.

Do you need to be a Liberal supporter to care about how prosperous and exciting your city is?

I'm sure Union Hall on Lygon St will be jammin' on GF Eve!

I have worked in the city for a decade. The parade, there is a buzz around the city. It's a normal work day, but it's Friday, it's a parade, it's a celebratory atmosphere.

This will ruin the day.

The city will be a ghost town.

Why would a cafe that serves white collars open on that day?

Again, how will it ruin the day? The office-workers who won't be working that day don't make a bit of difference to the parade, because none of them are there watching it anyway. They spend it in their offices. The people who traditionally do come along will still do so. Maybe some who normally work will take the opportunity to come along as well, making it a bigger, better event. Yes, some small business owners may be inconvenienced by having to pay one whole extra day of penalty rates, but believe it or not they are in the minority.

What a stupid post.

Money and business *shock horror* is what gives people a reason to come into the city. Businesses would rather close and make nothing than open and lose money. If you're not spending anything, you're not losing anything.

You don't need to be a Liberal supporter to see how brain dead stupid this holiday is.

A moron in my office said at the election, "I'm voting for the guy that's promising the GF holiday."

These are the morons the policy is aimed at. Vote buyer trash aimed at the lowest common denominator.

And who loses out? Hard working business owners who normally had a bonanza business day due to parade attendees plus normal people working the city.

The city will be a ghost town. BOOKMARK IT.

Do you need to be a Liberal supporter to care about how prosperous and exciting your city is?

I'm sure Union Hall on Lygon St will be jammin' on GF Eve!

Again, how will it ruin the day? The office-workers who won't be working that day don't make a bit of difference to the parade, because none of them are there watching it anyway. They spend it in their offices. The people who traditionally do come along will still do so. Maybe some who normally work will take the opportunity to come along as well, making it a bigger, better event. Yes, some small business owners may be inconvenienced by having to pay one whole extra day of penalty rates, but believe it or not they are in the minority.

3/4 of businesses surveyed said they would not open. Most cafes in the city service office workers.

Have you been to the city on GF Parade Day? As opposed to a public holiday? Parade Day is alive because stores are open, people are in the city as normal.

Lunch in the city on a normal day, the sidewalks are packed. You can barely move around Bourke, Collins, Elizabeth and Flinders.

Arguing that no office workers won't have a bearing on the city's vibe on the day is hogwash. You will have fans of competing teams there, and that's it, and half of that crowd would have already been in the city.

The city will be dead.

I hope I'm wrong.

well there are obviously two sides to any coin

having said that i get a strong feeling coming from everywhere that this is not a popular decision

personally, i'm unaffected either way, being retired

Liberal supporters barracking for the Melbourne Football Club complaining about how this will affect money/business.

Really keeping old stereotypes alive there guys. Well done.

First off, not a liberal. I'm just someone that sees no need for it and also can see the potential commercial ramifications. To use my company as an example, they have to run that day, and as pretty much all workers are on award rates it will cost them a lot of money. Now I'm less concerned about them and more about small business who are in the same boat. I can see those guys dropping casual shift workers to save the money, which in term puts more stress on the worker not getting the income and the owner for having to take on more than they can handle.

I also question the timing of it, I think the parade is made better by having blue collar workers getting into the spirit of the day with everything going on. All I can say is it will be very interesting to see how the day goes, I'm sure the Andrews government will be sweating on it. They need it to go well.

I get paid to not be at work.

Hard not to be for this even though it makes no sense. Sick of other countries having heaps more public holidays than us. They get 4 in May alone in Germany.

while we are at it, let's stop those damn homosexuals from marrying. How dare they have love.

A la Joey

Three words

What a joke

Ridiculous, moronic piece of political opportunism

we could always go the full hog and be like greece where everyday is a holiday

while we are at it, let's stop those damn homosexuals from marrying. How dare they have love.

What has that got to do with anything?

What has that got to do with anything?