David Littleproud has opposed a public holiday for Australia if the Matildas win the World Cup, while insisting he does not want to be labelled “Captain Killjoy”.
A day after Australia defeated France in a thrilling penalty shootout to set up a semi-final clash against England, the National party leader said business groups were right to worry about the costs of a public holiday.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has said the decision on a public holiday will be up to state and territory leaders, but plans to use Wednesday’s national cabinet meeting to push for it.
Asked on Sunday whether he supported the call, Littleproud said he was “proud of the Matildas” but it was “easy to call for a national holiday when someone else is paying for it”.
“Look, I don’t want to be Captain Killjoy on this but … I think business has a point here,” Littleproud told the ABC’s Insiders program.
“I think we’ve just got to understand that someone’s got to foot that bill and businesses out there are doing it tough. We live in a great nation – we can celebrate our wins – but we have to get on and pay the bills and make sure that the country keeps going.”
The NSW premier, Chris Minns, has been positive about the idea of a public holiday but the Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, has sounded less enthusiastic.
Andrews said on Tuesday: “Let’s not jinx this, let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”
The Council of Small Business Organisations Australia said the proposal for a “spontaneous public holiday” had raised “significant concerns from small business owners”.
Its chief executive, Luke Achterstraat, said 43% of small businesses were not making a profit. He said public holidays could “lead to challenges for small business operators who must navigate the complexities of staffing, operational costs and reduced trading hours.”
Albanese on Saturday said the Matildas were “inspiring an entire nation” and he played down business concerns about the potential impacts.
“Well, I do note that there were concerns expressed when we had the public holiday for the sad death of Queen Elizabeth II, and some said that that was something that would cause economic disruption,” Albanese said.
“What that did, of course, was lead to increased economic activity in a whole lot of businesses, particularly small businesses, and it actually benefited a whole range of those businesses.”
The idea of a public holiday has been raised regularly with the prime minister during radio and television interviews over the past two weeks.
Albanese told 2DayFM last Monday that he would use the forthcoming national cabinet meeting to encourage state and territory leaders to say yes to the proposal.
“I’ll be clearly putting the argument and I reckon they’ll fold like tents,” Albanese said.
“They will go one after the other. Because if we can get there, that would be remarkable.”
