Hurley Hotel Group to continue with Australia Day events in 2025

The head of a South Australian pub group has declared his venues will still hold Australia Day events after Australian Venue Co banned January 26 celebrations.

A South Australia pub baron has declared his venues will celebrate Australia Day on January 26 as events are banned at more than a dozen pubs across the state.

Peter Hurley, the managing director of Hurley Hotel Group which owns 10 venues around SA, said governments set the date, not pubs.

“We’re in the fun business, not the political correctness business,” he said.

Planning for Australia Day- themed events across the group’s venues is already under way with a Sounds of Oz music special event at the Arkaba Hotel locked in and drinks specials already being marketed at the Marion Hotel.

Other events are in the works for the remaining eight pubs and hotels.

It comes as Australian Venue Co banned Australia Day events at its pubs in 2025 because January 26 is a day of “sadness” and “hurt” for some patrons.

Australian Venue Co has since apologised for the decision, saying it was not for them to “tell anyone whether or how to celebrate Australia Day”.

Its stable of 18 venues will trade on January 26 but it remains unclear whether they will hold official events.

Hurley Hotel Group managing director Peter Hurley said his pubs – such as the Arkaba Hotel – will have Australia Day celebrations. Picture: Brett Hartwig

The Colonist hotel is one of Australian Venue Co’s pubs not commemorating Australia Day in 2025. Picture: Campbell Brodie

Meanwhile, other venues say they will remain shut for the gazetted public holiday on January 27 – citing wage penalties as too exorbitant to justify the day of trade.

Rising Sun Inn owner Grant Goodall said skyrocketing costs of wages and superannuation, taxes and other overheads meant the decision to stay shut was an economic one not related to the debate around Australia Day.

The last time the independently owned Rising Sun Inn opened for an Australia Day, it drew a handful of bookings that didn’t cover the penalty rates for staff.

“The last time we tried it (about 10 years ago) we found people were more drawn to the beach suburbs,” Mr Goodall said.

Hotel Metropolitan owner Damian Peterson said his venue had referred to it as January 26 only, not Australia Day, for a number of years.

The marketing material including posts about the day have also included the hashtag #justchangethedatemate in recent years.

Mr Peterson said he recognised it could be a divisive day and while he was not against the idea of an Australia Day, it should be on a different date.

However, his venue is another that will not open on public holidays because of high penalty rates and lower patronage in the city.

The nation’s largest pub group, ALH, operating 35 pubs across SA and about 350 nationwide, says the decision to host events will be left to individual outlets.

Members of the public had a mixed reaction to Australian Venue Co’s decision, with some showing support for not commemorating January 26.

Critics of the decision took to social media to vent their frustration, with some calling it “un-Australian”, and others calling for a year-round boycott of its pubs.