The other date we need to change

As the debate rages over the timing of Australia Day, reporter Jeremy Pierce argues that we really need to look at when kids return to school in Queensland. VOTE IN THE POLL

• ‘Playing politics’: Qld MPs outraged over Oz Day call

It’s time to change the date – but maybe not the date you’re thinking.

While debate over the date of Australia Day continues to rage, thousands of Queensland families are busy raging at another date – the start of the school year.

Whatever your thoughts on the date of Australia Day (I’ve previously advocated for it to become a permanent long weekend holiday on the last Monday of January), the scenario that sends kids back to school for one or two days after a six-week break only to have another day or two off is just bonkers.

Returning to school before the Australia Day public holiday does not make sense.

Queensland is the only state or territory in the country where families have to juggle the start of the school year and the Australia Day holiday at the same time.

No other Australian jurisdiction returns to school until at least January 29.

Many Queensland families turn the Australia Day holiday into an unofficial long weekend, meaning their kids are missing the start of school anyway.

While Queensland’s school year officially started on Monday, not every school does it the same.

Some assign Monday as a student-free day with kids returning Tuesday, some stagger the start so some students go back Monday and others go back Tuesday, while the ones that went back on Monday then get Tuesday off.

Confused yet?

Everyone is back at school on Wednesday before everyone gets the Thursday off and then, if you’re like me, you probably know at least half a dozen people who are taking the kids out of school on Friday and going away for a long weekend.

It’s a terribly sloppy way to try and get back into the routine of school and work and it’s another reason why changing the Australia Day date makes sense.

Regardless of your politics, wokeness or empathy for indigenous Australians, it would be far more practical to have a return to school co-ordinated around a long weekend holiday to mark the end of the summer break.

It also eliminates the concern over the date of January 26, because the holiday would have a roving date anywhere up to January 31, depending on whether the day was changed to a Friday or Monday to create an annual long weekend that’s as Aussie as vegemite.

Queensland is also the only state or territory to break so early in December, with most pushing through until December 15 or later.

The period between Boxing Day and Australia Day is a sweet spot for family holidays, including to Queensland’s famous beaches. Picture: John Gass

Queensland’s early school finish is another wasted opportunity for the economy, because as everyone in tourism knows, very few people are heading away for holidays in early or mid-December – they’re too busy getting ready for Christmas.

There is an argument that staggering the school calendars across the country helps “spread the love” for the tourism sector because even if one state is back at school, another is still on holidays.

That makes sense for the winter and spring breaks where the dates don’t really matter, but not summer, where the time around Australia Day should be spent enjoying summer’s final fling, not fretting about lunch boxes and after school pick-ups.

The period from Boxing Day to Australia Day is the sweet spot of family holidays generating memories of camping trips, beach cricket, melting ice blocks and a blissful feeling that the summer holidays could last forever.

Except in Queensland, that summer holiday is already over.