Campaign to move Queen’s Birthday for regional Victoria’s economy

There is a push to move the Queen’s Birthday public holiday, or create another long weekend, to save regional Victorian businesses.

REGIONAL councils and tourism groups are calling for the Queen’s Birthday public holiday to be moved amid fears businesses will miss out on a cash boost from locked-out Melburnians.

Lockdown will be eased across regional Victoria from Friday, removing the five reasons and allowing hospitality venues to reopen.

It will again divide the state with Melbourne in lockdown for another week, and banned from regional Victoria over the long weekend.

Indigo Shire Mayor Jenny O’Connor said the region’s tourism market was based on travellers from Melbourne and the loss would hurt trade over that weekend.

She welcomed the opportunity to move the public holiday, or create another stimulus long weekend later in the year.

“It would makes sense to say to the State Government to create a date in early spring, for example, when people have time to prepare for it and plan ahead and book, or if something happens and we end up lockdown again, there’s time to plan for that as well,” she said.

“Those big weekends are the stimulus weekends so if we’re losing this one, let’s create another one.”

A City of Greater Bendigo spokeswoman said it would also support a change to the Queen’s Birthday public holiday.

“If the state put it in place, then we would be supportive from a tourism perspective,” she said.

Warrnambool mayor Vicki Jellie said the concept was strong for business and tourism but there would need to be “a lot of consensus” to move the public holiday.

“Business and tourism definitely need boosting so if that was agreed and everyone in the state was out of lockdown, and operating under strict Covid direction it would benefit the region,” she said.

But Mildura Regional Development chief executive Brett Millington said while the concept of moving the public holiday had merit, it was not plausible.

"Given the way it's embedded within (workplace) awards it would mean businesses would have to pay another public holiday rate on the subsequent date as well,” he said.

“It's a bit different with the AFL public holiday (Friday) because that can be changed by government gazette but there is a broader context to these public holidays.”

Mildura Paddlesteamers marketing manager Ashton McKenzie said she would also support the campaign.

“We find that after any lockdown it takes two to three weeks for people to get the confidence back to even travel, even if they are regional Victorians,” she said.

“Tourist confidence is lost until everything settles down.”

Greater Shepparton City mayor Kim O’Keeffe said she was confident people in the regions would support one another.

Melbourne accountant Paul Dobson added his clients in regional Victoria were hurting because of restrictions.

“It’s criminal the damage this government is going to create by locking Melburnians out again,” he said.

Covid restrictions eased in regional Victoria from 11.59pm Thursday but limits on gatherings and caps on venues remain in place.