{"id":226425,"date":"2025-09-14T15:12:16","date_gmt":"2025-09-14T15:12:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/226425\/"},"modified":"2025-09-14T15:12:16","modified_gmt":"2025-09-14T15:12:16","slug":"premier-roger-cook-wont-rule-out-free-entry-to-perth-royal-show-on-new-public-holiday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/226425\/","title":{"rendered":"Premier Roger Cook won\u2019t rule out free entry to Perth Royal Show on new public holiday"},"content":{"rendered":"

Premier Roger Cook has not ruled out making entry to the Perth Royal Show free on one of two new public holidays.<\/p>\n

The Cook Government will introduce legislation to WA Parliament this week to create two new public holidays \u2014 Show Day and Easter Saturday \u2014 as part of a major shakeup to WA\u2019s public holiday calendar.<\/p>\n

Show Day will coincide with the first Monday of the September school holidays, replacing the King\u2019s Birthday holiday which will move to June to align with the Eastern States<\/p>\n

WA Day will also move to November and Labour Day to the second Monday in March<\/p>\n

Premier Roger Cook said the changes would come into effect in 2028, giving businesses, government agencies and organisations two years to prepare.<\/p>\n

When asked whether admission to the Perth Royal Show would be made free for Show Day, he said the Government was always reviewing its assistance to encourage attendance to the show.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s part of our cost of living measures and it also brings everyone here and makes it an even better event,\u201d he said<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we\u2019ll continue to look at how we can enhance that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Parliamentary Secretary Daniel Pastorelli said more than 10,000 submissions were received during consultation on the proposal, with support for a new public holiday \u201coverwhelming across all sectors.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also said the changes would bring WA\u2019s calendar into line with other mainland States and give workers more breaks towards the busy Christmas period.<\/p>\n

Mr Cook said he understood some businesses would have concerns over increased penalty rates.<\/p>\n

\"ParliamentaryCamera IconParliamentary Secretary Daniel Pastorelli described support for the public holidays as \u201coverwhelming\u201d. Credit: Carwyn Monck\/The West Australian<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s obviously going to be an impact in relation to some of the costs associated with paying their workers more on Easter Saturday. . .this is consistent with every other mainland state, so we think it\u2019s an appropriate change to make\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n

The Royal Agricultural Society of WA welcomed the move, with CEO Robyn Sermon saying it would give more families the chance to attend WA\u2019s oldest and biggest annual event<\/p>\n

\u201cThis dedicated public holiday will ensure families, agricultural schools, and regional communities can continue to share in one of WA\u2019s most iconic traditions,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

But support for the changes did not extend to parts of the retail and hospitality sector, with WA\u2019s peak business group warning the the move would deliver a direct hit to small businesses and cost employers worth more than $115 million dollars.<\/p>\n

Chamber of Commerce and Industry WA economist Aaron Morey said the changes create \u201ca bit of a headache\u201d for small and family businesses, who will have to decide whether to remain open and wear the cost of penalty rates.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven if they do decide to remain open, those small business owners then have to make a decision around whether they work in the business themselves or whether they continue with their usual arrangements and charge surcharges which don\u2019t come close to covering those costs, so it becomes a really hard decision.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AngelwoodCamera IconAngelwood Pies owner Patrick Wallis says his store would likely need to close over the Easter long weekend once the changes take place. Credit: Carwyn Monck\/The West Australian<\/p>\n

Opposition Leader Basil Zempilas acknowledged the popularity of two new public holidays but said he viewed them as \u201cnice to have, but not absolutely essential, and (not a) top priority\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is going to cost West Australian businesses somewhere between $150 and $200 million in additional wages each year,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is a huge impost on those small businesses which are the lifeblood of Western Australia, and it\u2019s going to be a huge impost on those families to be able to make that commitment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Patrick Wallis opened pie shop Angelwood in Leederville eight months ago and says they would have to close their doors under the extended Easter weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll probably just close because that\u2019s four public holidays in a row so we just won\u2019t operate on those days. Adding the operational cost doesn\u2019t really make sense,\u201d he said<\/p>\n

\u201cThe margins are already so tight on a normal day without the addition of massive wage costs so unless you\u2019re a really small business like ours where the owner works and doesn\u2019t pay themselves extra it can be pretty brutal\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Premier Roger Cook has not ruled out making entry to the Perth Royal Show free on one of…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":226426,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4740,28299,28300,50,80,37348,8632],"class_list":{"0":"post-226425","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-australia","9":"tag-countryman","10":"tag-countryman-news","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-politics","13":"tag-state-politics","14":"tag-wa-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115203299420632447","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=226425"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226425\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/226426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}