- published: 31 Jan 2016
- views: 76594
Family Day is the name of a public holiday in South Africa, in the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, and Ontario, in the American states of Arizona and Nevada, in Vanuatu, in Vietnam and (as "Family & Community Day") in the Australian Capital Territory.
Family & Community Day was celebrated on the first Tuesday of November in 2007, 2008 and 2009, coinciding with the Melbourne Cup. This public holiday was declared in 2007 under section 3(1)(b) of the Holidays Act 1953 (ACT). It was announced in 2008 that it would continue on Melbourne Cup Day in 2008 and 2009. Mr. Andrew Barr, the ACT Minister for Industrial Relations stated the purpose of the new public holiday was:
"...to enable workers to take a break from their hectic working lives and to spend some quality time with their family and friends. ... Australians do work the longest hours of any country in the western world. We do deserve a break."
The ACT’s Minister for Industrial Relations John Hargreaves announced in August 2009 that the territory’s Family and Community Day would move to a different date from 2010 onwards.