Holidays proposal: consultation closing

October 26 2011

Teachers and school staff have until Monday October 31 to join all Queenslanders in having their say on proposed holiday changes.

The changes, which are the subject of a discussion paper Getting the balance right: A proposal on holidays in Queensland (PDF, 93 KB), include extending the Easter break to two weeks and moving the Queen's Birthday public holiday to the second half of the year.

Premier Anna Bligh said Queenslanders were voting in their thousands, generally overwhelmingly in favour of the proposals.

'Consultation closes on October 31 and if the support is the same we will take a submission to Cabinet soon after that,' Ms Bligh said

Early results showed:

• 81 per cent of respondents agreed with the principle of the reallocation of student free days and 60 per cent welcomed the opportunity for creating an extended Easter Break for students.
• 96 per cent supported moving the Queen's birthday to a Monday in October
• 91 per cent supported creation of additional public holidays when Christmas Day, Boxing Day or New Year's Day fall on a weekend.

The Premier said the review was prompted by calls from the public and various stakeholders to spread public holidays more evenly throughout the year and to reconsider current arrangements for student-free days in schools.

More information, and options for responding to the paper, are available on the Department of Education and Training's Getting the balance right web page.