Anthony Albanese has folded on his plan to pitch a public holiday to national cabinet if the Matildas win the FIFA Women’s World Cup after state leaders suggested the Prime Minister cool it.
South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas has repeatedly warned he doesn’t want to jinx the team ahead of Wednesday night’s clash with England.
Speaking with ABC’s Radio National, the state Labor leader said he’d rather invest the $18m public holiday price tag into women’s sporting facilities.
“I don’t want to be superstitious about tonight’s result, but what I do think regardless of the outcome is a massive investment in women’s facilities within grassroots sports,” he said.
Victoria’s Daniel Andrews and Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk have both sidestepped questions in recent days, preferring the wait-and-see approach.
Mr Albanese has championed the idea of a day off since it was first put to him in a podcast interview with youth outlet The Daily Aus in June.
But after backlash from business groups about the cost of extra wages, and resistance from some state leaders, he changed his tune on Wednesday morning ahead of the national cabinet meeting.
“We won’t actually be discussing it today. We’re discussing housing and other issues,” he told Triple M Hobart.
“It’s up to the states and territories what they do.”
Mr Albanese also knocked back criticism a public holiday would negatively impact small businesses.
“When the public holiday was held for the memorial day for the queen, what happened was that a whole range of small businesses went gangbusters on that day,” he added.
“The contribution to the economy of this World Cup has been extraordinary, and tonight clubs and pubs right around Australia, they’ll be full, as well as live sites being full, and the contribution should not be underestimated that has been made.”
Mr Albanese later laughed off suggestion he’d brought bad juju to the team by “going the early crow” on the public holiday call.
“Look, I got asked really early on before even they made the round of 16 … I said, ‘Yeah, I would’,” he told SEN Sydney.
“Whether the Tillies can get there or not, all Australians will be cheering for them tonight.”
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has emphatically ruled out supporting the national public holiday, pledging to spend $250m on community sporting infrastructure if the Coalition was returned to government.
On Monday, NSW Premier Chris Minns guaranteed to hold a public holiday within a week of the final if the Matildas were victorious.
“Not just to celebrate the victory but also to have a massive civic celebration and allow the Matildas to celebrate with the people of Sydney in what would be an amazing life-changing and unbelievable event in the state’s history,” he said.
But Tasmanian Premier, and sole Liberal leader around the national cabinet table, Jeremy Rockliff poured cold water on the idea.
“We’re 100 per cent behind the Matildas, but we won’t be supporting a public holiday,” he said.
“Our small businesses are often the first to sponsor and support our grassroots and elite sports. It’s too much to expect them to shoulder this cost too.”
His own daughters were quick to roast him in a family group chat. “DAD WTF,” one wrote, while Ruby added: “NO DAD WE NEED ANOTHER HOLIDAY.”
Mr Rockliff later shared the ribbing to Facebook: “Safe to say I’m not the most popular member of the Rockliff family this morning.”
