A national public holiday to celebrate the Matildas if they win the FIFA Women’s World Cup will be on the agenda when leaders meet later this week.
The Matildas have done what no Australian soccer team – men or women – have done before: secure a spot in the FIFA World Cup semi-final.
The golden girls are now just one game away from the all-important final and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has argued Australians should be rewarded with a day off if they are victorious.
‘Regardless of what happens, what we need to do is to have a proper celebration of the Matildas and their achievements,’ Mr Albanese told ABC Sydney on Monday morning.
Ahead of the meeting, NSW Premier Chris Minns confirmed the call had his support.
Minns is all in on a public holiday if Matildas goalie Mackenzie Arnold and her teammates (pictured celebrating the win over France) can win two more World Cup matches
The NSW premier has to follow ‘pretty strict rules’ about when he can schedule the day off
‘If the Matildas win the semi-final and then win the World Cup final, then yes, we’ll pursue a public holiday in NSW but 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,’ he told 2GB radio.
Mr Minns would not lock in a date but stressed due to the ‘pretty strict’ rules in place it wouldn’t take place the day after the final.
‘We want to make sure we’re in a situation where there’s enough time, particularly for young people, particularly for young girls to come and celebrate a massive victory,’ he said.
‘It would be within a week … not the day after because we’re in this situation where the World Cup is on a Sunday. You have to Gazette it, it takes seven days, there’s pretty strict rules in place for public holidays.’
But not everyone is a fan of the plan.
Nationals frontbencher Barnaby Joyce poured cold water over the idea when asked on Monday morning, questioning why we should have a day off to celebrate the success of one team and not another.
Should the Aussies take the trophy on August 20, every football fan in Australia will be celebrating like Ellie Carpenter did after that famous penalty shootout (pictured)
National Party MP Barnaby Joyce is opposed to a public holiday for Sam Kerr and co
‘I think it’s a very good reason or the Matildas to have a day off. But look, why didn’t we have a day off after the Diamonds won (the Netball World Cup)?’ he told Seven’s Sunrise.
‘I mean that they would have just put just as much effort in as anybody else. When we go well in the Olympics, we’re gonna have a day off after that?’
Mr Joyce’s comments echoed those from his leader, David Littleproud, on Sunday, who said employers could not afford the move.
‘We’ve just got to be really careful, this taking days off, because ultimately somebody does pay. I mean, it’s not a case of it’s for free.
‘Somebody has to pay and it’s overwhelmingly the small businesses. And if I asked you, ‘do you want to pay for your colleagues to have a day off?’, you would probably say no.’
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese backed the idea once again on Monday, saying ‘we need to do is to have a proper celebration of the Matildas and their achievements’
Public holidays can only be called by state governments.
The last public holiday agreed to by national cabinet was the national day of mourning to mark the death of Queen Elizabeth II last September.
Mr Albanese stressed the world does not stop on a public holiday.
‘I remember when we did the national day of mourning for the Queen … There was some of the fears about what would happen and small businesses had the biggest boost, if you’re in the hospitality industry, that it had for a very long period of time on that day,’ he said.
The Matilda’s will play England on Wednesday night in Sydney, with the winner taking on either Spain or Sweden in the grand final next Sunday.
