NEWCASTLE councillor Mike Jackson says making Newcastle Show Day a public holiday will cost both businesses and families, and described a push to revisit the issue tonight as ‘‘emotional scaremongering’’.
The council voted last year to request a ‘‘local event day’’ for show day, but Labor and Greens councillors have brought a rescission motion that will be debated tonight.
Lake Macquarie City Council has asked the NSW Government to approve a public holiday. A public holiday, as opposed to a local event day, entitles employees to penalty rates.
But Cr Jackson said yesterday the public holiday would have a greater financial impact on local families than a ‘‘local event day’’.
He said parents who worked in neighbouring council areas would have to work while their children were not be attending school.
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