Holidays - and religion !

For decades there was no question about the traditional holidays - Christmas day, Boxing day, Good Friday, Easter Sunday - and of course Anzac day. The shops were closed and they were public holidays.

In recent times pressure mounted for trading to be allowed on Boxing day and Easter Sunday, and sport crept into the afternoon of Anzac day. The government procrastinated, but eventually compromised. The shops remained shut in the major centres, but were allowed to open in what were termed " tourist " areas.

This led to the ridiculous situation where Myers shut in Wollongong - and remained open in Shellharbour.

Now the government is toying with the idea of passing legislation to close all shops - except petrol stations and corner stores - on those days to ensure shop staff get appropriate leisure time.

In doing so, the government is opening a can of religious worms !

These are essentially Christian holidays - although why we have a holiday celebrating the putting down of a civil war in China well over a century ago is something of a mystery.

Already there are calls from Muslims for the two major Islamic holy days to get identical treatment.

We also have a large Buddhist congregation in this country following the exodus from Asia at the end of the Vietnam war. This is a quiet, gentle religion and we only notice it because of the small shrines in Buddhist owned businesses, complete with incense and food offerings.

In a multicultural society, surely everyone is entitled to identical treatment.

In trying to pass this legislation the state government will not be able to please everybody. We are a predominantly Christian society and we pride ourselves in being even handed, and there is no question that these main traditional Christian holidays - Christmas day, Good Friday and Anzac day morning - will remain free of commercial trade.

What happens to Boxing day and Easter Sunday is another question. In all fairness, a case could be made for replacing them with holy days applicable to other major religions practised by Australian citizens.