Whopays for a new holiday?

The prospect of having an extra paid public holiday each year warms the hearts of most Kiwis. Hearts need a bit of warming right now, and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern hinted this week that more public holidays were on the cards.

‘‘My message to Kiwis is, come and experience your own backyard and come and experience the [culture] and hospitality here in Aotearoa,’’ she said.

The vague proposal has been well-received in most quarters. However, the issue ofmore public holidays is a perennial debate. We have 11, putting us ahead of the United Kingdom, which has eight in England and Wales, nine in Scotland and 10 in Northern Ireland. In neighbouring Australia, the tally varies from 10 to 13 dependingwhere you live.

Those are all well behind the 27 paid public holidays in Cambodia.

However, the latest suggestion is driven by a need to help the tourism industry. Public holidays are always good for motels, petrol stations and garden centres, but establishing a new public holiday just to stimulate a particular industry is a novel notion.

Many industries could argue they deserve a similarly targeted stimulus, and tourism already has a $400 million rescue package.

There is no guarantee more public holidays will actually help tourism ventures. Most people use holidays to catch up with things at home or to rush to their own holiday homes. When people feel insecure about their employment, they will be reluctant to splash out on trips and expensive activities.

A tourism voucher system might be amore targeted way of boosting the sector. And people don’t need a new public holiday to spend them..

Public holidays cost, and the big question is: who will pay? At a time when demands on Government coffers are so heavy, funding a new public holiday should be way down the list of priorities.

Putting the cost on employers will get amixed response. Employers who benefit directly should be happy to fund the new holiday. Those who will see no increase in custom will naturally be opposed, especiallywhen many will be making sacrifices to keep their staff employed.

Unions will no doubt feel all their members are deserving, and may not be too worriedwho pays.

The other cost is loss of productivity. There is no doubt New Zealanderswork harder than workers in a lot of developed countries, but our productivity is relatively low. Another public holidaywon’t help.

The other question over a new public holiday is what it should commemorate.

Race Relations Commissioner Meng Foon has encouraged the prime minister to use one to mark the New Zealand Land Wars.

A ‘‘New Zealand Wars’’ public holiday, he says, would cause Kiwis to pause and remember the events of the 1800s, including the many battles wherema¯ori died, were incarcerated, or had land confiscated.

There have long been calls for Matariki, often described as the Ma¯ori new year or midwinter Christmas, to be turned into a public holiday to recognisema¯ori cosmology.

People will have plenty of other suggestions and justifications, for that matter, but perhaps an old adage bears repeating here.

It contains the words ‘‘no free lunch’’.