Vicki Brady said that January 26 was “a painful reminder of discrimination and exclusion” for many Indigenous Australians.
Telstra CEO Vicki Brady, NAB chief Ross McEwan and REA Group’s Owen Wilson will be working on Australia Day as companies across the country allow staff to opt out of taking the public holiday on January 26 and insteadMs Brady is the highest profile corporate leader to explain her decision to work on the controversial public holiday, saying on Tuesday that January 26 was “a painful reminder of discrimination and exclusion” for many Indigenous Australians.
“I’ll be choosing to work and will take a different day of leave with my family, because that feels right for me,” Ms Brady posted on LinkedIn.“For many First Nations peoples, Australia Day... marks a turning point that saw lives lost, culture devalued, and connections between people and places destroyed.”
NAB is requiring staff to take the day off – though a spokesman said it was “considering alternative arrangements [for] future years” given the “distress” the date causes – but Mr McEwan will be working regardless.“While Thursday is a national public holiday, there are a number of commitments Mr McEwan will be working on as NAB CEO,” the spokesman said.understands that while staff at the four banks will observe Australia Day as a regular public holiday, CEOs will likely do some work.
“I went to school with many Indigenous people and to many it’s a day of mourning, so I want to show support to them in any way I can,” he said.Galileo VC founder Hugh Stephens was also working, saying this was “mostly because [he does] not believe it should be a holiday” but also because of the heavy workloads of start-up bosses.Several companies such as Woolworths, Coles, Toll and Atlassian do not allow staff to change their days off.
Ms Hicks said many TPG workers already had to work on the public holiday to “directly support our customers” and that “others can raise requests to work the day with their leaders”.Optus said it had a “flexible approach” and that “a number of our people will be working as their role requires it, or they might choose to do so”.
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