Business NZ says more holidays will mean less productivity and greater administrative costs for business, and that is unhelpful in the current economic climate. It is estimated that a public holiday for Matariki will cost employers about $200 million a year.
Yet, the costs of adding an extra holiday are much less invasive than, say, hiking corporate taxes, and there are benefits to certain sectors like domestic tourism - although politicians should be careful not to overplay that card.
According to a study by the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIER), domestic tourism contributed $65 million of spending per day on average in 2019.
"Some commentators have called for creation of new public holidays to help this process, but at 2019's rate an extra public holiday would increase tourism expenditure by the equivalent of only 0.4 per cent of the international tourism loss," NZIER said in its recent Tourism beyond Covid-19 report.
"An extra day's holiday would need to generate far more than domestic tourism's average daily spend to make an appreciable impact on plugging the hole in tourism revenues."
The question of productivity is even more complex.
New Zealand's lower productivity is not necessarily attributed to working fewer hours (Kiwis actually work comparatively long hours), but more to the output from those hours, which opens up a whole other debate, perhaps with new data stemming from increased working from home during lockdowns.
There are other factors to consider: Traffic congestion, for example, costs Auckland's economy at least $1.3b a year according to an NZIER report commissioned by the EMA.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says we don't have many statutory holidays compared to other OECD countries and it would be good to break up the long run through winter with a new holiday.
However, care should be taken when using overseas comparisons for justification.
New Zealand is already at the top end of the OECD for annual leave allowances and well down in productivity comparisons. All employees currently get at least four weeks of annual leave and 11 public holidays, so that is 31 days of paid leave.
The problem businesses have is they have taken on an increasing burden over the past 10 years including time-and-a-half payments for working on a public holiday, an increase in annual leave to four weeks, increasing KiwiSaver employer contributions, increased compliance costs and increases to the minimum wage.
These are all necessary enhancements to employment law but there must be some leeway given to small business in other areas.
If the Government is to make Matariki a holiday it should also review problems with the Holidays Act which have been a nightmare for businesses grappling with historical holiday leave underpayments.
At least get that right before introducing more hardship on an already stretched business community.
