mattwnz:

 

Do other countries charge a surcharge? If they are going to get rid of these public holidays, then there would then be no reason for a surcharge anyway. I think shops being closed on Friday or Monday maybe overkill these day, but Sunday, one sunday a year, is fine IMO. Imagine if shops were open Xmas day, it would basically spoil the day. Most business however are closed on public holidays, and many take very long weekends over easter, and some extend it into a week or more. So it mainly nly affects retail, and people wanting to use hospitality services during this period. Or people shopping for groceries who don't want to be  paying OTT corner shop prices. 

 

It is relatively common for Australian businesses to surcharge on a public holiday. The bit that galls people is that many of the places that surcharge do so under the guise of "increased staffing costs" but have also been caught red-handed underpaying workers or using lopsided enterprise agreements to essentially dodge paying penalty rates - meaning they're just pocketing extra profit. Once restaurant chain is particularly bad, having a 15% Sunday surcharge, 20% public holiday surcharge, and a 10% Monday through Saturday surcharge! It's literally impossible to pay menu prices!