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January 21, 2025 6 mins

As the summer holidays draw to a close, there's renewed debate as to whether or not they should be shifted further into the year.

The December-January period is a tumultuous time, and many believe New Zealand's summer weather is at it's best in February. 

Former MP Peter Dunne says the idea has merit, but implementing these changes is easier said than done.

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Speaker 1 (00:09):
You're listening to a podcast from news Talk zed B.
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Speaker 2 (00:16):
So the debate about whether to shift the summer break
later into the year has been renewed to make the
best of the beautiful weather we primarily get in late
jan and February. I mean, we've seen it right now,
aren't we met?

Speaker 3 (00:29):
Yeah, I mean how often do you take your summer
break and you only get a little bit of holiday
year and it's rubbish because it's stuck around the end
of December and the first little bit of January, tumultuous
times of the year. Everyone knows best months in New
Zealand of February. Yeah, this comes from an article that
we read today Wellington in a good day later summer

(00:52):
break still an idea that's alive. People in Wellington know
this more than anyone.

Speaker 2 (00:57):
Absolutely starting to get that sunshine now, the poor buggers.

Speaker 4 (01:01):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:01):
So the difference in temperature from where we take holidays
now to it there in February is almost two degrees
eighteen points seven to twenty point five, which doesn't sound
like a lot, but that's a big difference across what
kind of weather conditions you actually get here.

Speaker 2 (01:17):
Well, a man who kicks started a campaign eight years ago,
back in twenty eighteen to better align the holiday period
to the summer weather by shifting it later into the
year is former MP Peter Dunn, who joins us now
get a Peter, Hello, how are you good?

Speaker 3 (01:32):
Thank you, Welcome to the show. So how would this
work around the Christmas break? Would we break for a
short Christmas break and then then go back to work
and then have some time off in February. Is that
how it worked?

Speaker 4 (01:44):
Well, that's what might would be my thinking, that you'd
have a sort of between Christmas and New Year, pretty
much as we do now, and then everyone of school
and everyone else go back in early January, serve out January,
and then break for a few weeks over February March
before resuming the year. I think that there were a

(02:05):
lot of advantages. You've already referred to the weather being
more settled than that period, and that's not just you know,
it's easy to say that this year when we've allowsy summer,
but if you look at the data over time, that's
a pretty consistent message. I think it's got a lot
of other advantages in terms of productivity. People not having
to work in the really hot, stifling month of the year,
kids not being stuck in stuffy classrooms and schools, smelling

(02:28):
and grumpy teachers, headaches and not really want to deal
with them during that time of the year. The whole
lot of other things that I think we could more
practically achieve if we made a change from the alignment. Now,
having said that, it's far easier said than done, I
readily concede, But I think it's the sort of discussion
we should be up for having. And I note that
when it was raised back in twenty eighteen, the then

(02:50):
Minister of Education, a man by the name of Christopher Hipkins,
said that he wasn't necessarily opposed to the idea, so
maybe he could be a champion for it. Who knows.

Speaker 3 (02:58):
So how would this work though, because right now you
know so would it be? Would it make Christmas more
like Easter where there's a couple of days off.

Speaker 4 (03:07):
Probably along those I think you probably have Christmas, Christmas
Eve to New Year as a holiday period and that
people come back. I'd like to do after the yes
to break, I think the other thing that's important now,
and it's even more relevant than it was when the
idea was first raised. Is that people's work patterns have changed.
Considered it as much more flexibility in what they do,

(03:27):
so this could be eased in quite gently. Not everyone
has to cram their holiday period as they used to
into that period at the start of January. They've got
a bit more flexibility and there could be more freedom.
And already have seen people spending out their holidays and
tackling at different times of the year. So I think
this could be accommodated reasonably easily.

Speaker 2 (03:45):
So the idea would be Peter that if you can
start with the school holiday, shift those a little bit
later into Febrie. The hope is that the rest of
society will follow.

Speaker 4 (03:55):
Yeah, and I don't think it would, as I say,
be that difficult to challenge. I don't think for schools
it's a huge problem because I still get the same
number of days. I'd just be aligned in a different
way throughout the course of the year and they'd still
be well they go through December into January rather than
finishing a little bit earlier. Interestingly enough, when I raised
all those years ago, the biggest objection came from the

(04:16):
tourists in New zealandport from what I regarded is the
most peculiar of reasons. They said, oh no, you can't
do this. Why because February and March are the peak
months for tourists coming to New Zealand, and if you
had everyone else on holiday at the same time, we
should simply wouldn't be able to cope, and the tourists
wouldn't come anymore because they wouldn't be able to be accommodated.
It seems to me that this is probably a case

(04:36):
when New Zealander's interests should come a little bit ahead
of the tourists if the weather's best at that time
of the year. And what you're really saying is New
Zealanders can't enjoy it, but tourists can.

Speaker 3 (04:46):
I like it as to pick cherries and you have
the export, but the rest of the rubbish.

Speaker 4 (04:51):
For New Zealand to be told, I know, we can't
do this because it will affect the tourists. I just
thought it was a bit back to front.

Speaker 3 (04:59):
I guess the big stumbling point here is where around
productivity is jan one. So whatever happens, you have to
work it around that people aren't at work on JAM one,
because if they are they're not going to do any work.

Speaker 4 (05:10):
Yeah, well that's right. I mean there will be. Look,
there'll be if you would if you were a move
down this path, there would have to be adjustments made. Yeah,
there would be local challenges. It wouldn't it couldn't be
sort of you know. My favorite example is when they
changed in Sweden from driving on the right side of
the right now on the left side of the word
to the right. They did it overnight. Chaos and Sue
couldn't do that sort of thing, but you could phase

(05:32):
it in, and you need to get the groups on side.
And I think that the more people start to think
about it and just talk about it, the more it appeals.
Was an idea, And if it appeals, then why not
have a crack at trying to do it?

Speaker 3 (05:42):
Yeah, no, no, I think there's something in it. And
as you say, and good on you for pointing that
out complex, but as an idea, I believe it's it's
definitely worth trying to beat out and trying to get
more talk about it. So that's what we'll do over
the next hour. Hundred eighty ten eighty or nine two
nine two is the text number. What do you think
about this trying to shift the holidays into February.

Speaker 2 (06:05):
Yeah, Peter Dunn, thank you very much for even to
chat with us.

Speaker 1 (06:08):
For more from News Talk set B listen live on
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