We now know the results of a recent council survey regarding Bendigo’s public holiday, and they’re surprisingly close.
The figures have been made public in the agenda for the City of Greater Bendigo’s September meeting.
According to the document, 2672 responses were received regarding the survey through the Let’s Talk Greater Bendigo website between July 6th and August 9th of this year.
96 percent of those responses came from individuals, and the remaining four percent from businesses in the region.
38.7 of respondents offered their support for the Bendigo Cup to be recognised as a public holiday, while 36.5 percent suggested the day-off should be moved to coincide with the Melbourne Cup.
24.7 percent chose a third option, that being to have a holiday align with the Bendigo Show instead of the Cup.
Council officers have recommended that per the survey’s results, elected officials vote to “retain the current arrangement for a five-year period”.
Talking on the Wake Up Call this week, council’s CEO Andrew Cooney noted that were a change to be approved, it would not take effect until next year – meaning the Bendigo Cup public holiday will be observed in 2026 regardless.
Upon its launch back in July, the survey drew a great deal of interest from the community, with the Bendigo Jockey Club – which runs the annual Cup – coming out strongly in favour of the status quo, while the Bendigo Agricultural Show Society lobbied to have the public holiday fall during its event.
The Bendigo Jockey Club was contacted for their thoughts on the survey’s results, but has declined to comment until after council’s meeting on Monday evening, September 21st.
More information about said meeting can be found on the City’s website.
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