New Zealand Soon To Announce Hillary Commemoration

Sources: The Dominion Post and New Zealand public holidays (qppstudio.net). The spokesperson for New Zealand Prime Minister, Helen Clark, said that the Government had been talking to Sir Edmund Hillary's family about how best to mark his life and that an announcement of this was not too far away. When asked specifically if this would involve a new public holiday, the spokesperson refused to rule it out.

For their part, the New Zealand Green Party floated the possibility of a new national public holiday coinciding with the nearest Monday to Sir Edmund Hillary's birthday (July 20), a date ideally suited to break up the long midwinter period between the Queen's Birthday (in early June) and Labour Day (in late October) public holidays.