December 31, 1999, may be declared a public holiday in New South Wales, as government support builds for a day when business systems can be left sleeping while Y2K experts apply last minute bug fixes. Kim Yeadon, NSW Minister for Information Technology, has put the idea to Premier Bob Carr and other senior government personnel, and gained broad support. Financial institutions, taking their lead from the Bank of England and other overseas companies, are also supporting the proposal. And the Australian Securities Commission has fallen in behind the US Securities Industry Association’s endorsement of closing US markets on the last day of the twentieth century.
