Public holidays in Australia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Australia has ten standard public holidays nationally. Public holidays have been determined through a combination of:
- Statutes, with specific gazetting of public holidays; and
- Industrial awards and agreements.
In some states an additional day such as Melbourne Cup Day is provided on a local basis.
Contents |
[edit] National holidays
| Date | Name |
|---|---|
| 1 January | New Year's Day |
| 26 January | Australia Day |
| Easter | Good Friday |
| Easter | Easter Saturday |
| Easter | Easter Monday |
| 25 April | Anzac Day |
| 2nd Monday in June | Queen's Birthday except WA |
| 25 December | Christmas Day |
| 26 December or 27 December | Boxing Day except South Australia |
| 31 December | New Years Eve |
[edit] Other holidays
- The Labour Day public holiday is fixed by the various states and territories' governments, and so varies considerably.
- The first Monday in October in the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales and South Australia
- The second Monday in March in both Victoria and Tasmania
- The first Monday in March in Western Australia
- The first Monday in May in both Queensland and the Northern Territory
- Tasmania has Eight Hours Day held in March.
- Proclamation Day is in December in South Australia only.
- Canberra Day is held in March in the ACT
- Melbourne Cup Day is held on the first Tuesday of November - the day of the Melbourne Cup in the Melbourne metropolitan area.
- Adelaide Cup Day is held on the second Monday in March in South Australia (held in May before 2006)
- Foundation Day in Western Australia in June
- Picnic Day in the Northern Territory in August, and also May Day
- Tasmania has Easter Tuesday as a public holiday
- Royal Queensland Show Day in Brisbane area in August
[edit] Long weekends
Where New Year's Day, Australia Day, Anzac Day, Christmas Day fall on a Saturday or Sunday the standard is for another day to be gazetted as a holiday in substitution. By common law, Boxing Day automatically occurs on Monday 27 December if the 26 December is a Sunday, so a substitute holiday is only gazetted if Boxing Day falls on a Saturday.
In Victoria, however, where Christmas falls on a Saturday or Sunday no substitute holiday is given. In the event of New Year's Day falling on a Sunday the following Monday is provided as the substitute public holiday.
Australia has been traditionally known as the "land of the long weekend", both within Australia[[1] and by those outside Australia.[2] However, Australians have "fewer public holidays than workers in most other industrialised countries."[3]
[edit] Worker entitlements
All permanent employees including shift and part-time workers are entitled without loss of pay to public holidays. If they work on a public holiday, these workers are entitled to be paid the appropriate penalty rates. For those full-time workers who do not work the conventional hours of 9am-5pm Monday to Friday, they are entitled to public holidays even though a public holiday may fall on a non-working day. They receive either: an alternative 'day off'; an additional one day of annual leave; or an additional day's wages.
Under recently introduced industrial relations laws it is possible for an employer and worker to agree not to pay penalty rates, this effectively forfeits the public holiday.
