Public holidays in New Zealand

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Holidays in New Zealand can refer to publicly observed holidays or to a vacation period.

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[edit] Public holidays

Public holidays have particular implications for employment and shop trading hours in New Zealand.

For employment purposes, under current legislation, workers who work on a public holiday must be given equivalent time off on another day, and be paid time-and-a-half. Their holidays cannot be exchanged for cash.

While shops may trade on most public holidays, there are special trading restrictions on Christmas Day, Good Friday, Easter Sunday and before 1pm on ANZAC Day. In recent years there have been deliberate violations of these trading restrictions on Good Friday by garden centres. (Previously, garden centres were exempt from these restrictions.)

In tourist towns, such as Queenstown in the South Island, some exemptions are granted by the district council for selected shops to open on Good Friday and Easter Sunday. The reason being is to keep up the level of service to the tourists, as many would not know the shops will be closed on those public holidays. However, liquor sale is restricted in some of those public holidays (not usually a problem because shops are usually closed on those public holidays).

There are two types of public holidays:

  • Statutory Holidays, which are legislated by law.
  • Provincial Anniversary Days, which commemorate the founding of the province or an early settlement event.

[edit] Statutory holidays

These holidays are legislated by several Acts of Parliament, particularly the Holidays Act 2003.

Waitangi Day and ANZAC Day are always commemorated on the exact date, as they commemorate specific historical events. Apart from Good Friday the other New Zealand Statutory Holidays have been Mondayised.

For example: If 1 January or 25 December is a Saturday or Sunday, then the following Monday is the statutory holiday for New Year's Day or Christmas Day. If 2 January or 26 December is a Saturday, then the Day after New Year's Day or Boxing Day is celebrated on the next Monday. If either of these days occurs on a Sunday, then the holiday occurs on the following Tuesday, as the Monday will have been used for New Year or Christmas.

This situation has been complicated by the most recent incarnation of the Holidays Act. The holiday is Mondayised only if the employee would not usually work on weekends. For example an office worker who works only Monday to Friday would get to the Statutory holidays on the Monday (or Tuesday for days that fell on Sundays). But an employee who usually worked Saturdays would not get the Monday holiday as they did not work on the Saturday.

Date Holiday
January 11 New Year's Day
January 22 Day after New Year's Day
February 6 Waitangi Day
The Friday before Easter Sunday Good Friday
The first Sunday after the first full moon
following the March Equinox		 Easter Sunday
The day after Easter Sunday Easter Monday
April 25 ANZAC Day
The first Monday in June Queen's Birthday
The fourth Monday in October Labour Day
December 253 Christmas Day
December 26 or December 272 Boxing Day
(1) or the following Monday if it falls on a Saturday or Sunday
(2) or the following Tuesday if it falls on a Saturday or Sunday
(3) or the following Tuesday if it falls on a Saturday or Sunday (the Monday will be Boxing Day)
(4) or the following Monday if it falls on a Saturday or Sunday

[edit] Provincial anniversary days

Additionally, the Holidays Act 1981 specifies each locality observing a Provincial Anniversary Day to celebrate the founding days or landing days of the first colonists of the various colonial provinces. However the exact dates are not legislated for. The regions covered are set by provincial district (as they stood when abolished in 1876), plus Southland, the Chatham Islands, South Canterbury and Northland. The actual observance days can vary even within each province and is due to local custom, convenience or the proximity of seasonal events or other holidays. This may differ from the official observance day, and may be several weeks from the official day.

Provincial Anniversary Days
Provincial District includes Actual Day Observance Day
Southland Invercargill, Bluff, Milford Sound, Fiordland January 17 Varies – determined by local custom and tourist season.
Wellington Province Wellington, Manawatu, Wanganui January 22 Monday nearest to the actual day
Auckland Province Waikato, King Country, Coromandel, Bay of Plenty, Gisborne/East Coast January 29 Monday nearest to the actual day (Auckland Anniversary Day)
Northland Whangarei January 29 Monday nearest to the actual day
Nelson Nelson, Tasman, Buller and parts of North Canterbury February 1 Monday nearest to the actual day
Otago Province Dunedin March 23 Monday nearest to the actual day
Taranaki (New Plymouth) New Plymouth March 31 Second Monday in March – to avoid Easter
South Canterbury September 25 Fourth Monday in September – Dominion Day
Hawke's Bay Napier, Hastings November 1 Friday before Labour Day
Marlborough Picton November 1 First Monday after Labour Day
Chatham Islands November 30 Monday nearest to the actual day
Westland Westport, Greymouth December 1 Monday nearest to the actual day (Greymouth)
Varies (outside Greymouth)
Canterbury Christchurch, Ashburton, Banks Peninsula December 16 Christchurch Show Day (Northern Canterbury)
Christchurch Show Day (Central Canterbury)
Second Friday after the first Tuesday in November (Christchurch City) – To coincide with the Agricultural and Pastoral Show and avoid a holiday just a week before Christmas.

[edit] Annual leave and non-working days

In addition to the above holidays many New Zealand workers have three or four weeks' vacation, often taken in the summer Christmas – New Year period. (As New Zealand is in the southern hemisphere, the summer months are from December to February, and the best summer weather often occurs during January and February.) In many industries this coincides with a Christmas – New Year shutdown for maintenance. With only three working days between Christmas and New Year, many workers take this time off, as they can have a ten-day summer break for only three days' leave. Many retail outlets also hold sales at this time to stimulate business while others close down due to low demand for services. The days from 25 December to 15 January are not considered to be working days for official government purposes, although the public counters of most government departments do open weekdays during this period, though often only a limited service may be available.

From 1 April 2007, the minimum annual leave is four weeks.

[edit] School holidays

New Zealand schools have a 4-term year, of about ten weeks each and with two or three weeks' holidays between terms. Although standard term dates are set by the Ministry of Education each year, schools can vary these to account for local holidays and school closures due to weather. The first term generally commences in late January and finishes so that Easter is celebrated within the holidays between terms 1 and 2. The holiday between terms two and three is generally known as the midwinter break and occurs in July, while that between terms 3 and 4 occurs in late September and early October. Term 4 ends in mid December, generally a week or two before Christmas, though for many senior students this term ends after their final NCEA examinations in early December.

[edit] Primary and Intermediate schools

Term 1: Tuesday, 7 February to Thursday 13 April (96 half-days)
Term 2: Wendnesday, 26 April to Friday, 30 June (94 half-days)
Term 3: Monday, 17 July to Friday, 22 September (100 half-days)
Term 4: Monday, 9 October to Wednesday 20 December (104 half-days)*
*or to a day in December which ensures that the school has been open for instruction for 394 half-days in 2006

[edit] Secondary and composite schools

Term 1: Tuesday, 7 February to Thursday 13 April (96 half-days)
Term 2: Monday, 1 May to Friday 30 June (88 half-days)
Term 3: Monday, 17 July to Friday 22 September (100 half-days)
Term 4: Monday, 9 October to Thursday 14 December (96 half-days)*
*or to a day in December which ensures that the school has been open for instruction for 380 half-days in 2006.

[edit] Proposals for new holidays

From time to time, there have been proposals to make Matariki an official holiday in New Zealand. In 2006, Māori Language Commissioner Haami Piripi made such a proposal [1].

[edit] Proposals for abolition of holidays

Some holidays are seen as celebrating events or ideals which are seen by a minority of people as no longer relevant[citation needed], and suggestions[citation needed] have been made that they be abolished.

From the 1950s to the 1970s it was frequently suggested that the Provincial Anniversary holidays be abolished, as the provinces had not existed for many decades. Before Waitangi Day was made a national public holiday it was sometimes suggested that a Waitangi Day holiday should replace the anniversary days, and the Waitangi Day Act 1960 made provision for this. Waitangi Day was eventually made an additional holiday and the provincial holidays lived on, primarily because most regions had long established events on those weekends.

Currently the Queen's Birthday holiday is sometimes mentioned as contender for abolition[citation needed]. A few New Zealanders see the day as irrelevant to modern New Zealand[citation needed], while others feel that if it is to be celebrated, it should be on the Queen's actual birthday[citation needed]. Labour Day is also sometimes described as irrelevant[citation needed] since most New Zealanders with full time jobs work more than eight hours a day.

The religious nature of Christmas and Easter is usually not seen as a reason to abolish the holidays, as a majority of New Zealanders identify with the Christian faith. However it is cited as a reason to abolish the restrictions on shop hours, especially where Easter is concerned.

A minority of people advocate the abolition of the Waitangi Day holiday, but it is regularly suggested that a less controversial day, such as Anzac Day or Dominion Day, be made New Zealand's national day.

[edit] External links


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