Australia’s 2026 Public Holiday Calendar: Essential Guidance for Employers

| January 14, 2026

A new year brings many things, and no doubt everyone’s diaries are starting to fill up. Several important dates for any business diary are public holidays during 2026.

Knowing when public holidays fall will have an impact on rostering arrangements, and even trading hours.  

The National Employment Standards (NES) in the Fair Work Act 2009 (FWA) set out the following as public holidays across Australia: 

• 1 January (New Year’s Day) 
• 26 January (Australia Day) 
• Good Friday 
• Easter Monday 
• 25 April (Anzac Day)
• The Sovereign’s Birthday (on the day on which it is celebrated in a State or Territory or a region on a State or Territory) 
• 25 December (Christmas Day)  
• 26 December¹ (Boxing Day) 

In addition, the NES also includes in its list any other day, or partday, that has been declared or prescribed by or under a law of a State or Territory to be observed generally within the State or Territory, or a region of the State or Territory, as a public holiday. 

State and Territory Differences 

Not all states and territories have declared the same additional public holidays. As the NES recognises additional public holidays declared or prescribed by state / territory legislation, it is important to understand the public holidays that apply, or will not apply, if your business operates across the country. 

For example, all states and territories have declared an additional public holiday on Easter Sunday (being 5 April), except for Tasmania where Easter Sunday is not a public holiday. This means for a business located in Tasmania, public holiday arrangements will not apply for work performed on 5 April 2026.  

Details of other days can be found by visiting the relevant State or Territory industrial relations department – links to the relevant websites are provided at the end of this article. 

Recognising the Right Public Holiday Date for your Location 

Where your business operates across state / territory borders, it is important to be aware of the public holidays that fall in your business locations.  

Even where you only operate in one State or Territory, a local show day public holiday can differ depending on location. Using a Queensland example, the Brisbane show day holiday for 2026 is 12 August. The Show Day public holiday for the Gladstone region is two days earlier on 10 August, and the Barcaldine region the Westch Field Day holiday is several weeks later on 9 September.  

Employers need to know which public holiday will apply to their employees. This is because the entitlements arising from working on a public holiday is determined by where the employee is based for work, not where the employee is working on the day a public holiday falls.  

EXAMPLE: An employee is required to travel for work on occasion due to the nature of the role they perform. The employee’s letter of appointment confirms that their location for work is Brisbane (where the employer’s office is located), and they are required to work in Barcaldine on 9 September. In this situation, the employee will not receive the benefit of, and entitlements for, a public holiday that falls in Barcaldine. They will, however, receive them for the Brisbane show day public holiday on 12 August.   

Public Holiday Entitlements for your employees 

Your employees may be entitled to a paid day off on a public holiday, or public holiday penalty rates for work performed on a public holiday.  

Entitlements are prescribed in the NES for permanent employees, and also in relevant Awards / Enterprise Agreements. 

IRiQ Law is available to assist you to identify the relevant entitlements that apply to your employees. The team is also available to discuss what your legal obligations* are as an employer when you need an employee to work on a public holiday – given the NES based need to request before rostering.  

With class actions, the amount paid to each member of the class is an approximation of damage attributed to the lead class members. This means that the amount paid by an employer may be more than the individual employee’s actual entitlement. 

While the obligation to pay wages properly will always exist, it is the added $20,802,489.68 in legal fees and the approximation of damages that pose a significant penalty for employers who are non-compliant.  

This settlement follows similar outcomes in NSW ($230 million settlement) and the ACT ($31.5 million settlement) in respect of unpaid overtime.

State and Territory Public Holiday Resources 

To ensure compliance and check the most up-to-date public holiday listings, visit the relevant government websites for your State or Territory.

* For more information on those legal obligations to make a request, watch the IRiQ Talking IR vlog dated 22 December 2025 available on the IRiQ website at: https://www.iriq.com.au/iriq-talking-ir/.  

Footnote

¹ Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) s115.