Public holidays in Australia

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Public holidays in Australia are declared on a state and territory basis, though most holidays are observed on a national basis since they are declared in all states and territories.

Traditionally, workers, public or private, were entitled to take off a public holiday with regular pay. In recent years this tradition has changed somewhat. For example, businesses that are normally open on a public holiday may require employees to work on the day. Traditionally, in this case, the workers were paid at a penalty rate - usually 1½ (known as "time and a half") or 2 times (known as "double time") the regular pay. But the entitlement to penalty rates of pay has been reduced or entirely eliminated in many work places.

Besides designating days as public holidays, some of these days are also designated as restricted trading days.

In addition, many workers are entitled to penalty rates of pay if they are required to work on Easter Sunday, which is not a designated public holiday because it always falls on a Sunday which is in itself a rest day. Shop trading restrictions may also apply to Easter Sunday.

There are 5 standard, national public holidays. Public holidays are determined by a combination of:

• Statutes, with specific gazetting of public holidays; and
• Industrial awards and agreements.

If a standard public holiday falls on a weekend, a substitute public holiday will usually be observed on the first non-weekend day (usually Monday) after the weekend. If a worker is required to work on a public holiday or substituted public holiday, they will usually be entitled to be paid at a holiday penalty rate.

In some states an additional day such as Melbourne Cup Day is provided on a local basis.

Many states Alcohol licenses that prevent sale of alcohol on several public holidays, such as Good Friday.

Contents 1 National holidays 1.1 Substitute holidays for holidays falling on a weekend 1.2 New Year 1.3 Australia Day 1.4 Labour Day 1.5 Easter 1.6 Anzac Day 1.7 Queen's Birthday 1.8 Christmas 1.9 Boxing Day 2 Other holidays 3 Long weekends 4 Public holidays by state 4.1 Queensland 4.2 New South Wales 4.3 Victoria 5 Worker entitlements on public holidays 6 References

[edit] National holidays

Name	WA	Tas	Vic	ACT	NSW	SA	Qld	NT
New Year	1 January (all states)
Australia Day	26 January (all states)
Good Friday	Friday before Easter (21 March 2008; 10 April 2009) (all states)
Easter Saturday	Not applicable[1][2]		Day before Easter (22 March 2008; 11 April 2009)
Easter Monday	Day after Easter (24 March 2008; 13 April 2009) (all states)
Labour Day	1st Monday in March (3 March 2008; 2 March 2009)	2nd Monday in March (10 March 2008; 9 March 2009)		1st Monday in October (6 October 2008; 5 October 2009)			1st Monday in May (5 May 2008; 4 May 2009)
Anzac Day	25 April (all states)
Queen's Birthday	As proclaimed by the Governor of Western Australia	2nd Monday in June (9 June 2008; 8 June 2009)
Christmas	25 December (all states)
Boxing Day/Proclamation Day	26 December (all states)

[edit] Substitute holidays for holidays falling on a weekend

When a public holiday falls on a weekend, the following work day may be considered a public holiday depending on the state/territory and the holiday in question.

Name	WA [1]	Tas [2]	Vic [3]	ACT [4]	NSW [5]	SA [6]	Qld [7]	NT [8]
New Year	Yes		Sunday only	Yes	Sunday only	Yes	Sunday only	Yes
Australia Day	Yes				Sunday only	Yes
Good Friday	Not applicable (always on a Friday)
Easter Saturday	No
Easter Monday	Not applicable (always on a Monday)
Labour Day	Not applicable (always on a Monday)
Anzac Day	Yes	No		Yes	Sunday only
Queen's Birthday	Not applicable (always on a Monday)
Christmas	Yes				Sunday only	Yes	Sunday only	Yes
Boxing Day/Proclamation Day	Yes				Sunday only	Yes	Sunday only	Yes

NOTE: Prior to 2008, Victorian law only specified substitute holidays for New Year and Boxing Day, and only if they fell on a Sunday.^[9] From 2008, Victorian law specifies the substitute holidays in the table above.^[3]

Since Easter Monday can occur as late as April 26th (see Date of Easter) it is possible for the Easter Monday holiday to coincide with Anzac Day, as will occur in 2011. State Acts do not give a provision to seperate the days when this occurs, so no additional public holiday is given by law. However usually a extra day is proclaimed by the minister, so as to have a steady number of public holidays each year.^{[10] [11] [12]} In the year 2038, Anzac Day will coincide with Easter Sunday.

[edit] New Year

New Year's Day is celebrated on 1 January each year in all states and territories.

[edit] Australia Day

Australia Day is Australia's national day celebrated on 26 January annually in all states and territories. 26 January was chosen because it is the day of the establishment of the first English settlement at Port Jackson by Captain Arthur Phillip in 1788.^[13]

Since 1960, the winner of the Australian of the Year award is announced by the Prime Minister on Australia Day.

Recorded celebrations date back to 1808, and in 1818, Governor Lachlan Macquarie held the first official celebration of Australia Day.^[14] It was made a public holiday in New South Wales in 1836, and Victoria adopted the day as a public holiday in 1931. It commenced to be celebrated by all states and territories in 1946, but began to be actually celebrated on 26 January from 1994.

[edit] Labour Day

Labour Day commemorates the achievements of the Australian labour movement. The celebration of Labour Day has its origins in the eight hour day movement, which advocated eight hours for work, eight hours for recreation, and eight hours for rest. On 21 April 1856 Stonemasons and building workers on building sites around Melbourne, Australia, stopped work and marched from the University of Melbourne to Parliament House to achieve an eight hour day. Their direct action protest was a success, and they are noted as the first organized workers in the world to achieve an eight hour day with no loss of pay, which subsequently inspired the celebration of Labour Day and May Day.

The Labour Day public holiday varies considerably between the various states and territories. It is the first Monday in October in the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales and South Australia. In both Victoria and Tasmania, it is the second Monday in March (though the latter calls it Eight Hours Day). In Western Australia, Labour Day is the first Monday in March. In both Queensland and the Northern Territory, it is the first Monday in May.

[edit] Easter

The days of Easter vary each year depending on the day determined by the Western Christian religious calendar. For the basis of how the days are determined see Easter. Note that "Easter Saturday" in Australia is legally defined to be the day between Good Friday and Easter Day (Sunday), which is different to the terminology used in other countries.

[edit] Anzac Day

Anzac Day is a day on which the country remembers those citizens who fell fighting or who served the country in wars. Anzac Day is commemorated on 25 April every year. The tradition began to remember the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) soldiers who landed at Gallipoli in Turkey during World War I.

Anzac Day commemoration features marches by veterans and by solemn "Dawn Services", a tradition started in Albany, Western Australia on 25 April 1923 and now held at war memorials around the country, accompanied by thoughts of those lost at war to the ceremonial sounds of The Last Post on the bugle. The fourth stanza of Laurence Binyon's poem For the Fallen (known as the "Ode of Remembrance") is often recited.

[edit] Queen's Birthday

In all states and territories except Western Australia, Queen's Birthday is observed on the second Monday in June. Because Western Australia celebrates its Foundation Day on the first Monday in June, the Governor of Western Australia proclaims the day on which the state will observe the Queen's Birthday, based on school terms and the Perth Royal Show.^[15] There is no firm rule to determine this date before it is proclaimed, though it is typically the last Monday of September or the first Monday of October.

The day has been celebrated since 1788, when Governor Arthur Phillip declared a holiday to mark the birthday of King George III. Until 1936 it was held on the actual birthday of the Monarch, but after the death of King George V it was decided to keep the date at mid-year.

On that day the "Queen's Birthday honours list" is released naming new members of the Order of Australia and other Australian honours. This occurs on the date observed in the Eastern States, not the date observed in Western Australia.

The Queen's Birthday weekend and Empire Day, 24 May, were long the traditional times for public fireworks displays in Australia. Although they still occur, the tradition has recently been overshadowed by larger New Year's Eve fireworks, as the sale of fireworks to the public was progressively banned by the states in the 1980s. The sale of fireworks in the Australian Capital Territory is only legal during the Queen's Birthday weekend. ^[16]

[edit] Christmas

Christmas is observed on 25 December each year to commemorate the birth of Jesus. In Australia it was brought over as a matter of course with white English settlement in 1788. Though a Christian religious festival it does not breach the constitution's separation of Church and State provision, because it is declared under State law, which is not subject to the provision.

[edit] Boxing Day

Boxing Day is on the day after Christmas, ie. 26 December each year, except in South Australia. In South Australia, the first otherwise working day after Christmas is a public holiday called Proclamation Day.

Boxing Day is noted for the start of the post-Christmas sale season. The day has also become a significant sporting day. Melbourne hosts the Boxing Day Test Match and the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race starts on this day.

[edit] Other holidays

• Proclamation Day is in December in South Australia only.
• Canberra Day is held on the 3rd Monday in March in the ACT. From 2008, this holiday will be celebrated on the 2nd Monday of March (10 March 2008)
• Melbourne Cup Day is held on the first Tuesday of November - the day of the Melbourne Cup in the Melbourne metropolitan area. From 2007 in ACT Melbourne Cup day is also a holiday called "Family and Community day"
• Recreation Day is the first Monday of November, and celebrated in Northern Tasmania
• Geelong Cup Day is held on the fourth Wednesday of October in the city of Geelong, Victoria
• Queensland Day is celebrated on 6 June each year, but not with a public holiday.
• 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 which at one stage Victoria acknowledged until 1993.
• Royal Queensland Show Day in Brisbane area in August

[edit] Long weekends

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] Public holidays by state

[edit] Queensland

The days are set in the "Holidays Act 1983" as:

Good Friday

Day after good friday (Easter Saturday)

Easter Monday

Second Monday in June (Birthday of the Sovereign)

1 January (new Year's Day) if on Sunday, the next monday is substituted.

25 April (Anzac Day) if on Sunday, the next monday is substituted.

25 December (Christmas Day) if on Sunday, the next monday is substituted.

26 December (Boxing Day) if this day falls on a Monday, the following day is substituted.

1 May (Labour Day) if not a Monday, the next Monday is substituted.

26 January (Australia Day) if on a Saturday or Sunday, the next Monday is substituted.

The minister of the state may proclaim and adjustments or additions, such as the date of the Brisbane Ekka Show day holiday. Because of the variable days of easter, Anzac day could fall on an easter holiday.

[edit] New South Wales

Public holidays in New South Wales are regulated by the New South Wales Banks and Bank Holidays Act 1912.

[edit] Victoria

Public holidays in Victoria are regulated by the Victorian Public Holidays Act 1993.

Victorian employees fall under the Workchoices system either as coming within the Commonwealth constitutional power (called "constitutional corporation employees") or because of Victoria's referral of its legislative powers to the Commonwealth for particular workplace relations matters.

Employee entitlements to public holidays and additional pay depend on whether they are covered by a federal award or agreement.

Employees not covered by a federal award or agreement are entitled to public holidays under the Victorian Public Holidays Act 1993. Also, all permanent employees not covered by a federal award or agreement who would normally work on a public holiday (or a substitute public holiday) are entitled to the holiday without loss of pay. Their employers are not required to provide additional payment if they work on a public holiday, but this doesn't exclude the possibility of employees and employers negotiating for additional pay.

Employees who are covered by a federal award or agreement are entitled to public holidays as provided by the relevant federal award or agreement and the Public Holidays Act 1993. Many federal awards and agreements also provide for additional penalty rates for work performed on a public holiday.

Restricted shop trading laws apply to Good Friday, Easter Sunday, Christmas Day and before 1 pm on Anzac Day. On these days only exempted businesses are permitted to open for trading.[4] All public holidays and substitute public holidays are bank holidays. (sec 9)

The Victorian public holidays are as follows [5]:

Name	Date
New Year	1 January
Australia Day	26 January
Labour Day	2nd Monday in March
Good Friday	Friday before Easter
Easter Saturday	Day before Easter
Easter Monday	Day after Easter
Anzac Day	25 April
Queen's Birthday	2nd Monday in June
Melbourne Cup Day (Melbourne metropolitan area)	1st Tuesday of November
Christmas	25 December
Boxing Day	26 December

[edit] Worker entitlements on public holidays

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Traditionally, an important aspect of a public holiday was that workers would not be required to work on that day, but be entitled to be paid for the day off. On the other hand, it is recognised that there are some industries or situations when a person may be required to work on a public holiday. In that situation, the person required to work on that day would be entitled to be paid at some premium rate of pay.

This traditional position has come under challenge in recent years.

As a basic principle, workers covered by the WorkChoices system are declared to be entitled to a paid day off. The days specified are:

• 1 January (New Year's Day)
• 26 January (Australia Day)
• Good Friday
• Easter Monday
• 25 April (Anzac Day)
• 25 December (Christmas Day)
• 26 December (Boxing Day).

Employees are also entitled to a paid day off on:

• substitute holidays, declared by state or territory law for one of the above listed public holidays (e.g. if Christmas falls on a Sunday).

• on any other public holiday declared by or under a state or territory law (e.g. Queen's Birthday), to be observed generally or in a region, other than a union picnic day.

Workers who come under WorkChoices but who have preserved agreements and awards in place, continue to be entitled to the entitlements contained in those agreements and awards. Most awards incorporate a public holiday clause. These usually provide for the above days as well as Easter Saturday, Labour Day and Queens Birthday as public holidays and for additional days when declared, and for substituted days if these fall on a non-working day. They also usually provide for penalty rates of pay should the worker be required, for whatever reason, to work on a public holiday.

Under WorkChoices, an employer may request an employee to work on a public holiday, but an employee may refuse an employer's request (and take the day off) in reasonable circumstances. The requirement to work on a public holiday would usually be provided for in awards and agreements, though these would expressly provide for penalty rates of pay in those circumstances.

In the absence of an award, workplace agreement or contract of employment an employee is not entitled to be paid at penalty rates for work on a public holiday under WorkChoices.

It has been estimated that 85% of Australian workers are covered by WorkChoices, and that 40% of workplace agreements have dropped gazetted public holidays and that 63% of workplace agreements under WorkChoices do not provide for penalty rates of pay for workers who are required to work on a public holiday.^{[17] [18]}

[edit] References

• Australian Government - Public Holidays - Public holidays for each Australian state
• Australian Council of Trades Unions - Library: Public Holidays

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