2023/24 Festive Season Public Holidays

After several years in which additional public holidays have been prescribed for Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day, businesses can breathe a small sigh of relief during the 2023/24 holiday period, with just three full-day public holidays being observed across the whole of Australia, on 25 and 26 December 2023 and 1 January 2024.

Part-day public holidays will also apply in Queensland on Christmas Eve, and in the Northern Territory and South Australia on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, but these part-day public holidays are not applicable nationally.

The public holiday calendar for all States and Territories for the rapidly approaching Festive Season is as follows:

DateDayHoliday
24 December 2023 (QLD only)6pm – midnight, SundayChristmas Eve (part-day)
24 December 2023 (NT/SA only)7pm – midnight, SundayChristmas Eve (part-day)
25 December 2023MondayChristmas Day
26 December 2023TuesdayBoxing Day
31 December 2023 (NT/SA only)7pm – midnight, SundayNew Year’s Eve (part-day)
1 January 2024MondayNew Year’s Day
26 January 2024FridayAustralia Day

With all of the above days (and part-days) designated as public holidays, the typical benefits of public holidays attach to all of the above dates. Permanent employees (being full-time or part-time employees) who would ordinarily have rostered hours on the above days, or part-days, will be entitled to be absent without loss of pay, providing their employer does not reasonably request that they work. Employees may also reasonably refuse to perform work on any, or all, of the above dates.

Employers planning a temporary end-of-year shut down are reminded that the annual leave close down clauses of all Modern Awards were overhauled from May this year (see our related article), and it may be necessary to approach this year’s closure slightly differently to previous years. Most awards require at least four weeks’ notice be given to employees of a temporary closure, but in some cases, the notice period is as much as three months.

Subscribers intending to shut down for the 2023-24 Festive Season are encouraged to view our updated news post and contact our advice line on (07) 3220 3500 for clarification on your obligations.