Public Holiday curveballs on the calendar in 2026

With the Festive Season on the horizon and a new year racing up fast, businesses may astutely be planning for 2026. It’s notable that next year’s public holiday calendar will deliver-up some quirky arrangements in respect of Anzac Day and Boxing Day that employers should be mindful of. 

Anzac Day

Anzac Day will be observed nationally on Saturday, 25 April 2026. There is no substitute date for this public holiday and Western Australia is the only state that will observe an additional public holiday on 27 April 2026 (i.e. both 25 & 27 April are public holidays in WA in 2026).

Across the nation (except for Western Australia), public holiday entitlements will only apply to Saturday, 25 April 2026, meaning employees who do not perform ordinary hours on Saturdays will generally not receive any benefit for Anzac Day in 2026 (see note below). Permanent employees who normally work Saturdays but aren’t required to by virtue of the public holiday will be entitled to be absent without loss of pay (ordinary hours paid at their base rate) and employees who agree to perform work on 25 April 2026 will be compensated with the designated public holiday penalty from the relevant industrial instrument.

In WA, public holiday entitlements will apply to both 25 and 27 April 2026.

Additional holiday for Boxing Day

For the first time in four years, the 2026-27 Festive Season will see a return to additional public holidays being in force nationally for Boxing Day. With Boxing Day falling on Saturday, 26 December 2026, states and territories (except for Tasmania) will observe an additional public holiday on Monday, 28 December 2026.

It is important to recognise that additional public holidays are exactly that, extra public holidays, meaning public holiday benefits will attach to both dates of 26 December and 28 December 2026. This is distinct to substitute public holidays, wherein the public holiday is transferred to a different date to the day on which the holiday/occasion might fall in the calendar.

Tasmania is scheduled to observe its holiday for Boxing Day on Monday, 28 December 2026 only; Saturday, 26 December is not designated as a public holiday.

Note:  In limited circumstances, such as within the Clubs & Hospitality awards, full-time employees are entitled to the benefit of a public holiday falling on their unpaid day off. In the rare case that a Modern Award contains such a provision, the full-time employee is entitled to be paid an additional day’s wage; or receive an alternative paid day off within 28 days; or be credited with an additional day of annual leave for the public holiday/s which fell on their unpaid day off. No such benefit extends to part-time or casual employees.