Australia (national) public holidays 2026

2026 at a glance

• ANZAC Day falls on Saturday 25 April and no substitute weekday is counted; Boxing Day falls on Saturday 26 December and no substitute weekday is counted.
• In 2026, public holidays fall on 5 weekdays in Australia (national), one fewer than in 2025.

Public holidays in 2026

7 dates are counted as non-working in Australia (national) in 2026; 5 of them fall on a weekday.

Working days and hours by month

Working days are Monday to Friday minus the counted holidays. Hours are shown for a 7.5-hour and an 8-hour working day.

• Jan 20 working days in January, 2 holidays
• Feb 20 working days in February
• Mar 22 working days in March
• Apr 20 working days in April, 3 holidays
• May 21 working days in May
• Jun 22 working days in June
• Jul 23 working days in July
• Aug 21 working days in August
• Sep 22 working days in September
• Oct 22 working days in October
• Nov 21 working days in November
• Dec 22 working days in December, 2 holidays

Compare with the rest of Australia

Long weekends in 2026

Runs of three or more days off in a row without taking leave.

• 3 days Saturday 24 January 2026 to Monday 26 January 2026
• 4 days Friday 3 April 2026 to Monday 6 April 2026
• 3 days Friday 25 December 2026 to Sunday 27 December 2026

Best days to take leave in 2026

The longest single break for each number of leave days, built around a public holiday.

Leave plans for the whole year

Non-overlapping breaks that give the most days off for a given number of leave days.

Try any budget from 1 to 30 days in the leave planner

Countdown

The days to the next holiday appear here when JavaScript is on.

The working days left this month and this year appear here when JavaScript is on.

Count working days between two dates

Calendar and data downloads

The subscription works in Google Calendar, Outlook and Apple Calendar. The CSV file also lists the days observed by some.

About public holidays in Australia (national)

Australia has no single national law that sets every public holiday. The Fair Work Act 2009 of the Commonwealth, in section 115, names eight public holidays: New Year's Day (1 January), Australia Day (26 January), Good Friday, Easter Monday, Anzac Day (25 April), the holiday for the birthday of the Sovereign on the day it is celebrated in a State or Territory, Christmas Day (25 December) and Boxing Day (26 December). The same section adds any other day or part-day that a State or Territory law declares as a public holiday for the State, the Territory or a region of it.

Each State and Territory has its own public holidays Act and decides its own additional days. Section 115(2) states that when a State or Territory law substitutes one day for another, the substituted day is the public holiday. A note to the section adds that the Act does not exclude State and Territory laws on the declaration, prescription or substitution of public holidays. The Fair Work Ombudsman notes that public holidays falling on weekends are often substituted for the next working day by State and Territory governments.

This national page lists the seven holidays that fall on the same date in every State: New Year's Day, Australia Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, Anzac Day, Christmas Day and Boxing Day. Each is shown on the date it falls, without additional or substitute days, because those come from State law and differ between States. Boxing Day on Saturday 26 December 2026 is an example: New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia each add Monday 28 December. Anzac Day on Sunday 25 April 2027 is another: New South Wales and Western Australia add Monday 26 April, the Queensland Government lists the holiday on Monday 26 April, and Victoria's Act appoints 25 April only.

The King's Birthday is in section 115 but has no national date, so it is not on this page. In 2026 it is Monday 8 June in New South Wales and Victoria, Monday 5 October in Queensland and Monday 28 September in Western Australia. The State pages on this site carry these dates, along with the State-only holidays such as Labour Day, Melbourne Cup Day and Western Australia Day.

Easter Saturday and Easter Sunday are not in the section 115 list. New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland declare both as public holidays; Western Australia declares Easter Sunday and, until 2027, not Easter Saturday. The New South Wales Bank Holiday on the first Monday in August is not a declared public holiday. Part-day holidays exist under State law, such as Queensland's Christmas Eve from 6pm to midnight; this site does not count them as non-working days.

The Australian Capital Territory, the Northern Territory, South Australia and Tasmania set their own holidays and are not covered by this site.

Source and last check

Dates are calculated with the python-holidays library 0.108 and checked against the official sources below. Last checked: 15 November 2026.

Sources

• https://www.legislation.gov.au/C2009A00028/latest/text
• https://library.fairwork.gov.au/viewer/?krn=K600400
• https://www.nsw.gov.au/about-nsw/public-holidays
• https://www.legislation.vic.gov.au/in-force/acts/public-holidays-act-1993/027
• https://www.qld.gov.au/recreation/travel/holidays/public
• https://www.wa.gov.au/service/employment/workplace-arrangements/public-holidays-western-australia

How the counts are made