Australia Public Holidays 2028

Australia has no federal public holiday act — each state and territory declares its own holidays, and the Fair Work Act’s National Employment Standards then guarantee them. In practice seven dates are observed everywhere: New Year’s Day, Australia Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, Anzac Day, Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

2028 is a light year for substitutions. Only New Year’s Day falls on a weekend, so the single additional public holiday is Monday January 3. Anzac Day (Tue Apr 25), Christmas Day (Mon Dec 25) and Boxing Day (Tue Dec 26) all land on weekdays — a welcome contrast with 2027, when Anzac Day fell on a Sunday and Christmas and Boxing Day both fell on the weekend.

King’s Birthday is expected on the second Monday of June (Jun 12, 2028) in NSW, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania, the ACT and the NT, but Queensland holds it in early October and Western Australia in late September. Labour Day is the widest-ranging difference of all: March in Western Australia, Victoria and Tasmania, May in Queensland and the NT, and October in NSW, South Australia and the ACT.

Other state-specific days include Easter Saturday (most states but not Tasmania or WA), Easter Sunday (in some states), and local events such as Melbourne Cup Day and the Friday before the AFL Grand Final (Victoria), Adelaide Cup, Canberra Day, Reconciliation Day (ACT), Picnic Day (NT) and Western Australia Day. Always check the calendar for the state where you live or work.

Because holidays are declared state by state, Australia is the one country on this site where a future year is not simply a matter of reading the law. As of mid-2026 the state governments have published their calendars only up to 2027 — the NSW public holidays page, for example, still stops at 2027. The seven national dates and the January 3 additional day follow mechanically from the public holiday standard written into each state’s Act, which is why we publish them, but the formal gazettal has not happened yet.

The genuinely open items are the state-declared dates: Queensland and Western Australia set their King’s Birthday by annual proclamation, Victoria declares the AFL Grand Final Friday only once the fixture is known, and several states confirm Labour Day and local show days year by year. Treat the state dates in the section above as expected rather than final, and re-check your state’s official calendar once it is published — usually 12 to 18 months ahead.