Christmas Public Holidays 2026: Boxing Day Falls on a Saturday
Christmas Day 2026 is a Friday and Boxing Day a Saturday. Every state and territory has a public holiday on Monday 28 December 2026: most add it on top of the Saturday, and Tasmania moves Boxing Day to it.
Published 15 October 2026 by Wage Calculator. Every figure below is traced to the government page that announced it, with that page’s own date.
The short answer
Monday 28 December 2026 is a public holiday in every state and territory. In the ACT, NSW, the NT, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria and WA it is an additional day for Boxing Day (in South Australia, for the Proclamation Day holiday), and the Saturday stays a public holiday too. In Tasmania it is Boxing Day itself, and Saturday 26 December 2026 is not a public holiday.
Someone who works Monday to Friday gets two weekday public holidays, Friday 25 and Monday 28 December, wherever they are based. Christmas Eve is a public holiday only from the evening, in the NT from 7pm to midnight, Queensland from 6pm to midnight and South Australia from 7pm to midnight. New Year’s Eve is one from 7pm in the NT and South Australia.
Public holidays follow where you are based for work, not where you happen to be working on the day. The dates are from the Fair Work Ombudsman’s 2026 public holidays list, last updated 25 September 2026.
Every state and territory, 24 to 31 December 2026.
| State or territory | Thu 24 Dec | Fri 25 Dec | Sat 26 Dec | Mon 28 Dec | Thu 31 Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australian Capital Territory | - | Christmas Day | Boxing Day | Additional public holiday for Boxing Day | - |
| New South Wales | - | Christmas Day | Boxing Day | Additional public holiday for Boxing Day | - |
| Northern Territory | Part day, from 7pm to midnight | Christmas Day | Boxing Day | Additional public holiday for Boxing Day | Part day, from 7pm to midnight |
| Queensland | Part day, from 6pm to midnight | Christmas Day | Boxing Day | Additional public holiday for Boxing Day | - |
| South Australia | Part day, from 7pm to midnight | Christmas Day | Proclamation Day holiday | Additional public holiday for Proclamation Day holiday | Part day, from 7pm to midnight |
| Tasmania | - | Christmas Day | - | Boxing Day | - |
| Victoria | - | Christmas Day | Boxing Day | Additional public holiday for Boxing Day | - |
| Western Australia | - | Christmas Day | Boxing Day | Additional public holiday for Boxing Day | - |
A dash means the day is not a public holiday there. Sunday 27 December is not a public holiday anywhere. Part days run to midnight.
Why there is a public holiday on Monday 28 December.
Each state and territory sets its own public holidays. The Fair Work Ombudsman puts it this way: “Some states and territories add or substitute public holidays when one falls on a weekend, while others don’t.” Christmas Day lands on a weekday in 2026, so nothing moves for it. Boxing Day lands on a Saturday, and that is where the states differ.
Added: The ACT, NSW, the NT, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria and WA
Saturday 26 December 2026 stays a public holiday and Monday 28 December 2026 is added as well. For anyone rostered on the Saturday, that makes it a public holiday shift, and the Monday is a second public holiday the same weekend.
Moved: Tasmania
Boxing Day is listed on Monday 28 December 2026 and nothing is listed on the Saturday. A Saturday shift on 26 December is an ordinary Saturday there, paid at whatever Saturday rate the award sets, not its public holiday rate.
What the Christmas public holidays mean for your pay.
The Fair Work Ombudsman says all employees have a right to be absent from work on a public holiday, and that an employee is entitled to the public holidays where they are based for work, not where they are working on the day. So someone based in Tasmania who is sent to work in Melbourne on 26 December works an ordinary Saturday, on that rule, while a Melbourne-based colleague on the same shift works a public holiday.
If you are not a casual and a public holiday falls on a day you normally work, you are paid your base rate for the ordinary hours you would have worked, without penalties or loadings. A casual is not paid for a public holiday they do not work. Both points are from the Fair Work Ombudsman’s page on not working on public holidays.
Hours you do work on a public holiday are paid at the rate your award or agreement sets for the day. Penalty Rates sets out the public holiday rate in the retail, hospitality and fast food awards, full-time and casual, as a percentage and in dollars an hour.
Annual leave over Christmas 2026.
The Fair Work Ombudsman says that if a public holiday falls during a period of paid leave, such as annual leave, the employee is paid for the public holiday, and the day is not counted as annual leave under the National Employment Standards.
For a Monday to Friday week that makes the gap between Christmas and New Year three days of leave in every state and territory: Tuesday 29, Wednesday 30 and Thursday 31 December. Christmas Eve is a working day until the evening everywhere, so starting the break on Thursday 24 December 2026 takes a fourth.
The Annual Leave Calculator works out how much annual leave a year of work builds and what the hours are worth at your base rate, with any leave loading.
Where these figures come from.
Provenance
Verified- Christmas Day
- Friday 25 December 2026
- Boxing Day
- Saturday 26 December 2026, Monday 28 December in Tasmania
- Monday 28 December
- Public holiday in every state and territory
- Christmas Eve, part day
- The NT, Queensland and South Australia
- New Year's Eve, part day
- The NT and South Australia
- Annual leave days, 25 to 31 December
- 3, for a Monday to Friday week
- Fair Work list last updated
- 25 September 2026
- Fair Work Ombudsman, 2026 public holidaysThe page gave its own last updated date as 2026-09-25. Retrieved 2026-10-02.
- Fair Work Ombudsman, Public holidaysThe page gave its own last updated date as 2026-08-10. Retrieved 2026-10-02.
- Fair Work Ombudsman, Not working on public holidaysThe page gave its own last updated date as 2026-08-10. Retrieved 2026-09-19.
Nothing on this page is copied from another pay site, and no figure here was taken from a search result summary. How every rate on this site is sourced and checked is set out on the Methodology page.
Christmas Public Holidays 2026 questions, answered.
Is Monday 28 December 2026 a public holiday?
Yes, in every state and territory. Boxing Day falls on Saturday 26 December 2026, and the Fair Work Ombudsman's 2026 list shows the ACT, NSW, the NT, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria and WA adding Monday 28 December 2026 as an additional public holiday while keeping the Saturday. Tasmania moves Boxing Day itself to the Monday, so the Saturday is not a public holiday there.
Is Boxing Day 2026 on a Saturday?
Yes. 26 December 2026 is a Saturday, and Christmas Day is Friday 25 December 2026. The ACT, NSW, the NT, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria and WA keep the Saturday as a public holiday, which South Australia calls the Proclamation Day holiday. Tasmania lists Boxing Day on Monday 28 December 2026 instead.
Is Christmas Eve a public holiday in 2026?
Only part of it, and only in three places: the NT from 7pm to midnight, Queensland from 6pm to midnight and South Australia from 7pm to midnight. Everywhere else Thursday 24 December 2026 is an ordinary working day on the Fair Work Ombudsman's list.
Is New Year's Eve a public holiday in 2026?
From 7pm to midnight in the NT and South Australia, and not at all elsewhere, on the Fair Work Ombudsman's 2026 list. Thursday 31 December 2026 is otherwise a working day.
Do I get paid for the extra public holiday on 28 December?
If you are not a casual and you would normally work on that day, yes. The Fair Work Ombudsman says an employee who has a public holiday off on a day they normally work is paid their base rate for the ordinary hours they would have worked, without penalties or loadings. A casual is not paid for a public holiday they do not work. Work on the day is paid at whatever public holiday rate your award or agreement sets, and the rates three awards set are on Penalty Rates.
How many days of annual leave do I need to be off from Christmas to New Year?
Three, if you work Monday to Friday. Christmas Day and Monday 28 December 2026 are public holidays everywhere, so the leave days are Tuesday 29, Wednesday 30 and Thursday 31 December. The Fair Work Ombudsman says a public holiday that falls during paid annual leave is paid as a public holiday and is not counted as annual leave. The part-day holidays on New Year's Eve start at 7pm, so they do not take a day off the count.
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