Christmas 2026 public holidays by state: Tasmania has no Saturday Boxing Day

Boxing Day falls on a Saturday this year, and whether Saturday 26 December 2026 is a public holiday depends on which state your venue is in. In NSW, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, the ACT and the Northern Territory it is, and Monday 28 December is a public holiday on top. In Tasmania the holiday moves to the Monday and the Saturday is an ordinary Saturday. For a Level 2 casual under the Hospitality Award, that's $67.70 an hour in Sydney and $40.62 an hour in Hobart for the same shift.

It's one of three traps in this year's calendar. Christmas Eve is a part-day public holiday from 6 pm in Queensland and from 7 pm in South Australia and the Northern Territory, and nowhere else. And South Australia doesn't have a Boxing Day at all, it has a Proclamation Day holiday. A payroll calendar set up nationally, or copied from 2025 when Boxing Day was a Friday, gets at least one of these wrong.

The short version: Friday 25 December 2026 is Christmas Day everywhere. Saturday 26 December is a public holiday everywhere except Tasmania. Monday 28 December is a public holiday everywhere, Tasmania included. Sunday 27 December is an ordinary Sunday, and Friday 1 January 2027 is New Year's Day, in all eight. Christmas Eve is a part-day holiday in Queensland (from 6 pm) and in SA and the NT (from 7 pm); New Year's Eve from 7 pm in SA and the NT only. General information, not legal advice: check your state's list and the award or agreement that covers your staff.

Every state and territory, Christmas Eve to New Year's Eve

Dates are from the Fair Work Ombudsman's 2026 list, which is compiled from each state and territory's own declarations, cross-checked against the NSW, Queensland, WA and ACT government lists and the Victorian, Tasmanian and NT Acts. Friday 1 January 2027 is New Year's Day in all eight. Sunday 27 December is an ordinary Sunday in all eight too, which is easy to miss when it sits between three holidays.

Why Tasmania is the odd one out

Boxing Day is a public holiday under the National Employment Standards in its own right, because section 115 of the Fair Work Act lists 26 December by name. What differs is what each state's law does when it lands on a weekend, and one word does the work. Victoria's Public Holidays Act lists 26 December and the Monday after it when Boxing Day is a Saturday; the NT's Act says 26 December and the following Monday; WA says the Monday is also a holiday. Tasmania's Statutory Holidays Act says Boxing Day is 26 December unless that day falls on a Saturday or Sunday, in which case it's the Monday after a Saturday or the Tuesday after a Sunday. Section 115(2) of the Fair Work Act then makes it stick: when a state law substitutes a day, the substituted day is the public holiday.

There's no award backstop either. Clause 29.4(f) and (g) of the Hospitality Award gives full-time and part-time staff 125% plus a substitute day off when Christmas Day falls on a weekend and isn't a public holiday, but it says nothing about Boxing Day. In Hobart or Launceston, Saturday 26 December 2026 is a Saturday: 125% for permanent staff, 150% for casuals.

What the same Saturday shift costs in Hobart and in Sydney

Take a Level 2 food and beverage attendant on the Hospitality Award (MA000009), where most bar and floor staff sit (our guide to the award levels has the grades), working eight hours on Saturday 26 December 2026. Rates are from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2026, with the casual loading built in. The Restaurant Industry Award pays the same 225% and 250% off the same $27.08 Level 2 base, so the holiday figures match for a restaurant.

The gap is $216.64 either way, because the Saturday rate and the holiday rate sit 100 percentage points apart for both employment types. Monday 28 December is a public holiday in all eight, so the same eight hours on the Monday cost $541.60 for a casual and $487.44 for a permanent wherever you are. The whole Sydney run, Sunday included, is costed in our December staffing plan.

Christmas Eve starts the holiday at 6 pm in Brisbane and 7 pm in Adelaide and Darwin

Queensland, SA and the NT declare part of Christmas Eve a public holiday, and the award pays holiday rates for the hours inside the window, not the whole shift. Clause 29.3 says only the highest penalty applies, so the $2.95 evening amount drops away once the holiday rate starts. Same casual Level 2, Thursday 24 December, 4 pm to midnight:

The same split applies from 7 pm on New Year's Eve in SA and the NT, and then everywhere from midnight, when Friday 1 January 2027 starts. A casual who works a public holiday is paid for at least two hours and a permanent for at least four (clause 29.4), and hours worked either side of the holiday in one continuous shift count towards that minimum.

Four things to check before the Christmas roster goes out

1. Set the holiday calendar per venue, not per business. A group with a Hobart bar and a Melbourne bar has different Saturdays, and SA, Queensland and the NT differ again on names and start times. Check each location against the Fair Work Ombudsman's list.
2. Ask staff to work the holidays, don't just roster them. Section 114 of the Fair Work Act gives every employee the right to be absent on a public holiday unless you make a reasonable request, and the notice you give is one of the things that makes it reasonable. Name the dates (25, 26 and 28 December outside Tasmania; 25 and 28 inside it) and keep the replies.
3. Budget the Monday, including for full-timers who are off. A full-time or part-time employee who'd normally work a Monday and doesn't is paid their base rate for those hours under section 116. If a full-timer's rostered day off lands on a public holiday, clause 35.3 says you owe an extra day's pay, an alternative day off within 28 days, or an extra day's annual leave. The same goes for the holidays inside a Christmas shutdown.
4. Get the weekend right. Tasmania's Saturday 26 at holiday rates, and anyone's Sunday 27 at holiday rates, are the easiest overpayments of the week. The reverse, paying Saturday 26 at Saturday rates in the other seven, shorts a casual $216.64 on an eight-hour shift, and that's the line your staff will check their payslip for.

Where Shiftly fits

A multi-state roster is where the calendar goes wrong, because the person building it sits in one state. Shiftly is free workforce management for Australian venues: rostering, plus award-aware timesheets that help you check what a public holiday shift should cost before you approve it. Public holidays are worked out from each location's state, so a Hobart venue and a Melbourne venue in the same business see different Saturdays, part-day holidays are priced from the minute they start, and you can add or remove a holiday for one location when a regional holiday applies. It's a calculation tool, not a payroll provider, and the business stays responsible for verifying the result against the Fair Work pay guide.

The reason to set it up before December is what sits behind it: the roster that fills itself. Shiftly On-Demand will let you post the Boxing Day shifts your own team can't cover to local hospitality workers, engaged directly by your venue as independent contractors, with Shiftly facilitating the match rather than acting as the employer or an agency. It's coming soon, starting in Sydney, with the waitlist open now. Get started with Shiftly.

Frequently asked questions

Is Boxing Day a public holiday on Saturday 26 December 2026?

Yes in NSW, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia (as the Proclamation Day holiday), Western Australia, the ACT and the Northern Territory, and all seven add a public holiday on Monday 28 December. In Tasmania the Saturday is not a public holiday: the Statutory Holidays Act moves Boxing Day to Monday 28 December when 26 December is a Saturday, and under section 115(2) of the Fair Work Act the substituted day is the public holiday.

Is Monday 28 December 2026 a public holiday?

Yes, in every state and territory. In seven of them it's an additional public holiday on top of Saturday 26 December; in Tasmania it is Boxing Day itself. Sunday 27 December is an ordinary Sunday everywhere, so a casual on the Hospitality Award gets the Sunday rate ($47.39 an hour at Level 2), not the holiday rate.

What time does the Christmas Eve public holiday start?

6 pm in Queensland and 7 pm in South Australia and the Northern Territory, running to midnight on Thursday 24 December 2026. No other state or territory has one. SA and the NT also have a part-day holiday from 7 pm on New Year's Eve. Under the Hospitality Award only the hours inside the window are paid at the public holiday rate: 225% for full-time and part-time staff, 250% for casuals.