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Public Holidays and Bank Holidays for Australia

The list of Australia bank holidays, national holidays and public holidays for 2009, comes from the Q++ Worldwide Public Holidays Database, the professional source of international public holidays long trusted by the world's foremost diary publishers. The information on this page is provided for private, non-professional, use. Qualified professionals can license data for 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, and beyond. For details, please visit our licensing information page or

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03 Nov 2009 (Australasian Transport News-ATN) The Chairman of the Australian Trucking Association (ATA), Trevor Martyn, has written to Treasurer Wayne Swan calling for uniform public holidays across all of Australia's states and territories. • 21 Oct 2009 (The Armidale Express-Armidale) The Executive Director of the Australian State of New South Wales (NSW) Industrial Relations, Don Jones, has confirmed that Monday, December 28, has been gazetted as the 2009 Boxing Day public holiday. • 20 Oct 2009 (The Westender-Brisbane) The QPSU (union of public sector workers of Australia's State of Queensland) is calling on the state government to consider shifting the Queen’s Birthday public holiday to the first Monday in October. • 18 Oct 2009 (The Examiner-Hobart) The Legislative Council of Australia's State of Tasmania has rejected pending legislation which proposed that whenever Anzac Day fell on any Sunday or on Easter Monday, the following day would be made a day in lieu public holiday. • 16 Oct 2009 (ACT Chief Minister Website-Canberra) The Minister for Industrial Relations of Australia's ACT territory, John Hargreaves, has tabled "The Holidays (Family and Community Day) Amendment Bill 2009" which will change the date of the Family and Community Day public holiday. • 12 Sep 2009 (AAP-Sydney) Australia's State of New South Wales has passed laws that ban most shops from opening on public holidays. • 31 Aug 2009 (ABC-Canberra) The government of Australia's Australia Capital Territory (ACT) has finally decided on the future of the November, Family and Community Day public holiday, moving its date to the first week of the September/October school holidays. • 28 Aug 2009 (Queensland Department of Justice and Attorney-General-Brisbane) The government of Australia's State of Queensland has officialized the date of Monday, December 28, 2009, as a day in lieu substitute public holiday for Christmas Day which falls on a Saturday in 2009. • 18 Aug 2009 (The Sydney Morning Herald-Sydney) The government of Australia's State of New South Wales (NSW) has received an intermediate options paper as part of the review into public holidays that fall on a weekend. • 08 Jul 2009 (School of Journalism at the University of Canberra-ACT) This year, the Australian "state" of ACT will have had 11 public holidays, one more than any other jurisdiction in Australia, and three more than the neighbouring State of NSW, re-igniting the debate as to whether to keep the recently added Family and Community Day public holiday and if so, whether to move its observance. • 04 Jul 2009 (Northern Territory News-Darwin) The Northern Territory Committee co-chair, Fran Kilgariff, has responded for recent calls for Territory Day to become a public holiday by saying that such a public holiday would be fitting "when we do become a state". • 05 Jun 2009 (Workplace Standards Tasmania-Hobart) The Workplace Standards of Australia's state of Tasmania has released a document detailing the implementation of the day in lieu public holidays to be given under pending legislation, when ANZAC Day falls on a Sunday. • 02 Jun 2009 (Western Australia Today-Perth) Western Australia State Premier, Colin Barnett, is reported to be considering a review of Western Australia's Foundation Day public holiday. • 31 May 2009 (Australian Broadcasting Corporation-Sydney) Australia's New South Wales Industrial Relations Minister, John Hatzistergos, has announced a review into public holidays that fall on a weekend. The review will be headed by law Professor, Joellen Riley, and the report is due in October 2009. • 11 May 2009 (The Examiner-Hobart) The Tasmanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (TCCI) has come out against a, recently discussed, Tasmania-wide, state public holiday for Agfest. • 30 Apr 2009 (myZOO-Melbourne) The government of Australia's State of Victoria has ruled out changes that would have allowed some towns to take the Melbourne Cup public holiday on another, municipally significant, day. • 23 Apr 2009 (Australia Broadcasting Corporation-Canberra) The Government of Australia's ACT (Australian Capital Territory) is inviting its residents to have their say on the future of the, early November, Family and Community Day public holiday. • 18 Apr 2009 (ABC News-Australian Broadcasting Corporation) The State Government of the Australian State of Tasmania has finally announced it will introduce legislation creating a Monday day in lieu public holiday when ANZAC Day (April 25) falls on a Sunday, or a Tuesday when the day coincides with Easter Monday. • 18 Feb 2009 (ABC-Sydney) Due to an error in the school calendar gazetted 5 years ago, the public schools in the Australian State of New South Wales (NSW) will get a day in lieu public holiday on April 27, 2009, to compensate the fact that the ANZAC Day public holiday falls on a Saturday in 2009. • 18 Feb 2009 (Australian Associated Press-Sydney) After much prevarication, the Premier of Australia's State of New South Wales (NSW), Nathan Rees, has finally announced that the State government will gazette an additional public holiday on Monday, December 28, 2009, to compensate the fact that the Boxing Day public holiday falls on a Saturday in 2009. • 26 Jan 2009 (The Daily Telegraph-Sydney) The State Government of Australia's New South Wales, announced on Saturday that it would not commit to guarantee a day in lieu public holiday for Boxing Day, despite all other states declaring an official public holiday for Monday, December 28, 2009. • 26 Jan 2009 (Herald Sun-Melbourne) Both Australia's Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, and Opposition Leader, Malcolm Turnbull, have rejected calls to change the date of the Australia Day public holiday, made yesterday by 2009 Australian of the Year, Mick Dodson. • 15 Jan 2009 (Australian Associated Press) The Council for the Australian Federation (CAF) has finally announced the long-awaited agreement to harmonize the treatment of the ANZAC Day public holiday, across all Australian states and territories, when ANZAC Day falls on a Sunday. • 08 Jan 2009 (ABC-Darwin) The Chief Minister of Australia's Northern Territory State, Paul Henderson, has confirmed that as per the state public holidays law, no day in lieu public holiday would be given for ANZAC day which, in 2009, falls on a Saturday. • 02 Jan 2009 (Northern Territory State Government Gazette) The government of the Australia Northern Territory State has gazetted the list of 2009 official public holidays throughout the state, including the local public holidays. • 03 Nov 2008 (Australia Broadcasting Corporation-ABC) Following widespread complaints from the restaurant and business communities, Australia Capital Territory's Chief Minister, Jon Stanhope, has said that his government was committed to the Melbourne Cup public holiday (locally called Family and Community Day) but that, while the public holiday should remain, its date will be reconsidered. • 03 Oct 2008 (Tasmanian Government Communications-Hobart) The Government of Australia's State of Tasmania is considering allowing a day off work when ANZAC Day falls on a Sunday. This, in line with a recent principle agreement at the Federal level stating that all states should seek to harmonise their treatment of public holidays that fall on a Sunday. • 16 Aug 2008 (The Advertiser-Bendigo, VIC) Late last month, the Victoria State government introduced the Public Holidays Amendment Bill 2008 to compensate regional Victorians in 28 regional councils which do not observe the Melbourne Cup public holiday or offer an alternative paid day off. • 10 Jun 2008 (ABC News) Tasmanian Liberal Senator, Guy Barnett, has suggested reforms to the Queen's Birthday public holiday, namely moving it to a more relevant date, such as the monarch's actual birthday in April or even to September 1 (National Wattle Day) or International Volunteers Day, on September 5. • 23 Apr 2008 (ABC News + News.com.au) The State Government of New South Wales (NSW) is said to be considering a new state-wide public holiday to compensate for the recently announced decision by Federal Workplace Relations Minister, Julia Gillard, to deem industry-wide picnic days illegal under Labor's new workplace laws. • 06 Dec 2007 (The Courier Mail) The Government of Australia's State of Queensland is considering shifting the statewide Queen's Birthday public holiday from the second Monday in June to a date in October, beginning in 2009. • More News Updates For the full version of the summarized news items above, and older news items not displayed above, go to the Australia public holidays news and updates page, or worldwide public holidays news and updates page, or subscribe to one of our free email newsletters.

Overview: Australian is a federal state with each state declaring its own list of public holidays, each list, theoretically, potentially different. In practice, the majority of public holidays in Australia are common to all states, though there are some public holidays that are specific to one or more states only. There are also cases when the same named public holiday is celebrated on different dates in different states. Finally, the rules for moving public holidays that occur on a Saturday or Sunday to the following Monday do vary by state and by holiday. • State Abbreviations: • ACT: Australia Capital Territory. • NSW: New South Wales. • NT: Northern Territory. • QLD: Queensland. • SA: South Australia. • TAS: Tasmania. • VIC: Victoria. • WA: Western Australia. • Labour Day is on various days depending on the region. It is known as Eight Hours Day in TAS. • Canberra Day is a holiday in the ACT. • Holy Saturday is not a holiday in TAS, but TAS is the only territory to celebrate Easter Tuesday. • Foundation Day is celebrated in WA only. • The Queen's Birthday is celebrated in June everywhere but WA. • Picnic Day in NT was also a Bank Holiday in ACT and NSW in August, but it was removed from the list of ACT public holidays in 2006, and replaced with Family and Community Day (see below). • Melbourne Cup Day is, officially speaking, only celebrated in Melbourne; but the race is seen or heard on television or radio by about 85 percent of Australia's 20 million people, according to the Victoria Racing Club, not only during the race itself, but for most of the afternoon. • Family and Community Day (ACT) was created, beginning in 2007, to compensate for the abrogation of Picnic Day (see above). It is set to be held in 2007, and despite strong opposition from business, the ACT government has committed to it for 2008. It will be reviewed for 2009. • Boxing Day is called Proclamation Day in South Australia. • Daylight Saving Time is under the control of State governments. At present, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and the ACT use Daylight Saving Time. In Western Australia, there have been 3 referenda that have rejected the implementation of Daylight Saving Time, with the most recent over 12 years ago. Then, on November 21, 2006, a proposed three-year trial of daylight saving time, passed through the Upper House of Parliament with a massive majority. The trial of daylight saving will span three summers and be followed by a referendum. • Australia International Codes AU and AUS (2 and 3-letter ISO3166 codes) and .au (ICANN national top-level internet domain). • Other Sources of Information The following specialized websites are also a good source of Australia information and news: Reserve Bank of Australia (Australia central bank), ASI Hot Spots (security-related world events: terrorist threats, political strife, strikes, criminal activity, aviation incidents and health outbreaks), CIA World Factbook (Australia maps, demographics and economic statistics), the IFES (information covering upcoming elections, referenda, electoral structures and voter participation in Australia), and Wikipedia (includes Australia commemorative dates that are not necessarily public holidays).

Observance : Any entry in the Observance column indicates that, in Australia, the holiday may be regional or non-official or limited to certain religious and/or linguistic groups, or begin at a time other than midnight. Note that religious holidays are included only if they are national public holidays, or if the national labour code has specific holiday allowances for employees of specific religions. For more information, see our pages on the religious calendars of the world. Aft=Afternoon, Arm=Armenian, Bah=Bahai, Bnk=Banks and most financial institutions, Bud=Buddhist, Cat=Catholic, Chr=Christian, Cop=Coptic, Eve=Evening, Gov=Government services and civil servants, Hin=Hindu, Jew=Jewish, Lin=Linguistic or ethnic groups, Mor=Morning, Mun=Municipal, Mus=Muslim, Orth=Orthodox, Othr=Miscellaneous partial observances (usually described in the Additional Information section of this page), Prt=Protestant, Reg=Regional, Rel=Other Religion, Sch=Schools and universities, Sik=Sikh.

Disclaimer
In many parts of the world, holidays are subject to arbitrary, last minute, changes by local authorities. While every effort has been made to present an accurate list of 2009 bank holidays, legal holidays and public holidays for Australia, we cannot accept any responsibility for any error or omission in the data presented above. You are therefore advised to verify the above dates with the embassy or consulate of Australia, before planning any trip to Australia. For last-minute updates to worldwide public holidays, visit our blog or subscribe to our free email newsletters.