No. Easter Saturday is not a public holiday uniformly across Australia. There is no single national answer that applies to everyone, because public holidays in Australia are set by each state and territory under its own legislation, not by the Commonwealth. So whether Easter Saturday 2026 (Saturday 4 April 2026, the day between Good Friday on 3 April and Easter Sunday on 5 April) is a public holiday for a given employee turns on the jurisdiction in which that employee works.

The short answer for a payroll officer: do not treat Easter Saturday as a public holiday for "all employees across Australia". Determine it per state/territory.

How the status splits between jurisdictions (status as at FY2025-26):

Jurisdictions where Easter Saturday IS a gazetted public holiday:
- New South Wales - yes, Easter Saturday is a public holiday.
- Victoria - yes, the Saturday before Easter Sunday is a public holiday.
- Queensland - yes, Easter Saturday is a public holiday.
- South Australia - yes, Easter Saturday is a public holiday (in SA it is observed as a part-day/restricted-trading style holiday in some respects, but it is a gazetted public holiday).
- Australian Capital Territory - yes, Easter Saturday is a public holiday.
- Northern Territory - yes, Easter Saturday is a public holiday.

Jurisdictions where Easter Saturday is NOT a public holiday:
- Western Australia - no. WA does not gazette Easter Saturday as a public holiday. (WA's Easter public holidays are Good Friday and Easter Monday; Easter Saturday and Easter Sunday are ordinary days.)
- Tasmania - no. Tasmania does not declare Easter Saturday a state-wide public holiday. (Tasmania's gazetted Easter holidays are Good Friday and Easter Monday, with Easter Tuesday additionally observed for some employees; Easter Saturday is not a public holiday.)

So the picture is: a public holiday in most jurisdictions (NSW, VIC, QLD, SA, ACT, NT) but not in Western Australia or Tasmania.

What an individual employee's answer turns on:
1. The state or territory in which the employee is based / where the work is performed - this is the primary determinant, because each jurisdiction's public holidays legislation governs.
2. Whether any additional locally-appointed or substitute public holiday applies (state and territory governments can declare additional or substitute holidays, and these can change year to year), so the authoritative source is the relevant jurisdiction's official public holiday gazette/declaration for 2026.
3. The employee's industrial instrument - the applicable modern award, enterprise agreement, or contract - which sets out public holiday entitlements (payment, penalty rates, substitution, and the right to reasonably refuse to work). The Fair Work Act's National Employment Standards entitle employees to be absent on a "public holiday", but it defines public holidays by reference to the days declared under state and territory laws, so the underlying list is still jurisdiction-specific.

Practical guidance for payroll: split the workforce by jurisdiction. Pay/treat Easter Saturday 4 April 2026 as a public holiday for employees in NSW, VIC, QLD, SA, ACT and NT, and as an ordinary day for employees in WA and Tasmania, then confirm against the official 2026 public holiday declaration for each relevant state/territory and the applicable award or enterprise agreement before processing.