# Does Anzac Day (Saturday, 25 April 2026) trigger a substitute Monday public holiday Australia‑wide?

**Short answer: No.** There is no single, uniform national rule that automatically creates a substitute public holiday on Monday 27 April 2026 for every employee in Australia. Whether an employee gets that Monday as a public holiday depends entirely on **which state or territory's public holiday law governs their workplace**, because public holidays in Australia are not set by Commonwealth law — they are declared under each State and Territory's own Public Holidays Act (or equivalent), and the National Employment Standards in the *Fair Work Act 2009* (Cth) simply pick up whatever holidays are "gazetted" or "prescribed" under that local law (s.115 Fair Work Act). There is no Commonwealth power that imposes one answer for the whole country.

## Why Anzac Day is treated differently from other holidays

Most jurisdictions automatically move Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year's Day (and in some states, Australia Day) to the next Monday/weekday when they fall on a weekend. Anzac Day is usually carved out as an exception to that generic "weekend substitution" rule — it is fixed to the actual calendar date of 25 April in most places, with **no** automatic make‑up day. A small number of jurisdictions have a specific statutory provision that *does* create a substitute Monday for Anzac Day when it lands on a Saturday or Sunday. That is the source of the variation the payroll officer needs to check.

## Jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction position (Anzac Day Saturday → following Monday)

| Jurisdiction | Extra Monday public holiday (27 April 2026)? | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Western Australia | **Yes** | WA's public holidays legislation specifically substitutes the following Monday when Anzac Day falls on a Saturday (or Sunday) — a feature unique to WA's scheme. |
| Northern Territory | **Yes** | NT's public holidays legislation/practice similarly provides an additional Monday when Anzac Day falls on a weekend. |
| New South Wales | No | Anzac Day is fixed to 25 April; the NSW scheme does not extend it to the following Monday. |
| Victoria | No | Same approach — Anzac Day observed on the actual date only. |
| Queensland | No (unless separately gazetted) | No automatic substitution; Queensland could only create one by a specific proclamation for that year. |
| South Australia | No | Anzac Day fixed to 25 April, no automatic Monday substitution. |
| Tasmania | No | Same — fixed date only. |
| Australian Capital Territory | No | Same — fixed date only. |

(These reflect the long-standing pattern in each jurisdiction's public holiday schemes; because gazettes are issued annually and governments occasionally proclaim one-off additional holidays, the payroll officer should still confirm against each relevant jurisdiction's official 2026 public holiday list/gazette before finalising payroll treatment.)

## What the employee's answer actually turns on

For any given employee, whether 27 April 2026 is a paid public holiday depends on:

1. **Which State or Territory's public holiday declaration applies to that employee's place of work** (not their employer's "home" state, and not a national default) — this is the threshold question.
2. **Whether that jurisdiction's legislation/gazette contains a specific Anzac Day weekend-substitution rule** (as WA and NT do) as opposed to treating Anzac Day as a fixed, non-substituted date (as NSW, VIC, QLD, SA, TAS and the ACT do).
3. **Whether the relevant government has issued any one-off proclamation** for the 2026 calendar year varying the usual position (this should be checked against the current official gazette, since these can change from year to year).

## Bottom line for the payroll officer

Do not apply a blanket "Monday 27 April 2026 is a public holiday for everyone" rule. Apply it **only** to employees whose work location is in Western Australia or the Northern Territory (subject to confirming the current 2026 gazette for those jurisdictions). Employees working in NSW, VIC, QLD, SA, TAS or the ACT are not entitled to an additional public holiday — for them, Saturday 25 April 2026 is simply Anzac Day, falling on a non-working day, with no substitute Monday.