Purpose:

The Act makes provision for defining and regulating public holidays and bank holidays within the Australian Capital Territory.

Objectives:

• To designate specific dates as public holidays within the ACT, including provisions for when these days fall on a weekend.
• To empower the Minister to declare additional days, or parts of days, as public holidays in the ACT.
• To authorise the Minister to declare that a day typically designated as a public holiday will not be a public holiday in a particular year.
• To designate specific days as bank holidays within the ACT, generally aligning with public holidays and including an additional fixed bank holiday.
• To empower the Minister to declare additional days, or parts of days, as bank holidays or to cancel existing bank holidays.
• To clarify the application of substituted public holidays for persons entitled to holidays under modern awards.

Key Provisions:

• Public Holidays (Section 3):
  • Identifies a list of fixed public holidays (e.g., New Year’s Day, Australia Day, Anzac Day, Christmas Day, Boxing Day) with specific provisions for substituting the holiday to the following Monday or Tuesday if it falls on a Saturday or Sunday.
  • Designates movable public holidays (e.g., Canberra Day, Good Friday, Easter Saturday, Easter Sunday, Easter Monday, the 2nd Monday in June for the Sovereign’s birthday, the 1st Monday in October for Labour Day, Reconciliation Day).
  • Specifies 27 May (Reconciliation Day), or if that day is not a Monday, the following Monday, as a public holiday.
  • Grants the Minister authority to declare any other day, or part of a day, as a public holiday in the whole or a specified part of the ACT (Section 3(1)(b)).
  • Grants the Minister authority to declare that a day normally a public holiday is not a public holiday in a particular year (Section 3(2)).
  • Requires declarations made by the Minister regarding public holidays (Section 3(1)(b) or (2)) to be notifiable instruments.
  • Mandates that declarations cancelling a public holiday (Section 3(2)) must be notified under the Legislation Act not later than 1 week before the day.
  • Specifies that if a person is entitled under a modern award to a holiday on a weekday following a substituted public holiday, and that weekday is not a public holiday under this Act, then the substituted public holiday is not a public holiday for that person under this Act (Section 3(5)).
• Bank Holidays (Section 4):
  • Designates any public holiday in the ACT (or a part of the ACT) under Section 3 as also a bank holiday (Section 4(1)(a)).
  • Designates the 1st Monday in August of each year as a bank holiday in the ACT (Section 4(1)(b)).
  • Grants the Minister authority to declare any other day, or part of a day, as a bank holiday in the whole or a specified part of the ACT (Section 4(1)©).
  • Grants the Minister authority to declare that a day normally a bank holiday is not a bank holiday in a particular year (Section 4(2)).
  • Requires declarations made by the Minister regarding bank holidays (Section 4(1)© or (2)) to be notifiable instruments.
  • Mandates that declarations cancelling a bank holiday (Section 4(2)) must be notified under the Legislation Act not later than 1 week before the day.

Evidence of Compliance Requirements For Agricultural Organisations:

• This Act primarily defines public and bank holidays within the ACT and outlines the Minister’s powers regarding these declarations.
• It does not specify any direct compliance requirements for agricultural organisations in terms of documentation, record-keeping, time frames, measurement standards, reporting, inspections, or audits under this Act.
• The Act notes that substituted public holidays may not apply to persons entitled to a holiday under a “modern award” (as defined by the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cwlth)), implying that organisations (including agricultural ones) must align their holiday observance with such awards where applicable. However, the specific compliance actions for this alignment are not detailed within the Holidays Act 1958 itself.

Metadata Keywords:

Australian Capital Territory, Public Holidays, Bank Holidays, Legislation, Statutory Holidays, ACT Government, Industrial Relations, Fair Work, Canberra.

Publication Information:

Republication No 11 Effective: 1 January 2018 Republication date: 1 January 2018 Last amendment made by A2017-29

Agricultural Industry Alignment:

None of the specified agricultural industries (Beef & Veal, Chicken, Coarse Grains, Cotton, Dairy, Eggs, Fisheries, Forestry, Horticulture, Oilseeds, Pig, Sheep Meat, Sugar, Wheat, Wine, Wool) are explicitly referenced or clearly implied in the text as specific targets of this legislation. The Act applies generally to all operations within the Australian Capital Territory.

Date Added to database:

This document was parsed and added to the database on 25-07-2025

URL:

https://www.legislation.act.gov.au/DownloadFile/a/1958-19/current/PDF/1958-19.PDF →