Victoria Public Holidays 2028

Victoria's public holiday rules, applied to 2028

Victoria adds Labour Day on the second Monday of March (s 6(d)), Easter Saturday and Easter Sunday (s 6(f) and (fa)), the Friday before the AFL Grand Final (s 6(ia)) and Melbourne Cup Day on the first Tuesday of November (s 6(j)). In 2028 those days are Labour Day on Monday, March 13, Easter Saturday on Saturday, April 15, Easter Sunday on Sunday, April 16, and Melbourne Cup Day on Tuesday, November 7.

25 April is a Tuesday in 2028, so Anzac Day is a public holiday on that weekday itself and s 6(h) needs no weekend clause.

The Public Holidays Act 1993 adds a weekday for a weekend year-end holiday rather than replacing the weekend date. The rule is stated in s 6(a) and (b) for New Year's Day and s 6(ka) and (m) for Christmas and Boxing Day, each a separate paragraph from the weekend date it follows. New Year's Day falls on a Saturday and stays a public holiday, with Monday, January 3 added.

The Friday before the AFL Grand Final is a standing public holiday under s 6(ia), but its 2028 date follows a fixture that has not been published, so it is not in this year's list yet.

Why 2028 gives Victoria fewer working days

A year's working days are its weekdays minus the holidays that land on them, and both halves move. The weekday supply depends only on the year's length and the weekday it starts on; the holiday half depends on where each fixed date falls that year. 2028 is a leap year that opens on a Saturday, so its two days beyond 52 whole weeks are a Saturday and a Sunday. It ends up with 260 weekdays, fewer than an ordinary year that starts midweek.

Ten public holidays in this page's count fall on weekdays (three more land on a weekend and cost nothing), so Victoria has 250 working days in 2028. That is two fewer than 2027 (252). The calendar supplies one fewer weekday, and one more holiday lands on a weekday.

Weekend public holidays in 2028, and what Victoria does with each

A public holiday on a Saturday or Sunday removes no working day; what changes the count is whether Victoria's law adds a weekday for it or puts one in its place. In Victoria in 2028:

• New Year's Day falls on Saturday, January 1 and stays a public holiday; Monday, January 3 is added on top, so the weekend date takes no working day and the weekday does.

Only the weekday entries change the count; a public holiday on a Saturday or Sunday takes no working day from it.

What Victoria's own days cost in 2028

A public holiday on Victoria's list takes a working day out of the count only when it lands on a weekday that is not also a public holiday on the national Australian set, and a public holiday on the national Australian set that is not on Victoria's list puts one back only when it lands on a weekday. In 2028, Victoria's additions on a weekday are Labour Day on Monday, March 13 and Melbourne Cup Day on Tuesday, November 7, while Easter Saturday on Saturday, April 15 and Easter Sunday on Sunday, April 16 fall on a weekend and change nothing.

The net effect is two fewer working days than the national Australian set: 250 against 252.

Where the fixed-date holidays land in 2028

A holiday tied to a calendar date moves one weekday later each year, and two once 29 February has passed, so the week it breaks changes every year while its date stays put. 2028 is a leap year, so every date from March onward jumps two weekdays against 2027:

• New Year's Day is a Saturday in 2028, after a Friday in 2027, a weekend day, so the date itself takes no working day on this page's count; the weekend rules above decide whether a weekday is given for it.
• Australia Day is a Wednesday in 2028, after a Tuesday in 2027: a midweek break that leaves two working days on each side of it on this page's count.
• ANZAC Day is a Tuesday in 2028, after a Sunday in 2027, which strands Monday, April 24 between the weekend and the holiday on this page's count.
• Christmas Day is a Monday in 2028, after a Saturday in 2027, so on this page's count it is one of four days off in a row, Saturday, December 23 to Tuesday, December 26.
• Boxing Day is a Tuesday in 2028, after a Sunday in 2027, so on this page's count it is one of four days off in a row, Saturday, December 23 to Tuesday, December 26.

Long weekends and four-day breaks in Victoria, 2028

A weekday holiday next to a weekend turns two days off into three; two closures side by side, or one on each side of a weekend, make four or more. That is arithmetic on the dates, so the list moves every year even when the holidays do not. On this page's count, Victoria has five such breaks in 2028:

• Saturday, January 1 to Monday, January 3: three days, for New Year's Day (additional).
• Saturday, March 11 to Monday, March 13: three days, for Labour Day.
• Friday, April 14 to Monday, April 17: four days, for Good Friday and Easter Monday.
• Saturday, June 10 to Monday, June 12: three days, for King's Birthday.
• Saturday, December 23 to Tuesday, December 26: four days, for Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

Bridge days and midweek breaks in 2028

A holiday on a Tuesday or a Thursday strands a single working day between it and the weekend; a Wednesday one splits the week into two short runs instead. 2028 has both kinds. The stranded days are Monday, April 24, next to ANZAC Day and Monday, November 6, next to Melbourne Cup Day.

The midweek closure is Australia Day on Wednesday, January 26. A deadline counted across a Wednesday holiday loses its day in the middle of the week, not at either end, so a count that steps through the week one day at a time has to skip it there.

Victoria month by month, 2028

A month's working days are its weekdays less the holidays on them, so a month with no weekday holiday is set entirely by how its weekdays fall, and every holiday that lands midweek takes one day off the month it sits in.

The third column counts the same months on the national Australian set, so the gap between the two columns is exactly what Victoria's own calendar changes.

The longest unbroken stretch of 2028

The longest run of working days with no weekday holiday inside it depends on how far apart consecutive closures sit, so it moves whenever one fixed-date holiday changes weekday. In 2028 it runs from Tuesday, June 13 to Monday, November 6, straddling the middle of the year: 105 working days, exactly 21 full working weeks.

The first working day of 2028 on this count is Tuesday, January 4, after New Year's Day (additional). The last is Friday, December 29, which is the latest date a count of working days can end on inside 2028.

Which calendar the 2028 count uses

The count uses the public holidays Victoria's own Act declares for the whole state, including any weekday the Act adds or substitutes for a weekend holiday. The Friday before the AFL Grand Final is a standing public holiday, but its date follows the fixture, so it is counted only in years where the fixture is published.