Plan Your Time Off

Annual leave planner.

Some weeks of the year cost four days of annual leave and give you ten off. Others cost five and give you five. This works out which is which for your state in 2026 and 2027, and tells you the exact dates to put on the form.

Where you are based for work

Public holidays follow the place you are based for work, not where your employer's head office is. Fair Work Act 2009 s 114(1).

Annual leave days you can spend

Not sure what you have accrued? Work it out with the annual leave calculator.

Your best move in 2027: book 1 day and take 4 off

Break	Book these days	Leave used	Days off
23 Jan to 26 Jan Australia Day	25 January	1	4 (4.0x)
20 Mar to 29 Mar Good Friday, Easter Saturday, Easter Sunday, Easter Monday	22, 23, 24, 25 March	4	10 (2.5x)
26 Mar to 4 Apr Good Friday, Easter Saturday, Easter Sunday, Easter Monday	30, 31, 1, 2 March onwards	4	10 (2.5x)
24 Apr to 2 May Anzac Day, Additional Anzac Day public holiday	27, 28, 29, 30 April	4	9 (2.3x)
12 Jun to 20 Jun King's Birthday	15, 16, 17, 18 June	4	9 (2.3x)
2 Oct to 10 Oct Labour Day	5, 6, 7, 8 October	4	9 (2.3x)
18 Dec to 28 Dec Christmas Day, Boxing Day, Christmas Day substitute, Boxing Day substitute	20, 21, 22, 23, 24 December	5	11 (2.2x)
1 Jan to 10 Jan New Year's Day	4, 5, 6, 7, 8 January	5	10 (2.0x)
17 Apr to 26 Apr Anzac Day, Additional Anzac Day public holiday	19, 20, 21, 22, 23 April	5	10 (2.0x)
5 Jun to 14 Jun King's Birthday	7, 8, 9, 10, 11 June	5	10 (2.0x)
25 Sep to 4 Oct Labour Day	27, 28, 29, 30, 1 September onwards	5	10 (2.0x)
26 Jan to 31 Jan Australia Day	27, 28, 29 January	3	6 (2.0x)

Why It Works

A public holiday inside your leave is free.

Section 89(1) of the Fair Work Act 2009 says that if a period of paid annual leave includes a public holiday, you are “taken not to be on paid annual leave on that public holiday”. Your employer still pays you for it under section 116, at your base rate for your ordinary hours, but it does not come off your balance. Book the week containing Good Friday and Easter Monday and you spend three days, not five.

Weekends are the other half of the arithmetic. A break that starts on a Saturday and ends on a Sunday collects four weekend days for free at the edges, which is why the planner only ever suggests breaks that begin and end on a day you were not working anyway.

2027 by State

The single best week in every state.

Tasmania has the fewest public holidays and the ACT the most, so the same five days of annual leave buy noticeably different amounts of time off depending on where you work.

State	Holidays in 2027	Best break	Costs	Gives
New South Wales	14	23 Jan to 26 Jan	1 day	4 days off
Victoria	15	23 Jan to 26 Jan	1 day	4 days off
Queensland	13	23 Jan to 26 Jan	1 day	4 days off
Western Australia	14	23 Jan to 26 Jan	1 day	4 days off
South Australia	14	23 Jan to 26 Jan	1 day	4 days off
Tasmania	10	23 Jan to 26 Jan	1 day	4 days off
Northern Territory	14	23 Jan to 26 Jan	1 day	4 days off
Australian Capital Territory	15	23 Jan to 26 Jan	1 day	4 days off

Put It In Your Calendar

Subscribe to your state's public holidays.

A live calendar feed, one per state and territory, covering every gazetted date for 2026 and 2027. Add it once in Google Calendar, Apple Calendar or Outlook and the dates stay there. Each entry is marked as free time so it never blocks your availability.

State or territory	Calendar feed	All dates
New South Wales	NSW public holidays (.ics)	NSW dates
Victoria	VIC public holidays (.ics)	VIC dates
Queensland	QLD public holidays (.ics)	QLD dates
Western Australia	WA public holidays (.ics)	WA dates
South Australia	SA public holidays (.ics)	SA dates
Tasmania	TAS public holidays (.ics)	TAS dates
Northern Territory	NT public holidays (.ics)	NT dates
Australian Capital Territory	ACT public holidays (.ics)	ACT dates

Before You Book

Check the balance you are actually spending.

The planner assumes you have the days. Confirm what you have accrued with the annual leave calculator, check what the days are worth with the leave loading calculator, and see the full dates behind these breaks on the public holidays hub or in the long weekends list.

Q & A

Annual leave planning questions.

What the Fair Work Act says about leave, public holidays and shutdowns.

Does a public holiday use up my annual leave?

No. Under section 89(1) of the Fair Work Act 2009, if a public holiday falls inside a period of paid annual leave, you are taken not to be on annual leave that day. It is not deducted from your balance, and you are paid for it under section 116 at your base rate for your ordinary hours. That is the whole reason booking leave around a public holiday is cheaper than booking the same number of days in an ordinary week.

Which state’s public holidays apply to me?

The ones for the place you are based for work, not where your employer is registered or where its head office sits. Section 114(1) of the Fair Work Act 2009 sets the entitlement by reference to "the place where the employee is based for work purposes".

Can my employer refuse the leave I want to book?

Annual leave is taken for a period agreed between you and your employer, and section 88(2) of the Fair Work Act 2009 says the employer must not unreasonably refuse a request. So a refusal has to be reasonable, and popular weeks like Easter and Christmas are exactly where a business is most likely to have a reasonable operational ground.

Can my employer make me take leave over Christmas?

Sometimes. A modern award or enterprise agreement can require you to take paid annual leave, but only where the requirement is reasonable (section 93(3)). For employees not covered by an award or agreement, section 94(5) allows the same, and the note to that section names a shutdown between Christmas and New Year as an example of a reasonable requirement.

Does this planner account for part-day public holidays?

Yes, by excluding them. Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve part-day holidays in South Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory start at 6pm or 7pm, so the day is still a working day and cannot be used to bridge a break. They are shown on the state public holiday pages but never counted here as a day off.