Who doesn’t love a cheeky long weekend? We thought so! In big news for Western Australia, the state government has announced a major shake-up of its public holiday calendar, with the introduction of two new days off, plus three date changes. Time to start planning those long weekends!
Currently, Western Australia has the joint fewest public holidays in Australia at just 11 days off per year. But that’s about to change: this week, the WA Government will introduce the Public and Bank Holidays Amendment Bill 2025, which will take effect from 2028. The two-year lead time is designed to give businesses, schools and communities time to prepare.
The first big change is a brand-new public holiday: Show Day, celebrating the Perth Royal Show. It’ll fall on the first Monday of the September/October school holidays, giving everyone an extra long weekend to enjoy the festivities. In addition, Western Australia will officially recognise Easter Saturday as a public holiday, bringing the state in line with all other Australian mainland states (except Tasmania).
The new bill also proposes shifting the dates of three existing public holidays to better align WA with other states and territories. One of these is the King’s Birthday, which most Australian states celebrate on June 9 – except WA and Queensland. Currently, WA marks the occasion on the fourth weekend of September to space it out from WA Day on the first Monday in June. This has sparked debate, with West Coasters arguing that it doesn’t make sense for them to work while the rest of the country is offline.
In response, the state government will move the King's Birthday public holiday to the second Monday in June and move WA Day to the second Monday in November.
Finally, the bill proposes moving Labour Day to the second Monday in March, or the third Monday if it clashes with a state election, which happens every four years.
"By adding two new public holidays – Easter Saturday and Show Day – we're creating a schedule that better matches the rhythm of life in WA,” said WA Premier Roger Cook. "And by realigning three existing ones, we are supporting productivity and economic activity across the State.”