Not a Date To Celebrate: Substituting the Australia Day public holiday

For employers

This is an opportunity to lead by your values, support social change and give your employees a voice. Chat with your HR support and gather the info you need.

Change it ourselves

Change It Ourselves is a group that supports employees and employers to not take the public holiday on January 26 and instead, change the date ourselves through public action, without waiting for the government.

It’s a great website to explore if you are an employee or employer that wants to support more inclusive public holidays. Check out their easy step-by-step framework so you too may be able to enact support for changing the date.

They have even created these stunning free posters, made in collaboration with Waanyi and Kalkadoon woman Keisha Leon from Leon Design, to download to support organisations and businesses to close.

Solidarity and allyship

We are proud of the growing list of people and organisations that are changing the date themselves. Just to name a few:

• In 2017, Triple J decided to no longer hold the Hottest 100 on Australia Day, with the station acknowledging the “increasing debate” about January 26 and its meaning for Indigenous Australians.
• In January 2021 Cricket Australia said it will not be referring to January 26 as ‘Australia Day’ as part of its Big Bash League promotions, after consultation with its Indigenous advisory committee.
• In December 2022, Channel 10 announced that it will refuse to recognise January 26 as ‘Australia Day’ given the date’s history.
• Local councils in Melbourne’s Inner North (Yarra, Darebin and Merri-bek) have taken a stand and ceased holding citizenship ceremonies on Australia Day. The City of Greater Geelong, Shepparton, Whittlesea and Surf Coast Shire, indicated they were keen to reconsider their plans for 2024.
• In January 2022, as reported by SBS, many other major Australian companies including Telstra, KPMG, University of Wollongong, EY and Australian Ethical Super have told their employees that they don’t have to take a holiday on Australia Day.

Not business as usual

We understand that solidarity and allyship can look and feel different to everyone and substituting the Australia Day public holiday is but one way to show your support. But is it enough?

What you do on January 26 matters to First Nations people. If you’ve got the option to go to work, Invasion Day is not just another day in the office. Make sure you are centring First Nations people and voices and not just going about your business as usual. Recognise your privilege and the fact that January 26 is a painful day for First Nations people and marks the beginning of the dispossession of land, violence, massacres and genocide for First Nations People.

Julie Szego in her opinion piece ‘Push to shift Australia Day public holiday doesn’t quite add up’ discusses how people substituting the public holiday are gifted an alternative day off at a time most convenient to them and in-turn “manage to not only avoid January 26 with its undertow of guilt about past and present injustice but they get to bask in the warm inner glow of a choice deemed politically virtuous”.

So, while at work on Invasion Day, what are some ways you can help drive systemic change and stand meaningfully in solidarity with First Nations people?

Here are examples of what some workplaces and employers are doing:

• Changing their language and referring to Australia Day as January 26 and/or Invasion Day.
• Encouraging staff to attend a local rally or dawn service.
• Holding a staff lunch and learn session to educate themselves about specific issues First Nations peoples are fighting for and actively supporting campaigns.
• Staff donating their public holiday penalty rates to a First Nations-led organisation or group.
• Businesses are donating a percentage of the day’s sales to a First Nations-led organisation or group.
• Supporting Blak businesses and charities.
• Using their platforms to educate others about why January 26 is not a date to celebrate and pausing other communications.
• Having a minute of silence to mourn, pay respect and remember the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people killed in the Frontier Wars.
• Plus so much more, let us know what else your workplace is doing in the blog comments on our website!

We love this example of a Darwin-based charity that canned January 26 as a public holiday, instead opting to make all staff take Mabo Day on June 3 off instead. Mabo’s late wife had called on the Federal Government to make Mabo Day a public holiday many years ago, honouring the end of the Terra Nullius shame and celebrating First Nations history and culture.

We hope that it will be the collective sum of the individuals, organisations and businesses choosing not to observe the public holiday and instead changing the date ourselves that will continue to raise awareness. This is a difficult debate and shifting or even abolishing the day is an imperfect gesture but, what is certain is that January 26 is about as unsuitable a day as possible.

Further reading

• Make sure you check out this page on the Fair Work website about substituting public holidays for more information.
• The Fair Work Commission is a great resource to find out more about your workplace entitlements, awards and agreements.
• We asked our Clothing the Gaps Community in 2022 what they’re doing instead of celebrating January 26 and compiled it in a blog, which you can read here.
• Writer Amy Campbell in January 2022 wrote ‘What will it actually take to change the date of Australia Day?’.

Disclaimer: This is not individual HR or legal advice. We recommend that all individuals check their paperwork and communicate with their employers. Seek expert advice for your sector from the appropriate agencies.