Tasmania makes Easter Sunday a public holiday. The five-day shutdown warning doesn’t add up.

Tasmania has just become the last state in Australia to recognise Easter Sunday as a public holiday. Business groups warned it would force a five-day shutdown across the state’s busiest tourism weekend. We’ve looked at the numbers behind that claim, and they don’t hold up. Here’s what actually changed, and what Tasmanian employers need to do about it before Easter 2027.

What did Tasmania’s parliament actually pass?

The Statutory Holidays Amendment Bill 2026 passed Tasmania’s upper house 10 votes to 4 this week, after already clearing the lower house. It was put forward by Labor MP Sarah Lovell and backed by the Greens and independents. The Liberal government opposed it but didn’t have the numbers in either chamber to stop it.

Once it commences, Tasmanian employees working on Easter Sunday are entitled to public holiday pay and the other rights that come with a public holiday under the Fair Work Act, the same as their counterparts in every other state. NSW was first to make this move back in 2011. Tasmania was the last holdout.

Why did business groups fight this so hard?

A coalition of seven business groups argued the change would force businesses to close across a five-day stretch, because Tasmania already has an Easter Tuesday public holiday that no other state observes (currently a restricted holiday, mostly for the state public service and some awards). The Tasmanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s acting chief executive, Colleen Reardon, called it a five-day “shutdown.”

Liberal MP Kerry Vincent raised the cost argument directly, pointing to the public holiday surcharge that gets added to the price of food and drink to cover penalty rates. It’s a fair point on its own. Penalty rates do cost more, and someone pays for that. The question is whether the scale of this change justifies the scale of the warning.

Does the five-day shutdown claim actually stack up?

Not really, and the numbers say so. Labor cited McKell Institute modelling putting the extra Easter Sunday wage bill at somewhere between $5.3 million and $6.48 million statewide. That’s between 0.024 and 0.029 per cent of Tasmania’s total annual wages bill. It’s a real cost to some businesses, but it’s not the kind of number that supports talk of mass closures or job losses.

Every other state has been operating with Easter Sunday as a public holiday since 2011 at the earliest, and none of them ground to a halt. Businesses in NSW, Victoria, Queensland and elsewhere still open on Easter Sunday. They just pay the going rate for staff who work it, or they choose not to open. That’s the actual mechanism here: a business can decide not to trade on Easter Sunday if the penalty rates don’t stack up commercially. That’s a rostering and pricing decision, not a shutdown being imposed on anyone.

The genuine issue for Tasmanian employers isn’t Easter Sunday in isolation. It’s that Tasmania already had an unusual extra holiday, Easter Tuesday, sitting right next to it. That clustering problem existed before this bill and would exist regardless. Blaming Easter Sunday for a five-day squeeze that’s really about Easter Tuesday is aiming at the wrong target.

Our take: this isn’t the commercial disaster the loudest voices are describing. It’s an adjustment every other state made years ago. Businesses that plan their rosters and pricing now will get through it without drama. Businesses that wait until the week before Easter 2027 will have a much rougher time, and that will be a planning problem, not a policy problem.

What does this mean for Tasmanian employers right now?

Easter Sunday 2026 has already passed, so the first Easter Sunday this applies to is Sunday 28 March 2027. That gives Tasmanian employers a genuine run-up to get organised. Use it. Here’s what to do with it:

• Check your relevant award or enterprise agreement for the Easter Sunday penalty rate that will apply and build it into next year’s budgeting now, not in March.
• Update your public holiday policy and payroll system settings so Easter Sunday is correctly flagged for 2027 onward.
• Decide your trading position for each site or location. Opening and paying penalty rates, and closing, are both legitimate calls. Make the call deliberately rather than by default.
• Remember employees can refuse to work a public holiday where the refusal is reasonable under the National Employment Standards, and what counts as reasonable will depend on the request, the role and the notice given.
• Tell staff and customers about your Easter 2027 trading hours early. Nobody wins from working this out in the last fortnight of March.

How should you handle the Easter 2027 roster squeeze?

In 2027, Good Friday falls on 26 March, Easter Sunday on 28 March, Easter Monday on 29 March, and Tasmania’s Easter Tuesday on 30 March. That is the five-day stretch business groups are worried about, and it’s real. But it’s a rostering and cash flow problem, not a legal minefield, and it’s solvable with a bit of lead time.

• Map the full run from Good Friday to Easter Tuesday against your busiest trading days and decide where it’s worth opening.
• Confirm whether Easter Tuesday actually applies to your workforce. It’s a restricted holiday, generally limited to the state public service and specific awards or agreements, so most private employers won’t owe entitlements for that day even though it sits in the same week.
• Model the wage cost across the whole run, not just Easter Sunday in isolation, so you’re pricing and rostering off the real number.
• If you’re short-staffed for the stretch, start recruiting casual or part-time cover well before February. Everyone else in Tasmania will be trying to do the same thing at the same time.

FAQs

When does Easter Sunday become a public holiday in Tasmania?

The Statutory Holidays Amendment Bill 2026 passed Tasmania’s Legislative Council on 18 August 2026. Because Easter Sunday 2026 had already passed, the first Easter Sunday it applies to is Sunday 28 March 2027.

Do Tasmanian employees get paid penalty rates for working Easter Sunday?

Yes, from the first applicable Easter Sunday onward, employees working that day are entitled to public holiday pay under their relevant award or agreement, the same as employees in every other Australian state.

Can employees refuse to work on Easter Sunday in Tasmania?

Yes, where the refusal is reasonable under the National Employment Standards. What’s reasonable depends on factors like the nature of the role, the notice given and the needs of the business.

Does this mean every business in Tasmania has to close on Easter Sunday?

No. Businesses can still open and pay the applicable penalty rates, or choose not to trade. Closing is a commercial choice available to any business, not a requirement created by this law.

Does Tasmania still have Easter Tuesday as well?

Yes. Tasmania remains the only state with an Easter Tuesday holiday, though it’s a restricted holiday that mainly applies to the state public service and some awards, not the whole private sector.

Get your Easter 2027 rosters sorted before the rush

The politics of this will keep running, but the compliance side is straightforward once it’s mapped out properly. If you want your rosters, penalty rates and public holiday policy sorted well before the Easter 2027 crunch, get in touch with HR Gurus. We’ll help you cut through the BS and get it right the first time.

Sources

SmartCompany: Last Australian state makes Easter Sunday a public holiday despite business backlash

Fair Work Ombudsman: 2027 public holidays