The PSA CPSU NSW supports the push for additional annual leave for Australian workers.

The Australian Council of Trade Unions will pursue an increase in annual leave entitlements from four to five weeks per year and from five to six weeks for regular shift workers.

This would be the first increase in the minimum standard since the mid-1970s.

“Australia should increase annual leave to a minimum of five weeks for full-time workers,” said ACTU Secretary Sally McManus. “Australians work relatively long hours, which has only increased over time, yet the four-week annual leave standard was set 50 years ago.”

Ms McManus said more leave will make up for the unpaid work many employees do for their bosses.

“Extra leave will decrease stress and burnout,” she said. “Australian workers already do an extra four and a half weeks of unpaid work on average every year. Getting back one of these weeks is fair and reasonable. It will mean a better rested and happier workforce.

“Younger workers aged from 18 to 24 years old most urgently need to see this burden start to lift. They are the ones doing the most unpaid work; an average of 6.4 weeks of free work for their employers each year.”

The ACTU maintains increasing annual leave by one week would add an extra 2 per cent to employment costs that would be offset by a reduction in employee turnover and time lost to injury and stress.
NSW workers received an extra day off in 2026, with 27 April being declared a public holiday as Anzac Day fell on a Saturday. However, Australia is falling behind other industrialised countries when it comes to paid leave.
In the United Kingdom, almost all workers in the UK are entitled to five weeks and three days of paid holiday per year, which equals 28 days for a full-time, five-day-a-week employee. It is up to employers to decide whether this includes the eight public holidays referred locally as bank holidays.
French workers are legally entitled to a minimum of five weeks of paid leave per year. This right applies to all employees from their first day of hire, regardless of whether they work full-time or part-time.
Workers must take a “main leave” of at least two weeks between 1 May and 31 October. As a result, many French businesses close down in the summer months as workers go en masse on holiday.
Mountainous microstate Andorra is the world leader for paid leave, giving workers 31 days a year. Added to that are 14 public holidays, giving Andorrans 45 days off a year to enjoy life in the Pyrenees.
PSA members under the Industrial Relations Commission have four weeks a year, with an extra week given to those working in the far west of the state.