On Tuesday, 10 February 2026 I asked the Premier and Minister for Veterans if he would move the ANZAC Day public holiday to Monday, like in New South Wales, so that Queenslanders could still have a public holiday during the week to commemorate.
You can read my question and the Premier's response (refusing the proposal) below or in the official Parliamentary record of proceedings (Hansard) here.
Mr BERKMAN: My question is to the Premier and Minister for Veterans. Many Queenslanders cannot observe an Anzac Day public holiday this year because it falls on a Saturday. Will this government, as foreshadowed by the New South Wales government, move the public holiday to Monday so that Queenslanders can have a break from work and an opportunity to properly commemorate the Anzacs?
Mr CRISAFULLI: I thank the honourable member for the question. I have not seen the member reflect a great deal on Anzac Day in his time in this place but I welcome the question. I will tell the House why I welcome the question. It is because we should be proud in this state to have the highest number of veterans in the country. Until this point there has been no veterans strategy in this state. In coming to government, I wanted to make sure we gave the respect and poignancy that it deserves. I took the portfolio myself and, as part of it, I wanted to make sure we had the state’s first veterans strategy. I also wanted to go a step further and make sure there was a strategy for veterans and veterans’ families. I spent a lot of time speaking with them. I am deeply honoured about what they do for our state. Having spent that time listening to them I know that, overwhelmingly, they want Anzac Day to be a day of commemoration and they want it to be on 25 April. The reason is that that date has so much significance to not just service men and women but also the broader community.
I look at the contribution that people make in this state—those who are serving. I think of great cities like Townsville, which has the Lavarack Barracks there. I think of people here in Enoggera and the sacrifices they make. I see Shoalwater Bay and the massive contribution that is made to the broader Central Queensland region. When we are doing the veterans strategy and we go out to a place like Emerald, we see the proud people who are living in Western Queensland. At every opportunity we should pause and reflect and say thank you to them. Thank you to those who served and did not come home. Thank you to those who served and came home different from when they left. That is what 25 April is for. It is a day when universally in this nation people, regardless of their views of conflicts either individual or in the past or in the future, honour those service men and women. The day to do that is on 25 April.