General information
This guide is based on publicly available information from official sources, including the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, Services Australia, Healthdirect and other Australian Government health and pharmacy bodies. It is general information, not personal medical advice, and may change over time. With any medicine, always read the label and use only as directed, and if symptoms persist see your doctor or health care professional. Check anything that affects you with your pharmacist or GP. In an emergency, call 000.
Most pharmacies close or cut their hours on the major public holidays. Christmas Day and Good Friday close almost everything outside the largest cities; Anzac Day mornings vary because the trading rules differ by state; and holidays that fall in a single state, including the Australian Football League (AFL) Grand Final eve in Victoria and Picnic Day in the Northern Territory (NT), close a different list in each place. For the wider picture, see our guide to finding a pharmacy in Australia.
The price does not change on a public holiday. The Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) co-payment is a maximum set by the federal government, so a subsidised script costs the same on Christmas Day as on any other day (PBS co-payments, health.gov.au). What changes is access, and that is governed by state trading law and by each pharmacy's own decision.
| Public holiday | Typical metro trading | Typical regional trading |
|---|---|---|
| Christmas Day | Closed, bar a small inner-Sydney and inner-Melbourne set on reduced hours | Almost universally closed |
| Boxing Day | Most large-centre pharmacies on reduced hours | Variable; many at half-day hours, some closed |
| New Year's Day | Major-centre pharmacies on reduced hours | Split, roughly half open |
| Good Friday | Closed, bar a small metro set on reduced hours | Mostly closed |
| Easter Saturday | Normal Saturday hours | Normal Saturday hours |
| Easter Sunday | Reduced; shopping centres usually keep one open | More closed than a normal Sunday |
| Easter Monday | Treated as a Sunday everywhere | Treated as a Sunday |
| Anzac Day | Varies; many open around midday | Varies; many open around midday |
| Australia Day | Reduced; shopping-centre pharmacies generally open | Split; suburban independents vary |
| Labour Day (state varies) | Most on reduced hours | Most on reduced hours |
| AFL Grand Final eve (VIC only) | Most metro Melbourne pharmacies on reduced hours | Varies |
Pharmacy Finder directory of registered hours, with public holiday dates from the Fair Work Ombudsman 2026 list. Patterns are typical and vary by individual pharmacy.
How public holiday trading works for pharmacies
Public holiday trading is set by state and territory law, not federal law, so the rules differ by jurisdiction. Three patterns cover most days.
The major holidays, Christmas Day, Good Friday and Easter Sunday, close most non-essential retail across the country. Some metro pharmacies keep reduced hours, but the bulk of the network is shut.
The standard holidays, New Year's Day, Australia Day, the King's Birthday and Boxing Day, produce mixed trading. Many pharmacies open on half-day or reduced hours, some close, and most large shopping-centre pharmacies stay open.
The single-state holidays affect one jurisdiction at a time, which is easy to overlook when the holiday does not fall in your own state. Because each pharmacy registers its own hours for the day, two pharmacies on the same street can keep different holiday hours.
Christmas Day and Good Friday: the near-total closures
Christmas Day is the closest Australia has to a national pharmacy shutdown, and Good Friday runs a close second. Almost every community pharmacy closes on both days.
A few exceptions hold. A small set of inner-Sydney and inner-Melbourne pharmacies stay open on reduced hours, generally including the genuine 24-hour sites. Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Perth each keep a handful trading for part of the day, often inside major shopping centres or near hospitals. Regional and remote pharmacies almost all close.
Boxing Day, New Year's Day and Australia Day: reduced hours
These three are the middle ground. Most large-centre pharmacies open on reduced hours, commonly 9am to 5pm or 10am to 6pm, and much of the inner-city late-trading network returns to normal. Suburban independents are split, with roughly half opening on shorter hours and the rest closing for the day. Regional pharmacies vary the most.
Easter across the long weekend
Easter spreads across four days, and each one trades differently. Good Friday is a near-total closure, as above. Easter Saturday runs as a normal Saturday for most pharmacies. Easter Sunday closes more of the network than an ordinary Sunday, though the major shopping centres usually keep one pharmacy open. Easter Monday is a public holiday in every state and territory, and most pharmacies treat it like a Sunday.
Anzac Day mornings
Anzac Day, 25 April, is the exception to the usual pattern. In most states it comes with morning trading restrictions, set with the dawn commemorations in mind, but pharmacies are exempt from them, so they are allowed to open in the morning, and some do. Many open later, around midday, out of respect. The rules themselves differ by state, and New South Wales tightened its Anzac Day trading law in 2024. There, for example, chemists are among the businesses listed as exempt and able to trade (Anzac Day and Easter trading rules, NSW Small Business Commissioner).
State and territory holidays
These holidays each fall in one state or territory. The main ones for 2026 (Fair Work Ombudsman):
- Labour Day is a holiday in every state, but on different dates: 2 March in Western Australia, 9 March in Victoria, 4 May in Queensland, and 5 October in New South Wales, South Australia and the Australian Capital Territory. Tasmania and the Northern Territory hold their equivalents (Eight Hours Day and May Day) on other dates. Most pharmacies open on reduced hours.
- AFL Grand Final eve is a Victorian public holiday, on the Friday before the Grand Final in late September. Most metro Melbourne pharmacies open on reduced hours.
- Picnic Day in the Northern Territory falls on the first Monday in August, the 3rd in 2026. Darwin and Alice Springs pharmacies mostly trade on reduced hours.
- The Royal Queensland Show, the Brisbane "Ekka" holiday, falls on 12 August in 2026 and affects the Brisbane area only. Most pharmacies trade normally.
Regional show days, race days and bank holidays produce local closures too, usually reduced hours rather than a full close.
A day or two before a public holiday, it is worth collecting any regular medicine you will need over the break, so a closure or shorter hours do not leave you without it. For an ongoing condition, filling the repeat a few days early means you avoid the holiday rush.
How to check a pharmacy's holiday hours
Because a listing shows each pharmacy's regular hours, and no directory automatically models a public holiday, two steps are reliable. The open-now view is a useful starting point, since it checks each pharmacy's registered hours against the current time and shows which are open. On a public holiday, though, those registered hours may not reflect the day, so a phone call to the pharmacy is the surest confirmation, particularly at independent pharmacies where the owner sets the day's hours at short notice.
What can you do if no pharmacy is open?
If nothing nearby is trading, you have four practical options.
Healthdirect on 1800 022 222. A registered nurse answers at any hour (Contact us, healthdirect). They can tell you whether the situation can wait, and whether continued dispensing might apply, where a pharmacist supplies a further standard quantity of an eligible regular PBS medicine without a new prescription. This is available once in a 12-month period, and only when your prescriber cannot be reached (Continued dispensing, PBS).
An after-hours home doctor service. This can send a general practitioner (GP) to your home across many metro postcodes, including on public holidays. The visits are often bulk billed for eligible patients, which means the visit is billed directly to Medicare at no cost to you, though it is worth confirming the cost when you book (Bulk billing, Services Australia).
A hospital emergency department. Healthdirect advises that for a medical emergency, including chest pain, breathing difficulty, a severe injury, or a mental-health crisis, you should call 000 or go straight to the nearest emergency department. Hospital pharmacies dispense for their own patients, not the general public.
Same-day delivery from a pharmacy that is open. If a pharmacy a suburb or two over is trading and offers delivery, you may be able to get medication to your door without leaving home. See our pharmacy delivery guide for cut-off times and coverage.
Only you and a health professional can judge your own situation. In an emergency, call 000.
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Frequently asked questions
It is the single hardest day of the year to fill a script. Outside a handful of 24-hour sites in the two biggest cities, Christmas Day is effectively a full closure.
