The discussion around public holiday surcharges always gets heated, especially during the Australia Day long weekend. This year, there’s been quite a bit of confusion about when businesses can actually apply these surcharges, given that January 26 fell on a Sunday.

Let’s clear something up straight away - today, January 26, isn’t technically a public holiday in Victoria. The official public holiday is tomorrow, Monday, January 27. This means hospitality venues can’t charge a public holiday surcharge today, though they can still apply their regular weekend rates.