Young Australians are at the forefront of resistance against moves by businesses to make the Australia Day public holiday voluntary, according to fresh survey data from a conservative think tank.
Strong Youth Opposition to Holiday Flexibility
The polling, conducted for the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA), lands amid an ongoing national conversation about how companies should recognise January 26. A growing number of employers now permit staff to work on the day and take a substitute holiday later.
The IPA posed a specific statement to respondents: “It is wrong that some corporates are making the Australia Day public holiday a voluntary day off for staff.” The results revealed a clear generational divide, but not in the direction often assumed.
Remarkably, opposition was fiercest among the youngest adults. A striking 72 per cent of those aged 18 to 24 agreed that making the holiday voluntary is the wrong approach. Only 10 per cent in this demographic disagreed.
Polling Details and Generational Breakdown
The survey, carried out by independent research firm Dynata on December 6 and 7, involved a nationally representative sample of 1011 Australians. Overall, half of all respondents agreed with the statement criticising voluntary holidays, while 21 per cent disagreed and 29 per cent were unsure.
Support for corporate flexibility on the public holiday did rise slightly with age, but no age group recorded majority opposition to the IPA's statement. Among 25 to 34-year-olds, 53 per cent still agreed it was wrong to make Australia Day voluntary, compared to 19 per cent who disagreed.
IPA Deputy Executive Director Daniel Wild said the findings show robust backing for Australia Day as a unified national event, particularly from younger citizens. “Allowing staff to swap the Australia Day public holiday, as if it were just another day on the calendar with no meaning, is an insult to every patriotic Australian,” he stated.
Wild added, “Australians have had a gutful of woke corporations who keep playing politics with our national day. It is time for corporate Australia to get with the program and back in our national day.”
Contrasting Views on Date and Celebration
This new data presents a contrasting picture to other research on attitudes towards January 26, especially among the young. A Deakin University study from 2025 suggested that a majority of young Australians no longer wish to celebrate on that date.
That university polling indicated that while nearly 58 per cent of the total population wanted to keep Australia Day as it is, 53 per cent of 18 to 34-year-olds supported changing the date. This highlights the complex and often conflicting sentiments surrounding national identity, history, and how it should be commemorated in modern Australia.
The debate is set to continue as more businesses grapple with their approach to January 26, balancing employee choice, social sentiment, and notions of national unity.
