Why no Australian should go to work on these six days.

By HELEN VNUK

Australians work too hard. It’s true. We need to give ourselves a break. We need more reasons to get together and celebrate everything that’s great about Australia.

To put it simply, we need more public holidays. In the interests of boosting national morale, here are six suggestions.

1. Kate Middleton’s Birthday (January 9).

Sure, we celebrate the Queen’s birthday, but let’s be honest, our favourite royal is obviously Kate.

We love her clothes, we love her adorable baby, we love the fact that she’s just like us (except English, awfully rich and maybe a bit more elegant).

On Kate Middleton’s Birthday, women across the nation should put on a big hat and drink a toast to Kate. Long may she reign as our queen of style.

Just as an FYI, you should know that this post is sponsored by Dan Murphy’s. But all opinions expressed by the author are 100% authentic and written in their own words. 

2. Cold Chisel Day (April 28).

Just as the Scots honour their national poet, Robert Burns, we Aussies should honour our national poets, Cold Chisel.

Is there anything that unites us and brings a tear to our eyes more than a rousing chorus of “Khe Sanh”? If there is, I haven’t heard it.

We should celebrate Cold Chisel Day on Jimmy Barnes’s birthday with a national sing-along. (Or perhaps that should be shout-along).

3. Winter Christmas (June 25). 

Don’t you love Christmas? Catching up with loved ones, gorging on pudding, and receiving scented candles from relatives who don’t know what to get you?

Just think how wonderful it would be to celebrate it twice a year. It would be a boost for the economy – and we’d also get two lots of post-Christmas sales. Bonus!

4. New Financial Year’s Day (July 1).

Of course, if we had two Christmases, we’d need to have two New Year’s Days. That way we could come up with two sets of resolutions to stop gorging on pudding and start going to the gym. And then we could break those resolutions – as always – within the first 12 hours or so.

5. Warnie Day (first day of the cricket season).

As fanatical as footy fans are, cricket is the sport that brings us together as a nation. So when the first ball of the season is bowled, let’s celebrate with a public holiday honouring legendary Aussie cricketer Shane Warne. Settle down in front of the telly and wish your friends a happy Warnie Day… by text, of course.

6. Caulfield Cup Day (third Monday in October).

A lot of people think Melbourne Cup Day should be a nationwide holiday. I disagree. Wherever I’ve worked, even the strictest of bosses have brought out chicken sandwiches and a bottle of champagne for the Melbourne Cup, and we’ve all missed at least an hour of work. I don’t want to lose that beautiful tradition.

So let’s move the Caulfield Cup to a Monday and make that our national day off work to watch the horses race while enjoying a glass of sparkling wine.

What other national public holidays would you like to see?

In the mood for a holiday? Scroll through our gallery of the Kardashians’ family holiday for a little inspiration…

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