QUEENSLANDERS have won an extra public holiday next year and workers who slog it out on Christmas Day will be gifted another day off.

The State Government's 2012 holiday shake-up has allowed Anna Bligh to play Santa early, and she will today announce that an extra public holiday will be created this year because Christmas Day falls on Sunday.

The Sunday Mail revealed in September that the Government was working on a proposal to spread public holidays throughout the year.

Ms Bligh said there was overwhelming support for the reforms, which mean Queensland will have 13 public holidays next year.

The Queen's Birthday will be celebrated on the first Monday in October and, to ensure sporting events are not affected by the change, a special one-off holiday will be held in June to mark the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.

D"To make the transition easier for those annual events we have decided to declare a one-off holiday for 2012 only as part of the transition to the new arrangements," Ms Bligh said.

Other changes include expanding state school Easter holidays from six days to two weeks and creating extra public holidays when Christmas Day, Boxing Day or New Year's Day fall on a weekend.

"Moving these days around will mean less disruption for families and more help for parents to plan for holidays and childcare needs, while still giving teachers essential time to plan, boost professional development and keep our classrooms at the cutting edge," she said.

Almost 69,000 responses to the Government's discussion paper were received.

Ms Bligh said the changes would help workers get a break in the later half of the year.

Originally published as Qld to get extra public holiday