Telstra CEO Vicki Brady, NAB chief Ross McEwan and REA Group’s Owen Wilson will be working on Australia Day as companies across the country allow staff to opt out of taking the public holiday on January 26 and instead take a day in lieu at another time.

Ms Brady is the highest profile corporate leader to explain her decision to work on the controversial public holiday, saying on Tuesday that January 26 was “a painful reminder of discrimination and exclusion” for many Indigenous Australians.