The 15% backpacker tax takes effect, as well as changes to the pension assets test.
The National Archives releases the 1992–93 Federal Cabinet papers. The Queensland State Archives releases the 1986 State Cabinet documents under the 30-year embargo rule.
2 January–
Federal government backbencher Tony Abbott calls for Australia to relocate its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
3 January–
Social Services Minister Christian Porter defends the Centrelink debt recovery system and said of 169,000 review letters sent since July, only 0.16 per cent had resulted in complaints.
The Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission's website is hacked, purportedly by an international hacking group, sending it offline for several hours.
West Australian Labor Leader Mark McGowan outlines a scheme called Target 120, which he promises to implement if Labor wins the March election, to focus on the state's worst young offenders with $22 million to provide comprehensive support to dysfunctional families.
4 January –
Defence Minister Marise Payne announces that Indonesia has formally suspended all military co-operation with Australia, allegedly over some offensive training material which was on display at an Australian Special Forces base in Perth.
West Australian Local government Minister Paul Miles announces that the Shire of Exmouth Council has been suspended for six months following and investigation by the Corruption and Crime Commission (CCC) into alleged corruption and financial mismanagement, with the Local government Minister.
The West Australian Opposition promises to axe the $450 million extension of Roe Highway across the Beeliar Wetlands and the entire Perth Freight Link if it wins the state election in March.
Tasmanian Premier Will Hodgman admits he had a mobile phone in his hands when he was behind the wheel of a car and says he will voluntarily speak to police about it.
Port Augusta residents confront the South Australian Environment Minister Ian Hunter over ash dust which is blanketing the town. Heavy rain in the previous week had caused the ash from the former Port Augusta power station to blow across the area.
5 January – The Victorian government announces that it will launch a High Court appeal over an Ombudsman investigation into allegations that Labor MPs rorted their parliamentary entitlements. The Supreme Court of Victoria had earlier ruled that the Ombudsman could investigate allegations MPs misused their taxpayer-funded entitlements by letting paid staffers work in campaign roles in the lead up to the 2014 state election.
6 January –
The Federal government stops the import of green prawns due to white spot disease.
Federal Health Minister Sussan Ley says that her purchase of a $795,000 apartment while on the Gold Coast was "neither planned nor anticipated".
7 January –
A funeral is held for Josiah Sisson, a 9-year-old boy who was killed by a drunk driver in Springwood on Christmas Day 2016.
9 January –
Federal Health Minister Sussan Ley stands aside while travel claims are being investigated after further allegations were revealed that she made at least 18 taxpayer funded trips to the Golds Coast during her time as Health Minister.
One Nation Leader Pauline Hanson is adamant that she alone made the decision to disendorse the Bundamba candidate Shan Ju Lin after her anti-gay social media post.
The Commonwealth Ombudsman agrees to Independent MP Andrew Wilkie's request for an investigation into Centrelink's debt recovery system after widespread criticism of its new automated data matching system which uses information from the Australian Taxation Office and has been producing incorrect debt notices.
10 January –
The Federal government announces a long-awaited overhaul of MP's travel entitlements.
The South Australian government opens a special health clinic at the Port Augusta hospital in response to community health concerns after ash clouds flared up from the old power station. Premier Jay Weatherill concedes that embattled Sustainability, Environment and Conservation Minister Ian Hunter could have shown more empathy to Port Augusta residents instead of politicising the issue.
11 January –
Claims emerge that Foreign Minister Julie Bishop claimed her attendance at a polo match as an expense.
12 January – After three years of court hearings and four separate trials, a jury finds Robert Xie guilty of the Lin family murders in July 2009.[1]
15 January –
Severe storms lash south-east Queensland leaving 1,500 homes without power. The suburb of Chandler in Brisbane records 102 mm. of rain in the space of half an hour. Some suburbs of Brisbane and Ipswich are flooded.
Claims emerge that Finance Minister Mathias Cormann made a $23,000 taxpayer funded trip to Broome.
A car is firebombed over Sydney fish market development plans.
17 January –
The search for missing flight MH 370 is suspended after searching 170,000 square kilometres of the ocean.
The Supreme Court of ACT rejects Julian Knight's bid for an extension of time to bring a case of damages against the Commonwealth. Julian Knight was responsible for the Hoddle Street massacre in 1987.
18 January –
Greg Hunt is named as new Federal Health Minister as Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull reshuffles his Cabinet for the fourth time since taking office.
Multiple blazes burn out of control across parts of New South Wales, particularly in the Hunter Valley.
West Australian Premier Colin Barnett rules out any attempt to ban Muslims from wearing burkas, but says he would prefer "that type of clothing" was not worn in Australia.
19 January – New South Wales Premier Mike Baird announces his resignation, after nearly three years in office.[2][3]
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews considers changes to the state's bail laws in the wake of the Bourke Street incident. A new 'night court' will be set up for magistrates to hear bail requests from violent suspects after hours
Opponents of forced council mergers protest in Sydney.
A 28-year-old actor is shot and killed in Brisbane, during the filming of a music video for the band Bliss n Eso.[6]
The Queensland government winds back its lockout laws. The 1 am lockout will remain but identification scanners will be introduced.
Dimitrious Gargasoulas is charged with 5 counts of murder over the Bourke Street attack.
25 January –
Fifteen detainees escape from the Malmsbury Youth Justice Centre in Victoria. Police eventually re-capture all the escapees.[7]
South Australia Opposition Leader Steven Marshall promotes two younger MPs to the frontbench at the expense of long-serving shadow ministers Duncan McFetridge and Steven Griffiths. David Speirs will take on the shadow environment portfolio and Stephan Knoll has been given the police, corrections and emergency services portfolios.
26 January –
A police officer is injured and one person is arrested after protesters clash with police in Sydney, during demonstrations denouncing Australia Day.[8]
Two people are killed (mining engineer Peter Lynch and his girlfriend), and festivities are cancelled, when a light plane crashes into the Swan River, during Australia Day celebrations in Perth.[9]
27 January –
The District Court of Queensland sentences former Billabong CEO Matthew Perin to 8 years imprisonment for fraud.
The New South government announces the construction of the WestConnex tunnel.
The Supreme Court of Queensland sentences a father to 9 years' imprisonment for severe injuries inflicted on a one-month-old girl.
The Dow Jones breaks through 20,000 for the first time.
28 January –
One Nation disendorses candidate Peter Rogers, who had previously expressed his view that the Port Arthur massacre was a conspiracy.
29 January –
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announces that US President Donald Trump has confirmed that he will honour the refugee swap deal with Australia as agreed by the Obama administration.
The New South Wales Cabinet is reshuffled.
The Queensland government announces financial support for a boxing match to be held at Suncorp Stadium on 23 April between boxers Jeff Horn and Manny Pacquiao.
Year One students will undergo compulsory testing under a Federal government plan.
Teresa Bradford is found dead at her Pimpama home, having been killed by her husband who had been let out on bail. The case prompts widespread calls for an overhaul of bail laws in Queensland.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull addresses the National Press Club of Australia and says the government will focus this year on keeping a lid on household electricity prices. Mr Turnbull also later admits that he donated $1.75 million to the Liberal Party.
West Australian Premier Colin Barnett announces an 11 March election date.
Police move on a group of homeless people camped outside Flinders Street Station, Melbourne, prompting minor protests.
2 February –
A report by The Washington Post reported that US President Donald Trump berated Malcolm Turnbull during a phone call which Trump dubbed his "worst call by far". The pair discussed the "dumb" refugee deal between Australia and the Obama administration, before he abruptly ended the call.[11]
Clothing retailers Marcs and David Lawrence are placed into voluntary administration.
In a landmark decision, the Federal Court finds that a $1.3b Western Australian land use agreement with the Noongar people cannot be registered.
Queensland Transport Minister Stirling Hinchliffe resigns. A report by commissioner Phillip Strachan is released and finds that Queensland Rail drivers took an average of 18 months to complete their training – seven months longer than their counterparts in Sydney.
7 February –
Senator Corey Bernardi quits the Liberal Party of Australia to form a new political party, the Australian Conservatives.
The Federal government retreats from a plan to compulsorily acquire land to expand military training in Queensland.
8 February –
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull calls Bill Shorten a "simpering sycophant" due to his past association with the late packaging billionaire Dick Pratt suggesting he drank French champagne while selling out workers.
10–12 February –
A heat wave in south-eastern Australia results in record breaking temperatures and extensive power loss.[12] High winds on 12 February, spark up to 26 blazes across New South Wales, especially in the Central West and Mid North Coast regions.[13]
Heavy rain throughout the South West regions of Western Australia causes widespread flooding. The entire towns of Wagin and Gnowangerup become cut off, and Perth experiences its second wettest day in history, 6 mm short of the record set in 1992.[14]
16 February – Police find Olympic gold medalist Grant Hackett in a "disturbed" state of mind, less than twelve hours after he was reported missing on the Gold Coast.[15]
17 February – Renegade Federal Nationals MP George Christensen confirms that he drafted a so-called 'letter of demand' to the Prime Minister, but says he never sent it.
18 February – Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull visits Queenstown, New Zealand and rejects calls to exclude the big four banks from the company tax cuts.
Human remains found at Mount Macedon are identified as those of Karen Ristevski, missing since 29 June 2016.[17] On 13 December 2017 her husband Borce was charged with her murder.[18]
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews rejects the State Coroner's push for a safe injecting room.
28 February –
A 42-year-old man is arrested in Young, after allegedly trying to help the Islamic State develop laser missile detection equipment, as well as their own missile arsenal.[19]
Two members of the Brothers for Life street gang, Farhad and Mumtaz Qaumi, are convicted for the murder of "standover man" Joe Antuon, in his Strathfield home on 16 December 2013.[20]
2 March – A man is arrested over a suspicious fire in a Footscray factory, which killed three people the previous night.[21]
8 March – Shyam Acharya is charged for using another person's name and medical qualifications to become registered as a doctor in New South Wales for over 11 years. His whereabouts are unknown, but police say he has fled the country.[22]
28 March – Severe Tropical Cyclone Debbie makes landfall between Airlie Beach and Bowen in north Queensland.[24] Power outages affect over 140,000 properties across Queensland.[25]
Flash flooding as a result of Cyclone Debbie, occurs in much of Southern Queensland and Northern New South Wales. Some 23,000 people are ordered to evacuate near the Logan, Albert, Tweed and Wilson Rivers, the city of Lismore is completely submerged in three-metre high floodwaters, and the Tweed, Byron, Richmond Valley, Kyogle, Ballina, and Rockhampton local government areas are severely affected.[25]
1–3 April – Ongoing floods in the Northern New South Wales towns of Tweed Heads, Murwillumbah, Gungal and Tumbulgum claim the lives of 9 people, including 3 children.[30]
5 April –
Australia's largest ever seizure of ice occurs in Melbourne, a record 903 kg of the drug discovered beneath floorboards in a Nunawading property.[31]
Former Family First Senator Bob Day who resigned following his re-election in the previous year, was ruled ineligible to run last year following an 'indirect pecuniary interest' with the Commonwealth. The ruling by the High Court meant that a recount of last election's votes would be necessary.[32]
7 April – Two teenagers, inspired by terrorists, aged 15 and 16, are arrested after they fatally stabbed one man and injured another, inside a Queanbeyan service station.[33]
17 April – A 17-year-old girl is killed by a shark while surfing off the coast of Esperance, Western Australia.[35]
18 April – Malcolm Turnbull makes a controversial decision to scrap the 457 visa program, citing that Australians should come before overseas workers.[36]
4 May – Malcolm Turnbull meets with U.S. President Donald Trump in New York City, 75 years after the Battle of the Coral Sea. This was their first face-to-face meeting after their infamous phone call in February.[39]
Senior Constable Brett Forte was shot and killed at Adare, north of Gatton, after attempting to apprehend a suspected offender. The gunman, Rick Maddison, was shot and killed the next day by police while trying to escape after a siege in a farmhouse at Ringwood, north-west of Gatton[46]
6 June – Conservative commentator Andrew Bolt was assaulted in Lygon Street, Melbourne by two masked men, while a third apparently filmed the attack. Bolt was going to the launch of The Art of the Impossible by Steve Kates,an associate professor at the RMIT University. The book is about Donald Trump and the 2016 US presidential election campaign. Melbourne Antifa, appeared to claim a connection in the incident on Facebook, posting that Bolt attacked "some of our family in solidarity.... while they were protesting today".[51]
The Australian government agrees to a compensation package for asylum-seekers held at the Manus Regional Processing Centre in Papua New Guinea. The terms of the settlement is reported as $70 million plus costs.[54]
Ten Network Holdings goes into voluntary administration, after failing to obtain loan guarantees from its shareholders.[55]
15 June – Australian actress Rebel Wilson wins a high-profile defamation case against Bauer Media, claiming they painted her as a serial liar. The trial gained worldwide media attention.[56]
27 June – The first full results of the infamous 2016 Australian Census arrive. Religious affiliation hits an all-time low with 29.6% responding to the optional question by stating that they have 'no religion'. This is also the first Australian census wherein over a quarter (26%) of Australians are born overseas.[58]
29 June – Victoria Police announces that Cardinal George Pell has been charged with multiple counts of historical sexual assault offences.[59]
7 July – Tesla announces a deal with French energy utility company Neoen to build the world's largest lithium ion battery to store renewable energy in South Australia[63]
18 July – Larissa Waters resigns as a Greens Senator for Queensland after discovering she holds dual citizenship with Canada, and was thus ineligible to be a senator. Waters had been a member of Federal Parliament since 2011, and resigned only four days following the resignation of fellow Greens senator Scott Ludlam – who also resigned for the same reason.[68]
26 July – A man is shot dead at Sydney's Central Station following an armed robbery and a subsequent confrontation with police.[69]
11 August – Malcolm Turnbull tells 3AW radio station that Australia will invoke the ANZUS treaty in the event North Korea attacks the United States, following increased tensions between the two nations.
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson wears the full Islamic dress into Senate Question Time, before calling for the burqa to be banned in Australia. Audible gasps of shock were heard in the parliament. Liberal party Senator and Attorney-General of Australia, George Brandis condemned Hanson's actions.[77]
Following a vehicle-ramming attack in Barcelona, Spain, which saw seven-year-old Australian boy Julian Cadman killed, Malcolm Turnbull announces a plan to introduce statues, stairs and bollards around major city centres in counter-terrorism efforts.[78]
1–2 September – St John's Retirement Village in Wangaratta, Victoria announce that seven residents died in an influenza outbreak in August.[81] The Strathdevon aged care facility in Latrobe, Tasmania announced that six of its residents died from influenza in August.[82]
13 September – Unseasonably warm weather and strong winds see bushfires break out across New South Wales. Affected communities include Richmond Vale and Black Hill near Cessnock.[87]
President of the Senate Stephen Parry announces that the UK Home Office has confirmed he holds British citizenship, and says he will resign from the Senate on 2 November.[92]
7 November – A flight instructor is killed and a trainee pilot injured when a helicopter crashes at Hobart Airport.[93]
11 November – Liberal MP John Alexander resigns as the member for Bennelong after another dual citizenship revelation, which results in the Turnbull government losing its parliamentary majority.[94]
14 November – Senator Jacqui Lambie resigns from the Senate after it is confirmed she holds British citizenship by descent.[95]
13 December – Borce Ristevski is charged with the murder of his wife.[18] Karen Ristevski disappeared from Avondale Heights, Victoria after an argument with her husband.[104] Her remains were found on Mount Macedon on 20 February 2017.[17]
26 January – Flume's "Never Be like You" tops the Triple J's 2016 Hottest 100, becoming the first electronic song to do so. Flume's single also marked a record-breaking fourth consecutive annual countdown in which the number-one track was by an Australian artist.
3 February – Australian rules football: The first AFL Women's (AFLW) match is held at Ikon Park in Melbourne, with a capacity crowd of 24,500 attending.[123]
Athletics: The inaugural Nitro Athletics meeting is held at Lakeside Stadium in Melbourne. Two more meetings are held on the 9th and 11th before the All-Stars led by Usain Bolt emerge victorious.[126]
8 April – Horse racing: Less than an hour after Winx won her 17th straight win in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes, the Sydney Cup is called off midway into the race, the first time in its 155-year history. After crashing into Melbourne Cup placegetter Who Shot Thebarman, former Geelong Cup winner Almoonqith had to be euthanised.[134]
25 June – Rugby union: The Wallabies defeat Italy 40–27 at Suncorp Stadium. Israel Folau becomes the first Australian to score two tries in three consecutive internationals.[143]
3 August – Cricket: Cricket Australia and the Australian Cricketer's Association have agreed on a new Memorandum of Understanding, thus ending the Australian cricket pay dispute which has threatened to tear the Australian cricket history apart. This also means that the 230 Australian male and female cricketers have been re-contracted and available to play[145]
27 December – Yacht racing: Wild Oats XI takes line honours at the 2017 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, however an international jury applies a one-hour penalty after a protest is lodged by the crew of Comanche regarding an illegal tacking manoeuvre, resulting in Comanche winning line honours and the race record.[155]
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