1998 in Australia - Events

Events

• January – Floods in Katherine in the Northern Territory kill 3 people.
• 2 – 13 February – Constitutional Convention held to decide which model of republic should be put before the people of Australia in a referendum. The model chosen is one where the president is chosen by a joint sitting of both houses of parliament
• 21 February – Elections in the ACT re-elect the Liberal Party government of Kate Carnell. It would be the last State or Territory election that the Liberal Party have managed to form government after until the Western Australia state election in September 2008.
• 23 February–March – After generator breakdowns at four major coal-fired power stations, rolling blackouts hit the city of Brisbane and much of South-East Queensland.
• 7 April – 3 June – Patrick Corporation sacks 2,000 dock workers to try to improve efficiency on the waterfront. In response, the Maritime Union of Australia stages possibly the largest industrial dispute Australia has ever seen. In the end, the jobs are restored to the workers in exchange for improvements in efficiency.
• May – Christopher Skase's passport is cancelled & he is ordered to leave Majorca by 23 July. However, he renounces his Australian citizenship & becomes a citizen of Dominica.
• 5 May – A gas leak aboard the replenishment ship HMAS Westralia kills four people.
• 26 May – first National Sorry Day, one year after the tabling of the report Bringing them Home which was the result of an inquiry into the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families (the Stolen Generation). The day was held annually until 2004. It was renamed National Day of Healing from 2005.
• 13 June – The Queensland state elections depose the ruling National Party government of Rob Borbidge & elect a minority ALP government, led by Peter Beattie. Pauline Hanson's One Nation scored 23% of the vote & 11 seats, leading to anti-racism protests & four former Prime Ministers to sign an open letter rejecting racism.
• August – High levels of cryptosporidium & giardia force Sydney residents to boil their drinking water for 6 weeks.
• 16 August – Silk-Miller police murders: Two Victoria Police officers murdered in Moorabbin, Victoria.
• 17 August - Illawarra floods
• 29 August – The Liberal Party government of Tony Rundle is voted out in Tasmania & replaced with an ALP government of Jim Bacon.
• 25 September – A gas explosion at Esso's Longford plant killed 2, injured 8 & left most of Victoria without gas for two weeks. Hundreds of businesses were affected.
• 3 October – With the help of One Nation preferences, John Howard's Liberal/National coalition government is re-elected in the federal election.
• 1 December – The federal government rejects an attempt by UNESCO to suspend construction of the Jabiluka uranium mine pending a further environmental impact report.
• 2 December – The Linton bushfire kills five volunteer firefighters in Linton, Victoria.
• December – A man posts 28 mail bombs in a Canberra post office after losing a legal battle with the Australian Taxation Office which had been going since 1994. One of the bombs explodes, injuring two workers.