2024 in Australia

The following is a list of events including expected and scheduled events for the year 2024 in Australia.

2024 in Australia
MonarchCharles III
Governor-GeneralDavid Hurley, then Sam Mostyn
Prime ministerAnthony Albanese
Population26,473,055 people at 31 March 2023.[1]
Australian of the YearGeorgina Long and Richard Scolyer
ElectionsTasmania, Northern Territory, Australian Capital Territory, Queensland

←

2024
in
Australia

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Decades:
See also:

Incumbents

[edit]
Further information: Table of precedence for the Commonwealth of Australia

Monarch

Governor-General

Prime Minister

Deputy Prime Minister

Opposition Leader

Chief Justice

State and territory leaders

[edit]

Governors and administrators

[edit]

Events

[edit]

January

[edit]
  • 1 January –
    • It becomes illegal to import disposable vapes into Australia.[2]
    • As Victoria transitions to clean energy, the state imposes a ban on natural gas connections for new dwellings, apartment buildings and residential subdivisions.[2]
    • Fortnightly Centrelink payments for welfare recipients increase by approximately 6%.[2]
    • Federal Cabinet documents from 2003 are made public for the first time.[3] Controversy arises when it's discovered the Morrison Government failed to hand over some documents relating to Australia's involvement in the 2003 invasion of Iraq to the National Archives in 2020 for public release.[4] Anthony Albanese announces an inquiry will be held to find out whether or not the documents were withheld intentionally.[5]
    • A 76-year-old woman is allegedly sexually assaulted by a 29-year-old intruder at an aged care facility in Coffs Harbour.[6] A 29-year-old man is subsequently arrested and appears in Port Macquarie Local Court on 5 January 2024 charged with aggravated sexual assault and breaking and entering with intent.[7]
  • 2 January –
  • 3 January – A 24-year-old man is arrested by New South Wales Police Force Taskforce Magnus detectives and charged with the murder of major Sydney gangland figure Alen Moradian in an underground carpark on 27 June 2023.[10]
  • 4 January – ADF personnel arrive in South East Queensland after being deployed to help the region in the aftermath of severe weather over the Christmas/New Year period.[11] In Far North Queensland, there are also calls for ADF assistance to help with the clean-up following severe weather caused by Cyclone Jasper.[12]
  • 5 January – Queensland premier Steven Miles announces a $5 million funding agreement between the state and federal government which would see discounted flights and accommodation being offered to tourists to entice them back to Far North Queensland following Cyclone Jasper.[13]
  • 6 January – Eight attendees of the Hardmission Festival at Melbourne's Flemington Racecourse are hospitalised in a critical condition after suspected MDMA overdoses.[14] Seven of those patients are placed in induced comas.[15]
  • 7 January – A 31-year-old man is arrested after allegedly stabbing four strangers at random in Melbourne throughout the previous night.[16] He is charged with 14 assault offences and one of possessing a controlled weapon.[17]
  • 8 January –
    • A light aircraft with ten people onboard flips and crashes on Lizard Island while attempting to land on the island's runway.[18] Despite some of those onboard sustaining injuries, the nine adults and one child survive.[19]
    • The New South Wales Police Force claim to have dismantled a criminal syndicate allegedly attempting to export more than a million dollars of Australian reptiles, including 257 lizards, to Hong Kong.[20]
  • 9 January – Prime minister Anthony Albanese warns Australian supermarkets to pass on savings to consumers stating: "It's not acceptable to see record profits at a time when people are doing it so tough."[21][22] He announces former Labor minister Craig Emerson will lead a review of the Food and Grocery Code of Conduct while Queensland premier Steven Miles writes to the CEOs of Woolworths, Coles, Aldi and IGA expressing concern about the disparity between retail prices and the amount farmers are paid.[23][24] The Coalition also call for an ACCC inquiry, accusing the supermarkets of imposing excessive retail markups.[25]
  • 10 January –
  • 14 January – Mary Donaldson becomes the first Australian-born queen consort of a European monarchy when she is proclaimed Queen of Denmark when her husband Frederik X ascends the throne following the abdication of his mother Margrethe II.[38] The decision to mark the occasion by temporarily replacing the Aboriginal flag with the Danish flag at Parliament House in Hobart sparks criticism from some in Tasmania's Aboriginal community.[39]
  • 15 January –
  • 16 January – A 27-year-old mine worker is killed at BMA's Saraji coal mine near Dysart after he is crushed between a B-double and a utility while working in the fuel-bay area of the mine.[42]
  • 17 January –
    • Severe storm activity in the South West region of Western Australia causes widespread and lengthy power outages.[43][44]
    • A 33-year-old man and a 26 year-old-man are both charged with murder after the fatal shooting of a 34-year-old man whose body was found by a passing motorist on Yeppoon Road near Rockhampton in the early hours of 17 November 2023.[45][46]
  • 18 January –
    • Workplace Relations minister Tony Burke meets with the Australian Maritime Officers Union and DP World amid an ongoing dispute over pay and conditions which is causing major disruptions at port terminals.[47] Burke refuses to use his ministerial powers to intervene but criticised DP World and accuses the company of acting in bad faith.[48]
    • Two 16-year-old boys are charged with murder following the death of a 33-year-old doctor in the Melbourne suburb of Doncaster after an alleged aggravate burglary on 13 January 2024.[49]
  • 19 January – Queensland premier Steven Miles officially announces a state parliamentary inquiry into grocery prices at the major supermarkets after meeting with executives from Woolworths, Coles and Aldi.[50]
  • 20 January – The MV Bahijah, a live export ship carrying sheep and cattle which departed Fremantle, Western Australia on 5 January is ordered by the Department of Agriculture to return to Australia due to threats against commercial vessels in the Red Sea amid a deteriorating security situation.[51]
  • 21 January – The Victorian Liberal and National opposition announced that they would be withdrawing its support for a state treaty, reversing their previous support for the proposal.[52][53][54][55] This follows the Queensland opposition reversing their support in October 2023.
  • 23 January – Former prime minister Scott Morrison announces his intention to formally resign from parliament, ending his 16-year tenure as the federal Member for Cook.[56] Morrison's departure will trigger a by-election in the safely held Liberal seat of Cook.[57]
  • 24 January –
  • 25 January –
  • 27 January – Queensland state Labor MP Jim Madden resigns from parliament to vie for a position as a local councillor with Ipswich City Council in the 2024 Queensland local elections on 16 March.[65] Madden's resignation triggers the 2024 Ipswich West state by-election which premier Steven Miles recommends to be held on 16 March - the same day as the local elections and the 2024 Inala state by-election.[66]
  • 28 January – Another monument for Captain James Cook is vandalised in Fitzroy North's Edinburgh Gardens in Melbourne. The stone monument is severely damaged, with vandals cutting through the base, disfiguring the bronze effigy, and spraying "Cook the Colony" on the toppled pillar.[67]
  • 29 January – A 29-year-old woman survives an attack by a bull shark in Sydney Harbour.[68]
  • 30 January – Australian retailer Godfreys enters voluntary administration with the company's 54 stores expected to close as a result.[69]
  • 31 January – A 62-year-old Coen man is charged with murder following the disappearance of a Kowanyama woman, who was last seen in February 2013 aged 23.[70] After the man appears in court via videolink, he is remanded in custody due to appear in court again in April 2024.[70]

February

[edit]

March

[edit]

April

[edit]

May

[edit]
  • 1 May – Qantas issues an apology after a data breach allowed customers using the app to see information of other passengers including their names and their upcoming flights.[260]
  • 2 May –
    • A jury takes just 30 minutes to find 36-year-old Portmorseby Cecil guilty of the violent murder of his 71-year-old mother-in-law Sue Duffy, whom he stabbed 15 times with a hunting knife during a fit of rage in Rockhampton on 21 August 2022.[261][262]
    • A 21-year-old man dies after allegedly being stabbed in a beach carpark in Coffs Harbour.[263] A 36-year-old man is subsequently arrested on 3 June 2024 and charged with the alleged murder.[264]
  • 3 May – Mexican authorities in Ensenada, Baja California confirm three bodies have been discovered near where Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson and their American friend went missing on 27 April.[265]
  • 4 May –
    • Queensland's assistant minister for health Brittany Lauga alleges she was drugged and then sexually assaulted on 28 April 2024 during a night out in Yeppoon, with the alleged incident filmed by bystanders who then post the video on Snapchat.[266]
    • A 16-year-old boy armed with a knife is shot dead by Western Australia Police with a single shot in a Bunnings carpark in the Perth suburb of Willetton after two tasers "didn't have the full desired effect". He was subsequently found to have stabbed another man a short time earlier nearby. Premier Roger Cook later described the boy as having been radicalised online.[267]
  • 5 May – The triennial week-long Beef Australia expo gets underway in Queensland.[268][269]
  • 6 May –
    • The body of a man is discovered off the coast of Sydney after he is earlier reported missing when he goes overboard on the P&O Cruises ship Pacific Adventure.[270][271]
    • In a settlement with the ACCC, Qantas agrees to pay a $100 million fine and to repay $20 million in compensation to customers after allegedly selling tickets for more than 8,000 flights which had already been cancelled.[272]
    • Queensland premier Steven Miles uses Labour Day to announce that the state's public servants will soon be entitled to ten days paid leave to access reproductive health care at a cost of $80 million each year.[273] A pro-Palestine protestor is later arrested for allegedly throwing eggs at Miles during the annual Labour Day March in Brisbane.[274][275]
  • 7 May –
    • Melbourne school Yarra Valley Grammar confirms two of its male students have been expelled following the discovery of an offensive spreadsheet in which female students were ranked on their appearance.[276] A number of other students are also suspended over the dossier which included references to sexual violence and used the term "unrapeable".[277] Victorian premier Jacinta Allan describes the behaviour of the students as "misogynist, disgraceful, disgusting and utterly unacceptable".[278]
    • The Reserve Bank of Australia announces it will leave the interest rate steady at 4.35%.[279]
  • 8 May –
  • 9 May – Hunter Valley Grammar School attracts criticism and prompts a national debate after their decision to rename their annual Mother's Day stall to "Family Gift Stall".[283][284][285][286]
  • 10 May –
    • Bruce Lehrmann is ordered by the Federal Court of Australia to pay most of Network 10's legal fees following his failed defamation case against the network and journalist Lisa Wilkinson.[287]
    • A tornado hits the Western Australian city of Bunbury causing extensive damage, and causing at least two people to be admitted to hospital.[288][289]
    • Norio Nagata, the vice-speaker of Minokama city assembly in Gifu Prefecture in central Japan resigns after an alleged incident involving the daughter of Dubbo mayor Mathew Dickerson in which Nagata allegedly sexually harassed her at a karaoke afterparty following a welcome reception on 3 April.[290] Minokamo's mayor Hiroto Fujii had earlier issued an apology to its sister city, which Dickerson accepted.[291]
  • 11 May –
  • 13 May –
    • A 19-year-old man is sentenced to 14 years in jail after pleading guilty to the murder of 41-year-old Emma Lovell during a break-in at her Brisbane home on 26 December 2022, where the man fatally stabbed Lovell.[296]
    • A 53-year-old pilot successfully completes a belly landing at Newcastle Airport after his plane's landing gear fails.[297]
    • An autonomous driverless train loaded with iron ore derails after the train, operated by Rio Tinto, collides with a set of stationery wagons near Karratha prompting the Office of the National Rail Safety Regulator to investigate.[298]
  • 14 May –
  • 15 May –
  • 16 May –
    • The Federal Court of Australia rules that federal environment minister Tanya Plibersek does not need to consider environmental impacts of emissions when she gives approvals for gas or coal projects.[307]
    • Australians are urged to reconsider their need to travel to New Caledonia after violent riots break out in the French territory.[308] Foreign minister Penny Wong later states that Australia is working with authorities to assess options to ensure the safe return of Australians who are stranded in New Caledonia.[309]
  • 18 May –
  • 19 May –
    • It's revealed that six soldiers serving at RAAF Base Richmond tested positive to illicit drugs just days before special forces soldier Jack Fitzgibbon was killed during parachute training on 6 March 2024.[312]
    • A New South Wales police officer on traffic duty near Sydney's Hyde Park is allegedly stabbed in the head by a 34-year-old man.[313] The officer is treated for non-life threatening injuries at the scene before being taken to St Vincent's Hospital.[313]
    • Six people are arrested in Melbourne after pro-Palestinian protestors descend on the pro-Israel "Stop the Hate, Mate" rally held on the steps of Parliament House and organised by a Christian group called Never Again is Now.[314]
    • The bodies of a 38-year-old man and a two-year-old boy are discovered in Lismore, New South Wales after a suspected murder-suicide.[315]
  • 21 May –
    • Telstra confirms it plans to sack 2,800 people in a cost-cutting measure, with most of the jobs to be axed at the end of 2024.[316]
    • Eight Australians are among the 18 passengers hospitalised after sustaining injuries aboard Singapore Airlines Flight 321 when the aircraft hit severe clear-air turbulence en route from London to Singapore, killing a 73-year-old British passenger.[317] Among the 211 passengers, there were 56 Australians on board the aircraft during the incident.[317]
    • The first group Australians stranded in New Caledonia are successfully evacuated by the Royal Australian Air Force.[318]
  • 22 May –
    • Supreme Court judge Elizabeth Hollingworth sentences 52-year-old Sven Linderman to 31 years in jail for killing his girlfriend Monique Lezsak in front of her 10-year-old-daughter in May 2023.[319]
    • Agriculture Victoria confirms the H7N3 strain of avian influenza has been detected at an egg farm in Victoria, forcing hundreds of thousands of chickens to be euthanased.[320] The Victorian Department of Health also confirm there had previously been a human case of the H5N1 strain of avian influenza after a child returning from overseas tested positive in March, but who has since recovered.[321]
  • 23 May – An earthquake with a magnitude of 3.9 occurs in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales.[322]
  • 24 May – 59-year-old Jennifer Petelczyc and her 18-year-old daughter Gretl are murdered by 63-year-old Mark James Bombara who then shoots himself dead in the Perth suburb of Floreat.[323] Bombara's daughter subsequently accuses WAPOL of repeatedly ignoring her requests for help with her father.[324] Federal social services minister Amanda Rishworth also describes the response from WAPOL prior to the murders as "inadequate."[325]
  • 30 May – The "Keep the Sheep" campaign is launched by Western Australia's agricultural sector, protesting the Federal Government's decision to end live sheep exports.[326] The campaign's launch is preceded by a large protest rally in Perth the following day in which trucks and farm vehicles were used to bring traffic to a crawl in the Perth CBD.[327]

June

[edit]
  • 1 June –
    • Deputy prime minister Richard Marles is confronted by officers from China's People's Liberation Army at the Shangri-La Dialogue conference in Singapore after they took issue with Marles' speech.[328]
    • An explosion destroys a townhouse in the Western Sydney suburb of Whalan, trapping a woman and causing injuries to five others.[329] The woman's body is eventually found by rescue crews in the early hours of 3 June.[330]
    • The body of a 28-year-old hiker is discovered in Tasmania, having been last seen on 29 May 2024 while hiking at Frenchmans Cap.[331]
    • Three teenagers whose vehicle became bogged are rescued from a remote beach on Western Australia's Mid West Coast after a pilot spots a distress message they had written in the sand prompting him to contact the authorities, with a second pilot also spotting the message.[332]
    • A severe storm hits Bunbury in Western Australia causing extensive damage to the city.[333]
  • 2 June –
    • The body of a 78-year-old woman is discovered at a Canberra townhouse with police treating her death as a domestic violence incident.[334]
    • The body of Natasha Ryan is discovered on a golf course in Rockhampton.[335] Police say there are no suspicious circumstances.[335]
    • The body of a 64-year-old man is discovered in the Northern Territory, after he went missing while hiking along the Larapinta Trail.[336]
    • Human remains discovered by police during an unrelated operation in the Blue Mountains on 30 April 2024 and 27 May 2024 are identified as belonging to Geelong woman Kellie Ann Carmichael who disappeared on 29 April 2001.[337][338]
    • The bodies of a woman and a man are discovered at a property at Albany Creek near Brisbane in a suspected murder-suicide.[339]
    • A man is killed when the e-scooter he was riding collides with a ute near Newcastle.[340]
    • The body of a 61-year-old woman is discovered in the Perth suburb of Byford. Her 33-year-old son is subsequently arrested approximately 200 kilometres away in Bindi Bindi.[341]
  • 3 June –
  • 4 June –
  • 6 June –
    • The National Anti-Corruption Commission announces it will not pursue new corruption investigations into six public officials associated with the Robodebt scheme, despite receiving referrals from Catherine Holmes following the Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme.[346]
    • Queensland deputy coroner Stephanie Gallagher finds that the 2017 death of Constance Watcho was "suspicious" but there was insufficient evidence to identify anyone involved in her death.[347]
    • A 16-year-old girl who tortured a 13-year-old girl for four hours on 11 March 2023 in Tewantin while filming it and then uploading it to social media is sentenced in the Maroochydore District Court to two years' detention, wholly suspended with a conditional release order, and ordered to do 160 hours of community service but without a conviction being recorded.[348]
  • 7 June –
  • 9 June –
  • 10 June – The United States Consulate General in Sydney is vandalised by a pro-Palestinian activist.[354]
  • 11 June –
    • Victoria Police confirm a teenage boy had been arrested and then released pending further inquiries during their investigation into the circulation of obscene deepfake photographs depicting approximately 50 female students in years 9 to 12 from Bacchus Marsh Grammar School.[355] Victorian premier Jacinta Allan condemns the actions of the alleged perpetrators.[356]
    • Federal Liberal MP Gavin Pearce announces he will not be recontesting the next Australian federal election.[357]
  • 12 June –
  • 13 June –
    • 35-year-old Tobias Sahlstorfer is sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering 36-year-old Mark Boyce in the Adelaide suburb of Elizabeth South in January 2017.[362] Sahlstorfer is the second person to be sentenced for Boyce's murder, with Joshua Roy Grant also sentenced to life imprisonment in November 2019 with a non-parole period of 20 years.[363]
    • The New South Wales Court of Criminal Appeal dismisses an appeal by former teacher Chris Dawson who appealed against his conviction for murdering Lynette Simms.[364]
    • It's announced an independent inquiry will be held into the National Anti-Corruption Commission's decision not to pursue new investigations into public officials associated with the Robodebt scheme despite receiving referrals from Catherine Holmes following the Royal Commission.[365]
  • 15 June – It's reported approximately 300 executive positions from Transport for NSW are expected to be abolished over a period of three years.[366]
  • 16 June – Several hundred protestors gather outside Adelaide Zoo during a visit by Chinese premier Li Qiang who announces two new pandas will be loaned to the zoo when Wang Wang and Fu Ni return to China.[367]
  • 17 June –
  • 18 June – Former treasurer of New South Wales Matt Kean announces his resignation from politics.[370] Prime Minister Anthony Albanese subsequently announces Kean as the new chair of the Climate Change Authority.[371]
  • 19 June –
    • The Melbourne office of Labor MP Josh Burns is extensively damaged by pro-Palestinian protestors who vandalise the office by smashing windows, pouring paint and starting fires.[372] Prime Minister Anthony Albanese condemns the attack and said the targeting of a Jewish MP was "very distressing".[372]
    • Leader of the Opposition Peter Dutton and the Liberal party reveal seven sites for their proposed nuclear power plants.[373][374][375]
    • A delegation of Australian senior ministers including Richard Marles, Penny Wong and Pat Conroy arrive in Papua New Guinea at attend the 30th Ministerial Forum in Port Moresby.[376] During the visit, Australia announces a range of initiatives under a bilateral security agreement with Papua New Guinea.[377]
    • A jury finds 33-year-old Justin Laurens Stein guilty of murdering 9-year-old Charlise Mutten in January 2022.[378]
    • A 34-year-old woman is allegedly shot and killed as she sat in her own vehicle with her two children in her driveway in the Queensland city of Mackay.[379] A 31-year-old man is subsequently charged with her murder, and the attempted murder of neighbour who attempted to render assistance.[379]
  • 20 June –
  • 21 June – The bodies of a man and a woman with gunshot wounds are discovered on an isolated walking track near Wreck Beach in Victoria but police say there are not treating the deaths as suspicious.[384][385]
  • 23 June – Adelaide's Westfield Marion shopping centre in Adelaide is sent into a lockdown when two group of teenage boys allegedly start brawling in the food court, with some armed with extendable batons and a machete.[386] Two teenage boys are later arrested and charged with assault, affray and aggravated robbery.[387]
  • 24 June – South Australia's so-called "bicycle bandit", 73-year-old former police officer and firefighter Kym Allen Parsons is sentenced in the Supreme Court to 35 years imprisonment with a non-parole period of 28 years after admitting to carrying out eleven armed robberies across the state between 2004 and 2014, stealing nearly $359,000.[388] However, he dies two days later on 26 June 2024 after having been granted access to voluntary assisted dying.[389]
  • 25 June –
    • WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is freed from HM Prison Belmarsh in the United Kingdom after agreeing to plead guilty to one charge of breaching the espionage law in the United States in a deal which allows him to return home to Australia.[390][391]
    • The bodies of two men, a woman and a teenage boy are discovered at a property in the Melbourne suburb of Broadmeadows.[392] Police say they don't believe the deaths to be suspicious.[392]
    • 57-year-old former Jetstar pilot Greg Lynn is found guilty by a jury of murdering 73-year-old Carol Clay in Victoria's Wonnangatta Valley in 2020.[393] However, the jury acquits him of murdering 74-year-old Russell Hill.[393]
    • Labor senator Fatima Payman risks expulsion from her party when she crosses the floor to vote against Labor when the Australian Greens move a motion calling for the senate to recognise the State of Palestine.[394] Payman later reveals she had been rebuked by Anthony Albanese during a "stern but fair" conversation, who also bars her from Labor caucus meetings during the current parliamentary sitting as punishment.[395]
  • 26 June – Julian Assange arrives back in Australia, with his plane touching down in Canberra just after 7:30pm, after which Prime Minister Anthony Albanese phones Assange to welcome him home.[396]
  • 27 June – Two teenagers who attacked former rugby union player Toutai Kefu, his wife and their two adult children during a home invasion in August 2021 are sentenced to seven years and eight years in custody respectively.[397]
  • 28 June –
    • A large street brawl erupts in Halls Creek, Western Australia with police alleging up to 60 people were involved in the "out of control gathering" prompting extra officers to be flown into the town to assist.[398] Police allege up to 40 of the people involved in the brawl were armed with sticks, stones, bricks, knives and metal bars.[398] By Sunday morning, nine people had been charged for offences relating to being armed and the failure to follow orders from police.[398]
    • A woman aged in her 50's dies in Mighell, Queensland after an alleged domestic violence related stabbing.[399] Her 51-year-old de facto partner is subsequently charged with murder.[399]
  • 29 June –
  • 30 June –
    • At least three people are killed when a Greyhound Australia coach carrying 33 people collides with a car towing a caravan on the Bruce Highway near the town of Gumlu.[403]
    • Labor senator Fatima Payman confirms she has now been indefinitely suspended from the Labor caucus following an interview on ABC TV's Insiders program where she said she would cross the floor again if need be.[404] A Labor spokesperson confirms that Payman had been suspended because she had "placed herself outside the privilege" of participating in the caucus but would be permitted to return when she decides to respect the caucus and her colleagues.[404]

July

[edit]
  • 1 July –
  • 2 July –
    • Australia issues statements to several social media and search engine websites commanding them to draft and enforce guidelines to prevent minors from seeing inappropriate material by 3 October, or else the companies will face national restrictions.[407]
    • A man who stole Nick Kyrgios' car after holding Kyrgios' mother at gunpoint is sentenced in the ACT Supreme Court to more than four years jail after earlier pleading guilty to offences including robbery with an offensive weapon.[408]
    • A 12-year-old girl goes missing near Palumpa, Northern Territory after reportedly being attacked by a crocodile.[409] The human remains belonging to the girl are located by Northern Territory Police on 4 July 2024.[410]
  • 3 July –
    • A woman's body is discovered at a tip in the Melbourne suburb of Epping, triggering a homicide investigation.[411]
    • Australian online bookseller Booktopia enters voluntary administration.[412][413]
  • 4 July –
  • 5 July – A 24-year-old man dies in a workplace accident at a joinery business in Roma, Queensland.[417]
  • 6 July –
    • Papua New Guinea petroleum minister Jimmy Maladina is arrested in Sydney and charged with an alleged domestic assault offence following an alleged altercation with a 31-year-old woman in Bondi.[418]
    • A man is shot dead by police after allegedly approaching officers with a knife at a police station in Townsville.[419]
    • The annual NAIDOC Awards are held in Adelaide, where Muriel Bamblett is named NAIDOC Person of the Year and Dulcie Flower receives the Lifetime Achievement Award.[420]
  • 7 July –
    • A 10-month-old girl and two boys, aged 2 and 4, die in a house fire in the Sydney suburb of Lalor Park.[421] Four other children aged between 6 and 11 as well as a 29-year-old woman are taken to hospital.[421] A 28-year-old man is subsequently arrested and placed into custody and under police guard in hospital.[421]
    • Four off-duty NT police officers are allegedly assaulted by a group of approximately 20 youths in Alice Springs.[422] This incident coupled with several other violent incidents in the town prompt the Northern Territory's police commissioner to implement a three-night curfew for both children and adults.[423]
    • A 24-year-old man serving as an infantry team leader for the Ukrainian Foreign Legion becomes the seventh Australian killed while fighting in the Russo-Ukrainian War following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.[424]
    • During an appearance on ABC TV's Insiders, deputy leader of the Greens Mehreen Faruqi repeatedly refuses to answer a question about whether terrorist organisation Hamas should be dismantled.[425][426]
    • Bill Shorten confirms sex work will no longer be funded through the NDIS under planned reforms.[427]
    • During an appearance on Network 10's The Project, former Liberal prime minister Malcolm Turnbull describes current Liberal leader Peter Dutton as a "thug", having also described Dutton as a "thug" in the 2024 ABC series Nemesis.[428][429]
  • 10 July –
    • The three bodies of an Australian couple and a family member are discovered dead at a luxury resort at Tagaytay in the Philippines in a suspected murder.[430]
    • Violence continues in Alice Springs with approximately 50 people being involved in an afternoon brawl outside a Coles supermarket.[431] Three men and two teenage females are arrested and a number of weapons seized including spears, nulla nullas, a baseball bat and a machete.[431]
    • A Fraser Coast Regional Council staff member threatens to call the police on One Nation leader Pauline Hanson for doing a live interview with Sky News Australia while standing next to a statue of Mary Poppins in the Queensland city of Maryborough.[432] Fraser Coast deputy mayor Paul Truscott and CEO Ken Diehm both apologise to Hanson the following day with Truscott describing the request as "unfounded" due to the fact that the statue is located in a public place.[433]
  • 11 July –
  • 12 July –
  • 13 July –
  • 14 July –
  • 15 July –
    • Victorian premier Jacinta Allan says she has asked Labor's national executive to suspend the construction division of the CFMEU from the Victorian Labor Party following allegations of serious misconduct.[446] Allan describes the allegations as "thuggish and appalling" and which she says have been referred to Victoria Police and the IBAC.[446] National CFMEU secretary Zach Smith also confirms the Victorian branch would be placed into administration as he establishes an independent process to investigate the allegations, which will be overseen by a "leading legal figure".[446]
    • Queensland police discover the body of a 28-year-old woman with multiple stab wounds at a home in the Ipswich suburb of Leichhardt.[447] A 36-year-old man is subsequently charged with the woman's murder.[447]
    • After a four-week trial in Sydney's Downing Centre District Court, three men are found guilty of multiple charges relating to the gang rape of three young women at an Airbnb apartment in Newcastle during a bucks party weekend in 2022.[448]
    • The Australian Government confirms King Charles III and Queen Camilla will visit Australia in October 2024.[449]
    • During his weekly spot on local radio station 4RO, Queensland Labor MP Barry O'Rourke admits he uses the electoral roll to obtain addresses of people who leave negative comments on his Facebook page so he can visit them in person, which prompts accusations of intimidation from federal LNP MP Michelle Landry and One Nation's James Ashby.[450][451] However, premier Steven Miles defends O'Rourke, describing it as "a entirely appropriate use of the electoral roll."[452]
  • 17 July –
    • The allegations of serious misconduct within the CFMEU continues to have repercussions with federal workplace minister Tony Burke asking the Australian Federal Police to investigation the allegations, describing the alleged conduct as "abhorrent" and "intolerable."[453] The ACTU also suspends the construction and general division of the CFMEU as it calls on its members to support the appointment of an independent administrator.[454] New South Wales premier Chris Minns also moves to suspend the union from the NSW Labor Party and seeks to stop the party receiving donations from the union.[455] Anthony Albanese also confirms the Queensland branch will also be affected by the decision to appoint an administrator.[456]
    • A memorial service is held near Amsterdam to commemorate the 10th anniversary of when Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down over Ukraine, killing 298 people including 38 Australians.[457]
    • Fortescue Mining announces that approximately 700 of its staff are to be made redundant.[458]
  • 18 July –
    • The Australian Labor Party's national executive cuts ties with the CFMEU's construction division, suspending the affiliation with the New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmanian branches of the ALP.[459]
    • Electronic prescription provider MediSecure confirms the personal data of 12.9 million Australians were stolen in the large scale data breach earlier in the year.[460]
    • The ATSB releases its final report into the collision of two Viper S-211 Marchetti planes above Port Phillip Bay in November 2023 in which pilot Stephen Gale and camera operator James Rose were killed.[461]
  • 19 July –
    • A major IT network outage occurs in Australia and globally affecting a large number of companies and services.[462]
    • Former New South Wales premier Dominic Perrottet announces he is leaving parliament to take up a position as BHP's United States head of corporate and external affairs.[463]
    • A 23-year-old woman dies after allegedly being deliberately struck by a four-wheel-drive in Daisy Hill, south of Brisbane.[464] A 24-year-old woman is subsequently charged with murder.[464]
  • 21 July – A 40-year-old man and one of his twin two-year-old daughters are killed at Sydney's Carlton railway station after the pram carrying the twin girls rolled onto the tracks and into the path of an oncoming train. New South Wales premier Chris Minns describes it as "a very confronting and sad day."[465]
  • 22 July – Two Australian broadcast technicians in France for the Nine Network's Olympics coverage are allegedly assaulted in Le Bourget.[466]
  • 23 July –
  • 24 July –
    • Four teenagers are sentenced to between 17 and 19.5 years imprisonment for the 2022 murder of 16-year-old Declan Cutler in the Melbourne suburb of Reservoir after they were all found guilty following a judge-only trial in February 2024.[470]
    • The body of a 27-year-old bushwalker is discovered by search crews near one of the approaches to Tasmania's Federation Peak.[471] Police confirm the man appears to have died after an apparent significant fall, with the body unable to be retrieved until windy conditions ease.[471]
    • Queensland Attorney-General Yvette D'Ath lodges an appeal over the sentences handed down to two teenagers who attacked Toutai Kefu and his family in 2021, with D'Ath stating that it is being lodged "on the grounds the sentences imposed were manifestly inadequate."[472]
    • The wreckage of the MV Noongah, which sank in 1969 with the loss of 21 lives, is discovered off the coast of South West Rocks, New South Wales.[473]
  • 25 July –
  • 28 July –
  • 29 July –
    • Sakina Muhammad Jan becomes the first person to be jailed under Australia's forced marriage laws, after ordering her 21-year-old daughter to wed a man who later murdered her.[481]
    • Rex Airlines enters a trading halt, with speculation that the company is seeking voluntary administration. This sparked comparisons with Bonza, who was collapsed and wound up later in the year.[482] Rex later suspended ticket sales, with plans to exit back out of the metropolitan market and/or appoint EY as administrators.[483]
    • Twenty Carls Jr. restaurants in Australia close immediately after the company's Australian licensee entered voluntary administration.[484]
  • 30 July –
    • Victoria's health department confirms 33 people have been diagnosed with Legionnaires' disease within an outbreak affecting the northern and western suburbs of Melbourne.[485]
    • A woman in her 90's is the first person to die in the Legionnaires' disease outbreak in Melbourne.[486]
  • 31 July – Billson's Brewery enters administration.[487] Thirty staff at the company are made redundant.[488]

August

[edit]
  • 1 August –
    • A man aged in his 60's becomes the second person to die in Melbourne's Legionnaires' disease outbreak.[489]
    • Foreign minister Penny Wong advises Australians in Lebanon to leave immediately as tensions increase between Israel and Hezbollah following the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran.[490]
    • Controversy arises when it emerges an Officeworks employee in the Melbourne suburb of Elsternwick had denied service to a Jewish man in March 2024, refusing to laminate an article from The Australian Jewish News because she was "pro-Palestine."[491][492] Officeworks apologises, stating their polices were incorrectly applied and that the staff member had undergone education regarding discrimination which included resources from the Melbourne Holocaust Museum.[493]
    • The Queensland Government's ban on new gas exploration throughout the Channel Country comes into effect, stopping any new fracking projects after amendments were made to the Regional Planning Interest Regulation Act 2014.[494]
  • 2 August –
  • 3 August –
  • 5 August – Prime minister Anthony Albanese announces that the government has elevated Australia's terrorism threat from "possible" to "probable" but that it did not mean a terrorist attack was "inevitable."[499]
  • 6 August –
  • 7 August –
  • 8 August –
    • 53-year-old crocodile expert Adam Britton is sentenced in the Northern Territory Supreme Court to more than ten years imprisonment, after having earlier pled guilty to 56 charges relating to the rape, torture and murder of more than 42 dogs between 2014 and April 2022.[507] He also admitted to four charges of accessing child exploitation material.[507]
    • South Australian opposition leader David Speirs resigns from the Liberal Party leadership but will continue to serve in state parliament as the member for Black.[508]
    • A 48-year-old Australian man dies in Indonesia after hitting his head on a reef while surfing in North Sumatra, with DFAT confirming they are providing assistance to the man's family.[509]
  • 9 August – With 107 confirmed cases of Legionnaires' disease in Melbourne, Victoria's chief health officer Clare Looker confirms all cases in the outbreak are linked to a cooling tower in the suburb of Laverton North.[510]
  • 10 August – A 24-year-old man is allegedly stabbed at a caravan park in Hervey Bay on Queensland's Fraser Coast, and later dies from his injuries.[511] A 14-year-old girl is subsequently charged with his alleged murder.[511]
  • 12 August – A pilot dies when the helicopter he was flying on an "unauthorised" flight crashes into a hotel in the Queensland city of Cairns shortly before 2:00am prompting the evacuation of approximately 400 people.[512]
  • 13 August – A 10-year-old girl is found dead on the Gold Coast.[513] A 46-year-old woman is subsequently charged with her murder.[513]
  • 14 August – DFAT confirms an 11-year-old Australian girl was allegedly stabbed eight times in a random attack while she was sightseeing with her mother in London's Leicester Square on 12 August.[514] A 32-year-old man is subsequently charged with attempted murder.[514]
  • 15 August –
  • 19 August – Phase one of the Sydney Metro City & Southwest rapid transit line opens up between the suburbs of Chatswood and Sydenham in Sydney, New South Wales.[517]
  • 22 August –
    • A 56-year-old man is killed when two vehicles collide at a coal mine near Glenden, Queensland.[518] It's the second fatality recorded at the same mine in less than three weeks.[518]
    • Federal Labor MP Graham Perrett announces he will retire at the next federal election after almost 20 years in parliament.[519]
  • 23 August – A magnitude 4.7 earthquake occurs in the New South Wales Hunter Valley with the epicentre recorded near Muswellbrook, which causes minor infrastructure damage and power outages.[520]
  • 24 August –
  • 25 August –
  • 26 August –
  • 27 August –
    • Thousands protest around Australia in support of the CFMEU, after the federal government passed legislation to circumvent a court process by enabling an administrator to be appointed to the union.[532][533][534] Federal Greens MP Max Chandler-Mather is criticised for attending the Brisbane rally where signs were held up depicting Anthony Albanese as Adolf Hitler.[535] Greens leader Adam Bandt defends Chandler-Mather's attendance at the rally describing it as "legitimate" but described the signs and the comparisons as "offensive".[536]
    • Australian Police and New Zealand Police announce they have concluded a joint illicit drug operation that resulted in 1,611 arrests and 2,962 charges nationwide. The police also confiscated almost 1,400 kilograms (3,100 lb) of illicit drugs and over 2,500 cannabis plants, worth 93 million AUD (US$63 million).[537]
    • A nine-month-old baby boy suffers burns to his face, chest and arms after an unknown man allegedly deliberately poured hot coffee on him in Hanlon Park in the Brisbane suburb of Stones Corner.[538]
    • A major traffic accident occurs on Queensland's Bruce Highway in the early hours amid foggy and smoky conditions, between Bundaberg and Gladstone, in which five heavy vehicles collide.[539] Two ambulances also collide en route to the accident.[539] One of the truck drivers later dies in hospital.[540]
  • 28 August – Former high profile swim coach Dick Caine is found by a judge to have committed 39 acts of sexual assault, including rape and indecent assault on six underage young athletes who he trained in the 1970s and 1980s.[541] Inducted into the Australian Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame in 2022, Caine had trained a number of Olympic and Commonwealth Games athletes throughout his career including Michelle Ford, Janelle Elford, Karen Phillips, Stacey Gartrell and Michellie Jones.[542][543]
  • 29 August – The new Neville Bonner Bridge in Brisbane opens to the public as does the new Queen's Wharf precinct which includes Brisbane's new Star casino.[544][545]
  • 30 August –
    • Western Australian premier Roger Cook confirms a 17-year-old boy died by suicide at the Banksia Hill Juvenile Detention Centre the previous night.[546]
    • New South Wales state Liberal MP Rory Amon resigns from the party and parliament after police charge him with five counts of sexual intercourse with a person over 10 and under 14.[547] In a statement, Amon confirms he had been charged with events alleged to have occurred in 2017 but denies all charges and says he will make his case in the courts.[547]
    • Another major traffic accident occurs on Queensland's Bruce Highway between Bundaberg and Gladstone when a truck carrying 42 tonnes of ammonium nitrate and a utility collide, killing the ute driver.[548] An exclusion zone is established before the ammonium nitrate triggers a major explosion, prompting authorities to warn the highway would be closed for an extended amount of time.[549]
    • A 41-year-old man is sentenced to six years imprisonment in Townsville District Court after pleading guilty to dangerous driving causing death after a crash on the Bruce Highway near Ayr in August 2022, in which former Latrobe councillor John Perkins from Tasmania was killed.[550]
    • In what is described as a "backflip", Anthony Albanese confirms in a radio interview that they would be a question regarding sexuality and gender identity in the 2026 Australian census despite his government earlier confirming they had dumped their proposal to include such a question.[551]
  • 31 August – Anthony Albanese denies the federal government had changed its policy regarding the inclusion of a question relating to gender identity and sexuality in the 2026 Australian census.[552]

September

[edit]
  • 1 September –
    • It's confirmed a 63-year-old woman has died after a tree strikes her cabin in a holiday park in Moama, as days of extreme weather occurs across Tasmania, Victoria and New South Wales.[553][554]
    • Queensland premier Steven Miles uses a government jet to fly 74 kilometres from Hervey Bay to Bundaberg to present a birthday cake to local MP Tom Smith and announce funding for a school fence.[555] His decision to fly the short distance is condemned by his critics but is defended by Miles who says it was just one leg of a multi-city trip, describing it as "an entirely appropriate use of travel resources."[556]
  • 2 September –
    • An animal handler receives multiple lacerations to her arm after being mauled by a tiger at Dreamworld on the Gold Coast.[557]
    • 46-year-old Ashley Paul Griffith pleads guilty to 307 sexual offences against children while working at childcare centres in Queensland and Italy between 2007 and 2022.[558]
    • After the company puts itself into a voluntary trading halt on 29 August, Star Entertainment Group is temporarily suspended from the Australian Stock Exchange after failing to report annual results by deadline.[559]
  • 3 September –
  • 5 September –
    • Federal NDIS minister and former Labor leader Bill Shorten announces he will retire from politics in February 2025 to take up the position as vice-chancellor of the University of Canberra.[562]
    • Saputo Inc. announces that 120-year-old Australian dairy company King Island Dairy will close in mid-2025 because a buyer could not be found for the business, impacting 58 employees.[563] Tasmanian premier Jeremy Rockliff confirms the Tasmamian government is providing support to the workers, farmers and the wider community who will be impacted by the closure.[563]
  • 6 September –
    • 27-year-old Cody James Edwards is sentenced in Mount Gambier to at least 11 years imprisonment for the manslaughter of Synamin Bell in March 2022.[564] Edwards was originally charged and stood trial for Bell's murder but part way through was re-arraigned after which he pled guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter.[564] The sentence angers Bell's family and prompts the South Australian Government to attempt to introduce legislation preventing delusions caused by drugs being used as a defence.[564]
    • Former high profile Sydney real estate agent Matthew Brian Ramsay is sentenced to an overall jail term of six years and eight months for stabbing a woman in the chest with a 25 cm kitchen knife in Dover Heights on 8 August 2022.[565]
  • 7 September – A 4.5 magnitude earthquake occurs near Muswellbrook, New South Wales causing minor damage and power outages.[566] It is the third earthquake to occur in the area within three weeks.[566]
  • 8 September – Federal treasurer Jim Chalmers confirms the 2026 Australian census will include questions about sexual orientation and gender with the Australian Bureau of Statistics to determine the questions.[567]
  • 9 September –
    • The Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide hands down the final report, making 122 recommendations which includes establishing a new support body to assist defence personnel transition into civilian life.[568]
    • Just Group confirms they have terminated the employment of Smiggle managing director John Cheston which they said was because of "serious misconduct" and a breach of the terms of his employment.[569]
    • According to Queensland Police, a 33-year-old foreign national who allegedly attacked a nine-month-old baby in a Brisbane park on 27 August by pouring scalding hot coffee over him flew out of Sydney Airport on 31 August.[570]
    • Former Queensland One Nation MP Stephen Andrew announces he has joined Katter's Australian Party, increasing the number of KAP representatives in the Queensland parliament to four.[571]
    • The federal government announces it would introduce new legislation before the end of 2024 to ban children from accessing social media.[572]
    • Adelaide newspaper The Advertiser publishes a video and photos which allegedly depict former South Australian Liberal leader David Speirs snorting a white substance.[573] Speirs strenuously denies any wrongdoing, describing the video as a deepfake or an elaborate hoax.[573]
  • 10 September –
    • The bodies of a 9-year-old boy and an 11-year-old boy are discovered at a property in the Blue Mountains village of Faulconbridge.[574] The 42-year-old mother of the boys is subsequently charged with two counts of domestic violence-related murder.[575]
    • Thousands of protestors attend a national farmer rally in Canberra where the agricultural sector accuses the federal government of initiating numerous anti-farming policies.[576]
  • 11 September –
    • Thousands of protestors descend on Melbourne's CBD to rally against the biennial Land Forces International Expo at the MECC, with violent clashes erupting between the protestors and Victoria Police who describe their operation as the most significant since the S11 protests at the World Economic Forum in 2000.[577][578] (Main article: 2024 Melbourne Land Forces Expo protests)
    • Victorian Greens MP Gabrielle de Vietri is condemned by both premier Jacinta Allan and manager of opposition business James Newbury for missing parliament to attend the violent anti-war protests in Melbourne.[579]
    • Brett Andrew Button is sentenced to 32 years in jail with a non-parole period of 24 years for dangerous driving occasioning death following the Hunter Valley bus crash on 11 June 2023.[580] Button also pleaded guilty to charges relating to dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm, driving furiously, and causing bodily harm.[580]
    • Independent New South Wales MP Alex Greenwich wins his defamation case against Mark Latham, with Latham ordered to pay $160,000 in damages after a tweet about Greenwich published in March 2023 was determined by Justice David O'Callaghan to be defamatory.[581]
    • Former SA Liberal leader David Speirs takes medical leave from his position as the Member for Black following the publication of a video which purports to show him snorting a white substance.[582] Speirs strenuously denies any wrongdoing having described the video as a deepfake and states he has engaged legal counsel.[582]
  • 12 September –
  • 14 September – The 2024 New South Wales local elections are held which sees Clover Moore re-elected to a record sixth term as Lord Mayor of Sydney.[585]
  • 19 September –
    • Following a three-day committal hearing in Ballarat, a magistrate discharges the entire case against a 66-year-old diabetic driver who was driving a vehicle which crashed into the Royal Daylesford Hotel on 5 November 2023 killing five people including two children.[586] The magistrate finds there is not enough evidence to support a conviction by a jury with all fourteen charges against the man struck out.[586] The decision is condemned by the families of the victims.[587][588][589]
    • A 65-year-old male dual citizen of Australia and Greece was arrested at an airport in Rome, Italy, in connection with the January 1977 Easey Street murders in Collingwood, Victoria.[590]
    • Alleged Ghost developer and administrator Jay Je Yoon Jung is arrested in Sydney, on five charges related to the encrypted communication network's development and operation.[591]
  • 20 September –
  • 23 September –
  • 24 September – Twelve Singapore Armed Forces servicemen sustain minor injuries when an armoured vehicle rear-ends another during Exercise Wallaby in the Shoalwater Bay Military Training Area near Rockhampton, Queensland.[598]
  • 25 September – Dick Caine dies from cancer before he can be sentenced for his sexual assault conviction.[599]
  • 27 September –

October

[edit]
  • 1 October –
  • 2 October – A mine worker aged in his 30's is killed and another seriously injured in an incident at Glencore's Oaky Creek coal mine near Tieri, Queensland.[603]
  • 3 October – A 35-year-old man originally from the Irish village of Kilcar is killed in a workplace accident on the Mitchell Freeway in Perth's northern suburbs with DFAT stating they are willing to provide assistance to his family.[604]
  • 4 October –
    • Federal opposition leader Peter Dutton calls on the expulsion of Iran's ambassador to Australia Ahmad Sadeghi after Sadeghi describes assassinated terrorist leader Hassan Nasrallah as an "unparalleled leader" and a "martyr".[605] Prime minister Anthony Albanese also condemns Sadeghi's comments.[605]
    • A 19-year-old man and 20-year-old Tye William Porter are sentenced in the Brisbane Supreme Court for killing Uber driver and hit 101.9 Fraser Coast radio presenter Scott Cabrie in February 2023.[606] The 19-year-old man is sentenced to 15 years in jail after having pleaded guilty to one count of murder, while Porter is sentenced to 9½ years in jail after having pleaded guilty to one count of manslaughter.[606] The length of the sentences are condemned by Cabrie's family and friends, who take issue with the judge's order that the 19-year-old be released after serving 60% of the sentence.[607]
  • 5 October –
    • South Australia Police confirm former South Australian opposition leader David Speirs has been charged with two counts of supplying a controlled substance.[608] Spiers says he intends to fight to clear his name and plans to resign from parliament during the next sitting week.[608]
    • The Australian Republic Movement's former chair Craig Foster publicly rebukes New South Wales premier Chris Minns and his wife Anna for sending him an invitation to a community barbecue to be attended by Charles III and Queen Camilla during their visit to Australia, posting a photo of the invitation on X and writing: "Thanks Anna and @ChrisMinnsMP, But, no thanks. I look forward to being ‘in the presence of’ our first Aussie Head of State. When we put our big pants on, as a country.”[609]
  • 6 October –
    • Thousands of pro-Palestinian protestors rally in capital cities on the eve of the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel.[610] Although there is a heightened police presence, authorities praise the overall behaviour of the demonstrators.[610]
    • An 8-year-old girl and her 31-year-old babysitter are killed in a townhouse fire in the Redlands suburb of Thorneside.[611]
    • A 25-year-old man is killed in a water skiing incident on the Hawkesbury River at Lower Portland.[612]
  • 7 October – The first of two repatriation flights organised by the federal government for Australians fleeing the 2024 Israeli invasion of Lebanon touches down in Sydney, with 349 Australians and their immediate family members arriving at Sydney Airport.[613]
  • 8 October –
    • Jacob Hersant of the National Socialist Network becomes the first Victorian to be found guilty of performing a Nazi salute.[614]
    • Federal opposition leader Peter Dutton accuses prime minister Anthony Albanese of using a motion to mark the first anniversary of the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel for personal political gain, with the Coalition refusing the support the motion as they believe it went beyond paying tribute to the 1,200 lives lost.[615]
    • Prime minister Anthony Albanese apologises after asking shadow treasurer Angus Taylor if he had Tourette syndrome during Question Time.[616] The remark drew criticism from the Coalition, Greens senator Jordon Steele-John and Tourette syndrome Association of Australia president Mandy Maysey.[617]
  • 9 October –
  • 10 October –
    • Following an ongoing investigation into the death of a 49-year-old woman who died in an apparent incident with a ride-on mower in Queensland's Lockyer Valley in July 2024, police charge a 47-year-old Royal Australian Air Force squadron leader with murder (domestic violence offence) and misconduct with a corpse by interfering.[620]
    • The ATSB hands down its final report into the fatal helicopter crash in Cairns on 12 August 2024.[621] The investigation finds 23-year-old pilot Blake Wilson was affected by alcohol when he flew into a no-fly zone and crashed the helicopter into a hotel on the Cairns esplanade in the early hours, with a toxicology report showing "high levels of blood alcohol concentration", which chief commissioner Angus Mitchell said posed "significant risk to others in the Cairns area."[621]
    • A sexual abuse survivor who was one of many to be abused by convicted paedophile Darrell Ray[622] at Melbourne's Beaumaris Primary School in the 1960s and 1970s reveals that he has reached a record $8 million settlement with the Victorian Government with the man's lawyer describing it as "the biggest publicly known payment to an abuse survivor in Australia."[623]
    • Victorian premier Jacinta Allan formally apologises to the state's Stolen Generations at a private event on behalf of the Victorian Government.[624]
    • Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, the King of Bhutan, arrives in Australia for an eight-day trip where he will visit Sydney, Canberra and Perth.[625][626]
  • 11 October – A 34-year-old woman loses an arm when she is mauled by her own dog in Townsville, Queensland.[627] She is taken to Townsville University Hospital in a critical condition, but is later reported to be in a serious but stable condition.[627] Her dog is shot dead by police.[627]
  • 12 October – A group of approximately 50 neo-Nazis hold a white supremist rally in the New South Wales town of Corowa which draws condemnation from community leaders including premier Chris Minns.[628][629]
  • 16 October –
  • 17 October –
  • 18 October –
    • King Charles III and Queen Camilla arrive in Australia for a five-day visit.[640]
    • 58-year-old former Jetstar pilot Greg Lynn is sentenced to 32 years in prison for murdering 73-year-old camper Carol Clay in the Wonnangatta Valley in Victoria's high country in March 2020.[641] Lynn must serve at least 24 years of his sentence before he is eligible for parole.[641]
    • The ACT Labor Party is found to have breached electoral laws for running advertisements that were inaccurate and misleading with the ACT Electoral Commission determining an advertisement targeting shadow health minister Leanne Castley contained "a statement purporting to be a statement of fact that is inaccurate and misleading to a material extent".[642]
  • 19 October –
  • 21 October – Senator Lidia Thorpe draws widespread condemnation for screaming obscenities at King Charles III and accusing him of genocide during an event at Parliament House in Canberra before she is escorted from the building by security.[645] Criticism of Thorpe comes from all quarters including from prominent Indigenous Australians such academic Marcia Langton, former senator Nova Peris and Ngunnawal elder Aunty Violet Sheridan.[646][647][648] However, Thorpe's conduct is condoned by others including the ACT's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people commissioner Vanessa Turnbull-Roberts.[649]
  • 23 October – A five-year legal case concludes on country, where Parks Australia is found guilty of damaging a sacred site in Kakadu National Park and is ordered to pay at $200,000 fine.[650]
  • 26 October –
  • 27 October – A five-year-old boy his 15-year-old sister are killed in a three-vehicle car crash on the Riddoch Highway near Nangwarry, South Australia when one of the vehicles collided with an emu.[662] A 22-year-old man is subsequently charged with two counts of causing death by dangerous driving and four counts of causing harm by dangerous driving.[663]
  • 28 October –
    • Australia's 3G mobile phone network shuts down.[664]
    • Despite an attempt at restructuring its operations, Mosaic Brands (the parent company of retailers Rivers, Katies, Noni B, Rockmans, Autograph, Crossroads, W. Lane and Beme) enters voluntary administration.[665]
  • 29 October –
  • 30 October –
    • Students record themselves tearing up The Red Zone report into sexual violence at a University of Sydney Students' Representative Council meeting, prompting the university to launch an immediate investigation.[668]
    • NSW Police confirm they have recovered 40,000 limited edition Bluey coins which were allegedly stolen from a Sydney warehouse facility in July 2024.[669] The discovery is made after a third person allegedly involved in the theft, a 27-year-old woman, is arrested and charged with breaking and entering and disposing of stolen property.[669]
  • 31 October – Amid the ongoing free flight upgrade scandal, opposition leader Peter Dutton admits he had requested whether he could use Gina Rinehart's private jet to fly from Rockhampton to Sydney for a Bali bombings memorial service before travelling back up to Mackay.[670] Dutton claims he had asked to use the jet to save taxpayers the $40,000 it would have cost to use an RAAF aircraft.[670]

November

[edit]
  • 1 November –
  • 3 November – Amid the ongoing flight upgrade scandal, federal education minister Jason Clare admits to asking for and receiving a free flight upgrade on an international Qantas flight for personal reasons in 2019.[675]
  • 6 November –
  • 7 November –
    • The ACMA announces Optus had paid a $12 million fine over its 2023 network outage with the ACMA ruling Optus had breached emergency call rules and had failed to conduct welfare checks on 369 people who had attempted to call Triple Zero during the outage.[679]
    • Prime Minister Albanese confirms that the federal government will introduce legislation later in the month to ban young people under the age of 16 from using social media.[680]
    • A 69-year-old woman is killed when an allegedly stolen car collides with her vehicle at Murrumba Downs, Queensland.[681] A 16-year-old Caboolture boy is subsequently charged with manslaughter, armed robbery, unlawful use of a motor vehicle and two counts of assault occasioning bodily harm.[681]
    • British sex worker and OnlyFans content creator Bonnie Blue has her 12-month tourist visa revoked by the Department of Home Affairs on the grounds of allegedly planning to contravene the conditions by working, after earlier stating plans to travel to the Gold Coast to film explicit content with male high school graduates during Schoolies Week.[682]
  • 8 November –
    • Qantas Flight QF520 flying from Sydney to Brisbane makes an emergency landing at Sydney Airport due to a contained engine failure. No injuries are reported.[683]
    • It is revealed that Queensland's chief health officer John Gerrard had tendered his resignation the previous month, with his final day in the role scheduled to be on 12 December 2024.[684]
    • The body of a 15-year-old boy is found dead in bushland near Wilton, New South Wales.[685] A 32-year-old man is subsequently charged with allegedly murdering the boy.[686]
  • 10 November – Federal health minister Mark Butler announces that under the National Immunisation Program, pregnant women and newborn babies will have access free respiratory syncytial virus vaccines before winter in 2025, with national access to monoclonal antibody for young babies also to become available.[687]
  • 11 November –
  • 14 November – Myer announces it has cancelled the traditional unveiling of its Christmas windows in Melbourne's Bourke Street Mall on 17 November to ensure the safety of its customers and employees due to the threat posed by a pro-Palestinian group called Disrupt Wars which had planned to disrupt the event.[692] The planned disruption of the annual event which is largely attended by children and families is widely condemned.[693] Following Myer's decision to cancel the event, Disrupt Wars cancels their planned demonstration but threatens to reinstate it, prompting Myer to confirm the event will remain cancelled.[694]
  • 15 November –
    • The body of Launceston Cup-winning jockey, 81-year-old Keith Banks is found near Scone in the Hunter Valley after he was reported missing on 11 November 2024.[695]
    • Researchers from the CSIRO encourage Australians to use a Chart Your Fart app to track their personal flatulence so scientists can use the data to garner a better understanding of gut health.[696]
  • 16 November – The 2024 Black state by-election is held in South Australia, which was triggered by the resignation of Liberal MP David Speirs who had previously served as the Opposition Leader. The Liberals lose the seat, with their candidate defeated by Labor's Alex Dighton.[697]
  • 17 November –
    • The Albanese Government reveals it plans to mandate that businesses be required to accept cash payments for essential items from 2026 to ensure that Australians who rely on cash including during natural disasters or digital outages can continue to make purchases.[698]
    • Australian Privacy Commissioner Carly Kind rules that Bunnings had breached the privacy of possibly hundreds of thousands of customers by trialing facial recognition technology in 63 stores between 2018 and 2021, finding the company had collected sensitive information without consent and had failed to take reasonable steps to inform people about the technology.[699] Bunnings responds by releasing CCTV footage of staff members being allegedly threatened and assaulted, with managing director Mike Schneider defending the use of the technology stating that its sole intent was to keep team members and customers safe.[700]
  • 18 November –
    • 83-year-old former radio host Alan Jones is arrested at his Circular Quay apartment in Sydney and later charged by New South Wales Police with a total of 24 historical indecent assault and sexual touching offences involving eight alleged victims which allegedly occurred between 2001 and 2019.[701] Jones is granted bail to appear before Downing Centre Local Court on 18 December, with his lawyer Chris Murphy confirming that Jones denies any misconduct and that he will "assert his innocence appropriately in the courtroom."[701]
    • The Senate votes 46-12 to censure independent senator Lidia Thorpe for "disrespectful and disruptive" behaviour when she hecked King Charles III in October.[702]
    • The Senate also votes to censure United Australia Party senator Ralph Babet for using "inflammatory use of hate speech, designed to drive division for his own political benefit" after posting remarks on X following the 2024 United States election.[703]
  • 21 November –
    • Prime minister Anthony Albanese confirms a 19-year-old Australian woman has died in a Thailand hospital a week after a suspected case of methanol poisoning in Laos.[704]
    • Six months after an investigation was launched into whether Townsville mayor Troy Thompson misled voters about his military history, Queensland local government minister Ann Leahy confirms that he is being suspended on full pay for 12 months after Queensland premier David Crisafulli made it clear to Thompson that his position was untenable.[705]
    • Multiple incidents of antisemitic vandalism occur in Sydney which police describe as a hate crime, and which Anthony Albanese calls "deeply troubling". [706]
  • 22 November – The family of a second 19-year-old Australian woman confirms she has died following the mass methanol poisoning event in Laos.[707]

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Australian Capital Territory

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Source:[954]

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