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 –
An interim ATSB report into the 2023 Sea World helicopter crash on the Gold Coast reveals a toxicology report for the pilot killed in the crash returned a positive result for low levels of cocainemetabolites but that it was unlikely to have impaired his psychomotor skills and the exposure was not likely to have occurred in the 24 hours before the accident.[8]
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]
Prime minister Anthony Albanese announces financial support for flood victims in Victoria as Murchison experiences moderate flooding with the Goulburn River peaking at 10.47 metres, with an expected peak of 10.4 metres at Shepparton on 13 January.[34][35]
Transport for NSW confirms a park built above the Sydney's Rozelle Interchange has been closed to the public just three weeks after it opened due to the discovery of asbestos in mulch around a children's playground.[36] The discovery prompts an urgent audit to determine the number of other sites which could be affected.[37]
A legal challenge by a group of Tiwi Islanders in an attempt to stop the construction of the Santos gas pipeline in the Timor Sea is dismissed by Justice Natalie Charlesworth who lifts a temporary injunction allowing Santos to begin construction work.[41]
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]
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 –
Former premier of South Australia Steven Marshall announces his intention to resign from state politics after more than ten years in parliament.[58]
Victoria's worst beach drowning event in twenty years occurs near Forrest Caves on Phillip Island when a total of four people from Melbourne's Indian community drown at an unpatrolled beach.[60][61]
25 January –
The statues of Captain James Cook and Queen Victoria in Melbourne are vandalised on the eve of Australia Day. The statue of Cook is cut down and its plinth defaced with the words "The colony will fall".[62]
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]
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]
Western Australia barrister Varun Ghosh is confirmed as the person who will fill the casual vacancy in the Australian Senate caused by the retirement of Pat Dodson.[71]
The bodies of a mother and son, a 76-year-old woman and a 55-year-old man, are discovered after they were allegedly murdered in the Adelaide suburb of Rosewater. A 43-year-old man is subsequently charged with two counts of murder.[74][75]
A 70-year-old woman dies after being allegedly stabbed in the chest in front of her six-year-old granddaughter during an alleged robbery at a shopping centre in the Ipswich suburb of Redbank Plains.[76] A 16-year-old boy is subsequently charged with murder.[77]
4 February –
51-year-old Samantha Murphy disappears after leaving her home in Ballarat to go for her regular morning run.[78] Her disappearance triggers a widespread search and appeal from police for CCTV or dashcam vision from the day she disappeared.[79]
The body of a 74-year-old man is found in a backyard near Wollongong.[80] The man's 48-year-old son is subsequently arrested and charged with murder.[81]
5 February – Australian writer Yang Hengjun receives a suspended death sentence in Beijing, five years after being charged with spying and imprisoned in China.[82]
7 February – Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce is filmed late at night engaged in a conversation on his phone while lying on his back on a footpath in the Canberra suburb of Braddon.[85][86] Joyce said he had fallen to the ground from a plant box he had been sitting on while talking to his wife on the phone while on his way back to his accommodation.[85][86]
8 February – Labor's Right to Disconnect bill passes the Senate but they are forced into an attempt to introduce additional legislation to reverse an amendment which allows for criminal penalties for employers who breach a Fair Work Commission order to stop contacting workers.[87][88]
10 February – Sitting Liberal MP David Honey loses preselection for the next Australian federal election, being defeated by Sandra Brewer.[90]
12 February –
Liverpool West Public School in Sydney is closed after the New South Wales Environment Protection Authority confirms bonded asbestos has been discovered in garden mulch at the school.[91] Students and staff at the school are subsequently relocated to Gulyangarri Public School for the foreseeable future.[92] Contaminated mulch is also discovered at Campbelltown Hospital, prompting part of the hospital to be closed off to the public.[91]
15 February – Anthony Albanese releases a joint statement with Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau and New Zealand prime minister Christopher Luxon to express their concerns over Israel's plan for a ground offensive in Rafah.[98] The joint statement is issued after Australian foreign minister Penny Wong expresses her own concerns, describing any ground invasion of Rafah as "unjustifiable".[98]
Two groups of approximately 25 foreign nationals are discovered in Beagle Bay, Western Australia after they are believed to have travelled from Indonesia by boat, prompting Australian Border Force officials to travel to the coastal town to question the men.[103] The arrival of the men prompts federal opposition leader Peter Dutton to accuse Anthony Albanese's government of weakening Australia's border protection arrangements.[104] In turn, Albanese accused Dutton of politicising the incident and undermining the country's border protection regime.[104] Another group of foreign nationals are discovered at a remote campsite north of Beagle Bay the following day.[105]
42-year-old mother of five Rebecca Young is allegedly stabbed to death by her husband who then kills himself in an apparent murder-suicide in the Ballarat suburb of Sebastopol.[106][107]
17 February – Sitting Liberal MP Ian Goodenough loses preselection for the next Australian federal election, being defeated by Vince Connelly.[108]
19 February –
Northern Territory Country Liberal MP Joshua Burgoyne is charged by NT Police with careless driving causing serious harm after a two-vehicle accident in Alice Springs on 26 August 2023, and will face court for the first mention of the alleged offence on 4 March 2024.[109]
Asbestos-contaminated mulch is found at another seven locations in Sydney, bringing the total to 41 separate sites.[110]
20 February –
The bodies of a 39-year-old man, his 41-year-old wife and their 7-year-old son are discovered in two separate locations in Sydney.[111] A 49-year-old taekwondo instructor is subsequently charged with murder.[112][113]
Virgin Australia chief executive officer Jayne Hrdlicka announces she is leaving the company but will continue to serve as CEO until a replacement is appointed.[115]
Woolworths chief executive officer Brad Banducci announces his intention to retire in September 2024, with Amanda Bardwell to succeed him in the role.[117][118]
Christopher Saunders, the former Catholic Bishop of Broome, is arrested in Broome by the WA Police Child Abuse Squad and taken into custody.[120] He is subsequently charged with 19 offences dating back to 2008.[120] Saunders' arrest comes after police raided a Broome property on 15 January 2024.[121]
26 February –
Vandals saw through the ankles of a statue of Captain Cook in East Melbourne, toppling it.[122]
The Board of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras withdraws their invitation to the NSW Police Force to march in the 2024 Mardi Gras amid the investigation into the alleged murders of television presenter Jesse Baird and his partner Luke Davies.[123][124] The Australian Federal Police confirm the following day that they have made the decision to also withdraw from marching in the Mardi Gras parade.[125]
27 February –
Two bodies are found at Bungonia, near Goulburn, New South Wales, likely to be those of Jesse Baird and Luke Davies.[126] The bodies are discovered four days after a New South Wales police officer was charged with their murders.[127]
More than 30,000 residents in Victoria receive text messages strongly encouraging them to leave their homes due to extreme bushfire risk.[128]
28 February – An agreement is reached between the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Board and the NSW Police Force, which sees gay and lesbian liaison police officers permitted to march in the annual parade, but without their uniforms or weapons.[133]
1 March – An outage occurs at the national Triple Zero centre which is believed to have contributed to the death of a person who suffered a cardiac arrest after their emergency call was unable to be forwarded to paramedics, prompting Telstra to issue an apology.[136] An investigation concludes the incident was caused by a technical fault, a failure in the backup process and a communication error.[137]
4 March – Simon Kennedy is selected by the Liberal Party to run as their candidate in the 2024 Cook by-election following the resignation of Scott Morrison.[141]
5 March –
A large fire occurs on Jemena's gas pipeline near Bauhinia in Central Queensland which impacts gas supplies to the city of Gladstone.[142]
It is reported in the media that soccer player Sam Kerr was charged with "racially aggravated harassment" of a police officer, which allegedly took place in Twickenham on 30 January 2023. She pleads not guilty to the charge. The case is due for trial in February 2025.[143][144] It is later reported that Kerr is alleged to have called the police officer a "stupid white bastard".[145]
6 March –
Qantas is convicted and fined $250,000 for illegally standing down an employee during the COVID-19 pandemic.[146]
Lance Corporal Jack Fitzgibbon, the son of former Minister for Defence Joel Fitzgibbon, is seriously injured in a parachuting training accident at RAAF Base Richmond.[148] He subsequently dies from his injuries the following day.[148]
Virgin Australia announces plans to become Australia's first airline to allow pets to ride in the cabin on some domestic flights, with the service expected to launch within a year subject to regulatory approval.[150]
11 March – Fifty people are injured aboard LATAM Airlines Flight 800 after the aircraft suddenly dropped altitude after departing Sydney causing passengers and crew to be thrown to the roof in what LATAM Airlines described as a "technical fault".[153][154]
13 March:
Seven people are found alive in Western Australia after a three-day search, after they became stranded in the outback due to widespread flooding caused by a stationary trough.[155] Police had previously stated they had urgent welfare concerns for the family members when they failed to arrive home in the remote community of Tjuntjuntjara, having departed Kalgoorlie-Boulder on 10 March.[155]
A 37-year-old miner is killed while another is critically injured following a rockfall inside the Ballarat Gold Mine in Victoria.[156]
14 March – An Australian woman is one of two foreign tourists killed in Bali when a landslide sweeps away the villa they were staying in.[157]
The 2024 Inala state by-election is held which sees Labor retain the seat. Despite a significant swing against the government being recorded, Labor's candidate Margie Nightingale defeats LNP candidate Trang Yen.[160]
The 2024 Ipswich West state by-election is held which sees Labor lose the seat, with LNP candidate Darren Zanow defeating Labor's Wendy Bourne after a significant swing against the government is recorded.[161]
In an interview with Nigel Farage on GB News, former United States president Donald Trump threatens to oust Australian ambassador Kevin Rudd from his position if he shows any hostility should Trump again become president.[166]
Foreign minister Penny Wong meets her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Canberra for the Australia-China Foreign and Strategic Dialogue.[167] Prior to Wang's meeting with former prime minister Paul Keating the following day, Wong warns that Keating is "entitled to his views" but that "he does not speak for the government nor the country."[168]
21 March – Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi hosts former Australian prime minister Paul Keating at the China consulate in Sydney.[169]
A British national dies after jumping from the Noosa Sound Bridge in Queensland in an apparent accident.[175]
Federal Liberal MP Rowan Ramsey announces he will not be recontesting the next Australian federal election.[176]
26 March –
Violence and unrest breaks out in Alice Springs which leads to Northern Territory chief minister Eva Lawler declaring a state of emergency and the introduction of a two-week curfew for under 18's.[177] There are also calls for federal intervention.[178]
It is revealed a wild magpie which had been visiting a Gold Coast couple and bonding with their English staffy since they rescued it as a chick in 2020 had been "voluntarily surrendered" to DESI who accused the couple of taking the magpie from the wild and keeping it unlawfully.[179] The magpie's seizure draws widespread condemnation with Queensland premier Steven Miles stating that common sense needed to prevail in this instance and that he would support the authorities to work with the couple so they could obtain the appropriate permits.[180][181][182]
Prime minister Anthony Albanese, energy minister Chris Bowen, and industry minister Ed Husic travel to the former Liddell Power Station in the Hunter Valley to announce a $1 billion solar panel program.[185] However, it is later revealed they travelled into the area on two separate private jets which landed at Scone Airport which is met with criticism and accusations of hypocrisy.[186][187] When questioned about the issue, Bowen said the decision was made by the RAAF.[188]
An Australian UNUNIFIL observer is among those injured in an Israeli drone strike while patrolling Lebanon's southern border.[192]
31 March –
Five people are rescued in a major operation after 26 people became stranded by rapidly rising flooding at a campground at East Leichhardt Dam near Mount Isa.[193][194]
A 38-year-old man and a 65-year-old man drown in a hotel pool on the Gold Coast after going to the aid of their two-year-old daughter and granddaughter who had slipped into the pool.[195][196]
2 April – Foreign minister Penny Wong confirms an Australian World Central Kitchen aid worker has been killed in an apparent Israeli air strike in Gaza.[197]
4–6 April – Intense torrential rainfall affects parts of New South Wales and Queensland, with the Greater Sydney region, the Mid North Coast and the Illawarra being among the areas worst affected.[204] More than 150 flood rescues are carried out, and two bodies are found in floodwaters in Brisbane and Sydney respectively.[205][206][207] The Warragamba Dam spills over with authorities also expecting the Woronora Dam, Cataract Dam and Nepean Dam to overflow.[208]
9 April –
A 21-year-old man appears in the Magistrates Court in Ballarat, Victoria charged with the murder of his 23-year-old ex-partner Hannah McGuire whose body was found in a burnt out car in Scarsdale on 5 April.[209] McGuire's death is the third such death in the Ballarat area allegedly caused by a male perpetrator following the alleged murders of Rebecca Young and Samantha Murphy, which sparks a national conversation about the prevention of violence against women, and the organisation of a snap rally to protest against men's violence.[210][211][212][213]
The Tasmania Civil and Administrative Tribunal finds the Museum of Old and New Art in Hobart had engaged in direct discrimination after refusing a man entry into the "Ladies Lounge" exhibit during his visit in April 2023.[219] The museum is ordered to stop refusing entry to people who do not identify as "ladies" within 28 days.[219]
13 April –
Six people are killed in a mass stabbing at Westfield Bondi Junction shopping centre in Sydney.[220][221] The offender is shot dead by police inspector Amy Scott who is praised for her actions.[222][223][224]John Singleton's daughter Dawn and Kerry Good's daughter Ashlee are among the victims who were fatally stabbed. A security officer who was working at the centre is also stabbed to death.[225][226]
The 2024 Cook by-election is held, which is easily won by Liberal candidate Simon Kennedy who achieves 62.61% of the first preference vote, defeating his nearest rival Greens candidate Martin Moore who attracts 16.68% of the first preference vote.[227][228]
Australia's e-safety commissioner Julie Inman Grant orders X and Meta to remove footage of the stabbing of Mar Mari Emmanuel.[234] The order is met with resistance from Elon Musk and prompts a protracted debate about free speech, with Musk refusing to delete the videos although it had blocked the content in Australia.[235][236] A two-day injunction to compel X to hide posts that include the footage of the attack was later extended to 10 May 2024.[237]
Outgoing Woolworths Group CEO Brad Banducci is threatened with jail time after failing to answer a question put to him by Greens senator Nick McKim during a Senate inquiry into supermarket pricing.[238]
17 April – New research released by The Australia Institute finds that red imported fire ants will likely cost Australians more than $22 billion by the 2040s if eradications efforts are unsuccessful.[240]
22 April –
28-year-old Molly Ticehurst is found dead at a property in Forbes, New South Wales.[241] A 28-year-old man is subsequently charged with her alleged murder.[241]
23 April – 49-year-old Emma Bates is found dead at a property in Cobram, Victoria.[243] A 39-year-old man is subsequently charged with her alleged murder.[243]
30-year-old Erica Hay is found dead in a fire-damaged property in Perth.[248] A 35-year-old man is subsequently charged with her alleged murder.[248]
Weekend rallies against gender-based violence commence being held across Australia organised by advocacy group What Were You Wearing, as part of a nationwide campaign to end violence against women.[249] Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's appearance at the rally in Canberra on 28 April ends in controversy when his claims that his requests to speak at the rally had been declined were described by organiser Sarah Williams as a "full out lie" who then breaks down in tears.[250][251]
29 April – A 10-year-old girl is allegedly stabbed to death by her 17-year-old sister in Boolaroo, New South Wales.[252] The older sibling is subsequently arrested and charged with murder.[252]
30 April –
Its reported in the media that in 2020, Australia removed Indian spies from the country.[253][254][255]
Australian airline Bonza enters voluntary administration after having its fleet of aircraft repossessed by creditors prompting the sudden cancellation of all flights.[256][257]
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]
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]
Police in Indonesia intercept a boat at Kupang, suspecting it was being used by people smugglers allegedly attempting to transport six Chinese men to Australia.[280]
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]
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]
Federal agricultural minister Murray Watt announces that Western Australia's live sheep export trade will end from 1 May 2028.[293] While the RSPCA welcomes the move, the announcement is condemned by Nationals leader David Littleproud, Western Australian opposition leader Shane Love, National Farmers' Federation CEO Tony Maher and WA Livestock president Geoff Pearson.[293][294] Western Australian premier Roger Cook also criticises the support package announced for farmers to transition away from live exports.[295]
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]
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 –
David McBride is sentenced to five years and eight months jail after pleading guilty to stealing and sharing classified military documents, which were then used by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation for the program The Afghan Files, to broadcast allegations of Australian soldiers being involved in illegal killings.[299]
The Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal dismisses an appeal against Hobart City Council's decision to remove a statue of Tasmanian premier William Crowther.[301] However before the decision was delivered, vandals had cut the statue down and sprayed graffiti on the plinth.[302]
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]
DFAT confirms it is providing consular assistance to an Australian who was injured in a shooting in Afghanistan.[311]
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]
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]
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]
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 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]
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]
34-year-old Benjamin Nunns is found guilty of murdering 38-year-old Charles Compton in Warwick, Queensland on 5 April 2020.[350] Nunns is subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment with a non-parole period of 20 years.[351]
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 –
Jarryd Hayne is released from prison after his 2023 sexual assault convictions were quashed on appeal in the New South Wales Court of Criminal Appeal.[358] It is later confirmed by the Officer of the Director of Public Prosecutions that Hayne will not face a fourth trial.[359]
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]
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 –
Bird flu (H7N9) spreads to a seventh Australian poultry farm.[368]
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]
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 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 –
Following an eight-day trial, a jury finds 20-year-old Keith Kerinauia guilty of murdering BWS liquor store employee Declan Laverty in Darwin in March 2023.[380]
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 –
A woman is found dead at her home in Casino, New South Wales.[400] A 31-year-old man is subsequently charged with murder.[400] An investigation is also launched into why it took police officers almost an hour to attend the scene.[400]
A fire breaks out at the Grosvenor underground coal mine near Moranbah, Queensland when methane gas ignites on the longwall coalface.[401] All workers are safely evacuated but the fire continues to burn with smoke affecting the town's residents as Queensland Mines Rescue units attempt to extinguish the fire, with people warned to stay indoors.[401]
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 Laborcaucus 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]
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]
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]
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]
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]
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]
Two Russian-born Australian citizens are arrested in Brisbane.[435] The 40-year-old Australian Defence Force private and her 62-year-old husband are charged with one count each of preparing an espionage offence.[435]
John Setka resigns as secretary of the Victorian branch of the CFMEU, citing pressure from "relentless" media coverage.[437] Setka's resignation came just before Nine newspapers published serious allegations of corruption within the CFMEU.[438] Federal workplace relations minister Tony Burke indicates he sought advice on how to respond to the allegations.[439]
The bodies of a man and a woman are discovered in Melbourne's Maribyrnong River but Victoria Police don't believe the deaths are linked.[444] While police believe the woman's death to be suspicious and is being investigated by the Homicide Squad, the man's death is believed to be non-suspicious.[445] Despite the bodies being found within 90 minutes of each other approximately 1.7 kilometres apart, police say there is nothing to link the two deaths.[445]
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]
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 –
French police confirm they are investigating allegations that a 25-year-old Australian woman was allegedly gang raped by five men in Paris in the early hours of 20 July.[467]
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]
A former coal miner becomes the first Australian to win a black lung disease case at trial and is awarded $3.2 million in damages after being diagnosed with pneumoconiosis in 2018, having worked in coal mines in New South Wales and Queensland.[476]
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese reshuffles his cabinet due to the impending retirements of Linda Burney and Brendan O'Connor, which sees senator Malarndirri McCarthy succeed Burney as the minister for Indigenous affairs while Andrew Giles is moved to the skills and training portfolio.[478]Clare O'Neil also moves to the housing portfolio.[478]
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]
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]
Northern Territory police commissioner Michael Murphy uses a speech at the Garma Festival to publicly apologise to "Aboriginal Territorians for the past harms and the injustices caused by members of the Northern Territory police."[497]
A 40-year-old Newcastle man falls into the Annan River near Cooktown, Queensland while walking along the riverbank and fails to resurface.[498] Human remains are later found in a crocodile which had been euthanased by wildlife officers.[498]
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 –
Prime minister Anthony Albanese confirms the ambassador of Iran to Australia Ahmad Sadeghi had received a diplomatic rebuke from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade for comments he had made on social media where he called for a "wiping out" of Israelis in Palestine and referring to Israelis as a "zionist plague".[500]
The water temperature around the Great Barrier Reef is reported to have reached a 400-year record high, which is causing more mass bleaching events.[503]
QantasLink announces it will cut a total of 51 jobs at its maintenance facility in the New South Wales city of Tamworth, as it ends heavy maintenance operations due to the phasing out of Q200 and Q300 aircraft which are being replaced by additional and Q400 aircraft.[504] The announcement angers federal member for New England Barnaby Joyce.[505]
The Department of Industry, Science and Resources is charged in the ACT Magistrates Court with one count of breaching work, health and safety laws after an alleged incident in July 2022 involving a 9-year-old child who allegedly received burns when their hands caught fire upon touching a plasma globe in a Questacon gallery after using alcohol-based hand sanitiser, with the matter scheduled to be mentioned on 12 September.[506]
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]
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]
After having been elected in the 2024 Tasmanian state election in March, Bass MP Rebekah Pentland and Braddon MP Miriam Beswick are removed from the Jacqui Lambie Network with the party accusing the two MPs of having a "cosy relationship" with Jeremy Rockliff's Liberal government.[522] The two MPs will remain in parliament as independents.[522]
A second earthquake occurs near Muswellbrook in the Hunter Valley, with a magnitude of 4.5.[523]
The Albanese Government confirms it has dumped a proposal to including a question about gender identity and sexuality in the 2026 Australian census which draws criticism from the LGBTIQ+ community, lobby groups and politicians.[531]
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]
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]
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]
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]
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]
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]
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 –
Federal defence minister Richard Marles strips the distinguished service medals of up to nine commanding officers who served in the War in Afghanistan, implementing the final recommendation of the Brereton Report which found "credible evidence" Australian soldiers had unlawfully killed 39 people.[583]
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 –
The Mining and Energy Union and five union officials are fined a total of $657,105 after having been found to have breached the Fair Work Act 190 times after targeting strikebreakers during a 2017 industrial dispute at Oakey Creek North coal mine with conduct "designed to intimidate".[592][593] The MEU was further ordered to pay $10,000 to a worker who was targeted.[593] Among the five union officials to be fined was the MEU's current national vice-president Stephen Smyth who receives an $85,680 fine.[592]
At a senate inquiry into antisemitism on university campuses, the University of Sydney's vice-chancellor Mark Scott issues an apology to Jewish students and staff after reading testimonials detailing their experiences during the eight-week Students for Palestine protest, stating "I have failed them and the university has failed them."[594]
Queensland's new sexual consent laws come into effect with the state moving to an affirmative consent model, while stealthing becomes criminalised.[596]
The ACCC launches legal action against Woolworths and Coles, alleging they breached consumer law by deriving revenue with "illusionary" discounts on hundreds of products.[597]
25 September – Dick Caine dies from cancer before he can be sentenced for his sexual assault conviction.[599]
27 September –
Public figures from the Department of Health and Aged Care show that cases of mpox in Australia have increased by 570% since July 2024, and show that there were 616 new cases of mpox recorded in Australia, bringing the total amount of confirmed cases to 724.[600]
The Victorian Government confirms former premier Dan Andrews will be immortalised with a bronze statue, having become the fifth Victorian premier to serve over 3000 days in office, joining John Cain, Rupert Hamer, Henry Bolte and Albert Dunstan.[601]
After people gathered at several Shiite Muslim mosques in Sydney to commemorate the death of leader of terrorist group HezbollahHassan Nasrallah, prime minister Anthony Albanese declares that nobody in Australia should be mourning Nasrallah's death while opposition leader Peter Dutton calls for memorial services for him to be cancelled.[602]
Federal police commissioner Reece Kershaw warns that action would be taken if Hezbollah or Hamas flags were displayed at national pro-Palestinian rallies on 6 October - the eve of the first anniversary of the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel.[602]
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]
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]
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]
36-year-old Adam John Charles Evans is sentenced in the Brisbane Supreme Court to 18 years in jail and is automatically declared a serious violent offender for killing a 61-year-old man Kym Mitchell in November 2018.[619] Evans was originally charged with Mitchell's murder but pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter in 2021.[619] He also pleaded guilty to four counts of rape.[619]
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]
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]
Canberra Liberals leader Elizabeth Lee apologises after being caught on camera giving the finger to local journalist Ian Bushnell following the leaders debate.[634] During the campaign Lee and Bushnell have had a number of tense exchanges, and by Lee's own admission they share a "history" but concedes it was "unprofessional" and "poor behaviour".[634]
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]
The 2024 Pittwater state by-election is held in New South Wales which is won by independent Jacqui Scruby, who defeats the Liberal candidate Georgia Ryburn to succeed former MP Rory Amon who resigned after being charged with child sex offences.[644]
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]
The 2024 Victorian local elections are held.[652] No actual voting occurs on this day as the election is conducted via postal ballot throughout October.[653] However, vote counting commences with the results announced by 15 November.[653]
A scandal begins to envelope prime minister Anthony Albanese when journalist Joe Aston claims in his book The Chairman's Lounge: The inside story of how Qantas sold us out that Albanese sought upgrades for himself and his family on Qantas flights by directly contacting Alan Joyce.[654][655][656][657] Albanese denies the accusations, refuting the claims that he had ever contacted anyone at Qantas seeking upgrades and maintains there was always transparency around any perceived flight perks he may have received.[658][659][660]
Two light aircraft collide southwest of Sydney, killing all three people aboard both planes.[661]
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 –
A car crashes through a fence into the Auburn South Primary School in Melbourne, killing an 11-year-old boy and injuring four other children who were sitting on a bench.[666]
It's confirmed six student have been expelled and an additional 21 students suspended following an incident the previous week which involved the "serious humiliation" of a student at the St Paul's residential college at the University of Sydney.[667]
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]
A Federal Court judge rules that One Nation leader Pauline Hanson racially discriminated against Greens deputy leader Mehreen Faruqi when Hanson told Faruiqi to "piss off back to Pakistan" on X after Faruiqi had described Queen Elizabeth II in a post as "a leader of a racist empire" following her death in 2022.[671] The judge orders Hanson to delete the tweet and to pay Faruqui's legal costs.[671] Hanson vows to appeal the judgement.[671]
Co-deputy leader of the Victorian GreensSam Hibbins resigns from the party to sit as an independent after being suspended from the party room following his admission to breaching party rules by having a relationship with a staff member.[672]
Amid the ongoing flight upgrade scandal, Coalition frontbencher Bridget McKenzie concedes she was wrong to initially be so "emphatic" in her denial of never having received any free flight upgrades.[673]
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 –
The High Court of Australia strikes down an emergency law requiring migrants with criminal records to wear tracking bracelets and observe a curfew, saying that only judges can impose such punishments.[676]
Shadow transport minister Bridget McKenzie apologises after admitting to failing to disclose 16 free flight upgrades between 2015 and 2024.[678]
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]
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]
The Albanese Government reveals it plans to mandate that businesses be required to accept cashpayments 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 heckled 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]
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]
The United Workers Union confirms more than 1,500 of its members employed at four Woolworths distribution centres in Victoria and New South Wales are stopping work indefinitely as they demand the company negotiate improved workplace agreements regarding safer conditions and better pay.[707]
22 November – The family of a second 19-year-old Australian woman confirms she has died following the mass methanol poisoning event in Laos.[708]
24 November – The government withdraws a bill that would have allowed the Australian Communications and Media Authority to impose a code of conduct or standards for social media companies amid criticism over its effects on free speech.[709]
25 November – The Queensland Supreme Court revokes a special carer's licence which was granted to a Gold Coast couple in April 2024 so they could continue caring for a magpie named Molly, a bird which gained worldwide fame for its friendship with the couple's dog Peggy but which was seized by DESI officers in March 2024 following complaints by local wildlife carers.[710]
27 November – 34-year-old New South Wales police officer Kristian White is found guilty by a jury of the manslaughter of 95-year-old Clare Nowland at the Yallambee Lodge aged care facility in Cooma, New South Wales on 17 May 2023, whom he tasered causing her to sustain injuries which she died from a week later.[711]
29 November –
Former childcare worker, paedophile Ashley Paul Griffin is sentenced in the Brisbane District Court to life imprisonment after pleading guilty to more than 300 charges relating to the rape and sexual abuse of 69 children at early learning centres in Queensland and in Italy.[712]
Federal parliament passes a law banning people under 16 years of age from holding social media accounts.[713]
Following a lengthy legal battle, police officer Ben Besant wins the right to have a suppression order and finally be named as the officer who killed Man Haron Monis in the Lindt Cafe siege, just weeks before the 10th anniversary of the siege is commemorated.[714]
It emerges that Australian Venue Co had informed its local managers that Australia Day would not be acknowledged at any of its venues in 2025 reasoning that because the day causes sadness and hurt for some of their patrons, the day should not be celebrated.[715] After the decision prompts widespread debate, the company apologises, conceding that it wasn't for them to "tell anyone whether or how to celebrate Australia Day" and that their purpose was to reinforce community not to divide it.[716]
Authorities announce the seizure of 2.3 tons of cocaine valued at AUD760 million ($494,000) from a boat that broke down off the coast of Queensland as part of a smuggling operation blamed on the Comanchero Motorcycle Club.[717]
The University of Canberra's interim vice-chancellor Stephen Parker resigns from the role, citing lost confidence in the university council.[719] Parker becomes the third vice-chancellor to leave the role in less than a year following the departure of Paddy Nixon in December 2023 which was following by Lucy Johnston's tenure as interim vice-chancellor being cut short in September 2024.[719] Deputy vice-chancellor Michelle Lincoln will perform the role until the university's new vice-chancellor Bill Shorten commences in February 2024.[719]
3 December – The Commonwealth Bank announces it intends to charge its customers a $3 fee to withdraw their own money at bank branches and post offices from January 2025 by migrating them from a "Complete Access" account to a "Smart Access" account.[720] Following widespread criticism, the bank announces the following day that they will "pause" its plans to charge the fee to its customers for six months and will contact affected customers to discuss their options.[721]
4 December –
After being found guilty of assaulting a pregnant South Australian police officer in the Adelaide CBD in 2021, 41-year-old Raina Cruise, an Informed Medical Options Party senate candidate in the 2022 Australian federal election is sentenced to three years and eight months in jail with a non-parole period of two years, but which was suspended in favour of Cruise being placed on a three-year good behaviour bond.[722] The sentence is criticised by both sides of politics and prompts South Australia's Director of Public Prosecutions to launch an appeal on the grounds the sentence was "manifestly inadequate."[723]
A 58-year-old Perth grandmother is sentenced in a Japanese court to six years jail for importing two kilograms of methamphetamine into the country in January 2023.[724] The woman who has always maintained her innocence alleged she was tricked into carrying a suitcase at Narita Airport in Tokyo which had drugs concealed inside.[724]
5 December –
A 14-year-old boy is sentenced in the Queensland Children's Court to six years in youth detention to be released after serving 60% of his sentence, after he caused a three-car collision near the Queensland city of Maryborough while driving a stolen car on 30 April 2024, killing a 52-year-old woman, a 29-year-old woman and a 17-year old girl.[725] The length of the sentence is criticised by the families of the victims.[725]
Victoria Police confirm that they are increasing patrols around some Melbourne schools in the wake of four separate attempted abduction attempts involving men driving white vans trying to lure children into their vehicles.[726]
7 December – The United Workers Union confirms Woolworths warehouse workers at four distribution centres will return to work after accepting a deal offered by the company which promises to increase wages and not to discipline employees for their speed of work.[728] The 17-day strike had disrupted the supply chain resulting in stock shortages at Woolworths Supermarkets, particularly in Victoria which prompts an apology to customers from company CEO Amanda Bardwell.[729][730]
9 December – Queensland health minister Tim Nicholls confirms an investigation has been launched after 323 live virus samples went missing in a major breach of biosecurity protocol at Virology Laboratory in 2021 in which vials of Hendra virus, lyssavirus and hantavirus went missing after a freezer broke down.[731]
A 14-year-old Australian boy is allegedly stabbed to death by a schoolmate near Pattaya in Thailand.[733]
11 December –
In what authorities describe as an "antisemitic attack", multiple properties and vehicles in the Sydney suburb of Woollahra are vandalised with anti-Israel graffiti.[734]
After a three-day trial in the Brisbane District Court, a jury finds pilot Leslie Ronald Woodall guilty of dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing death and grievous bodily harm after the plane he was piloting crash landed on a beach at Bustard Head during a flight between Agnes Water and Middle Island in January 2017, killing one of his passengers, a 29-year-old British tourist while also injuring a 21 year-old Irish woman and a 13-year-old boy.[735] Woodall was subsequently sentenced to a wholly suspended two-year jail term.[736]
Victorian stone fruit grower Cutri Fruit Pty Ltd is fined $750,000 after pleading guilty in the Mildura County Court to failing to ensure persons other than employees were not exposed to health and safety risks following the death of a 70-year-old labour hire worker from Afghanistan in January 2022.[740]
In what is believed to be the largest mass exhumation in Australian history, archaeologists finish unearthing and attempting to identify almost 2,000 bodies which were discovered under an old hockey field at The Hutchins School in Hobart during building works.[745] The human remains are transferred to new coffins and will be re-buried at Cornelian Bay Cemetery in early 2025.[746]
16 December –
Victoria's longest serving treasurer Tim Pallas announces he is resigning from the position and leaving politics.[747]
47-year-old Dinush Kurera is sentenced to 37 years' jail for the murder of his estranged wife in the Melbourne suburb of Sandhurst on 3 December 2022.[750]
20 December –
The Victorian Liberal Party votes on a motion calling for Moira Deeming to be re-admitted to the party after winning her defamation case against leader John Pesutto.[751] Deadlocked at 14-14, the vote fails to reach the absolute majority of 16 votes for it to be successful.[751]
Former Uniting Church childcare manager Yolanda Borucki is found not guilty of computer hacking, with the charge being dismissed by magistrate Kerrie O'Callaghan who said the prosecution had failed to prove essential element of the allegation beyond a reasonable doubt.[752] Borucki's home was raided by police in August 2023 and was charged just days appearing on A Current Affair to detail allegations against former childcare worker Ashley Paul Griffith and to also claim that Queensland police and the childcare centre had rejected allegations against Griffith when she helped report him to authorities in 2021.[753]
The third cricket test between Pakistan and Australia commences at the Sydney Cricket Ground with Pakistan winning the toss and electing the bat.[757] It's David Warner's final test, and also the 16th time the January test at the SCG has been dubbed "The Pink Test".[758][759]
6 January – Australia win the third cricket test against Pakistan by eight wickets, winning the series 3-0.[760]
Australia defeat the West Indies by ten wickets on the third day of the first test at the Adelaide Oval, with Travis Head named as the player of the match.[768]
4 February – Australia defeat the West Indies by 83 runs at the SCG, in the second One Day International of the three-match series.[779]
6 February – Australia defeat the West Indies by eight wickets in the third and final One Day International at Canberra's Manuka Oval after what becomes Australia's fastest ODI run chase in history, reaching a target of 87 in just 6.5 overs and winning the series 3-0.[780]
7 February – The South Africa women's cricket team defeat Australia by 84 runs (DLS) at North Sydney Oval in the second of three WODIs.[781]
Former Australian rugby union player Kurtley Beale is acquitted of sexually assaulting a woman at a pub in Sydney in December 2022 when a jury finds Beale not guilty of one count of sexual intercourse without consent and two counts of sexual touching.[783]
The Australia women's national cricket team defeat South Africa at North Sydney Oval in the third and final WODI by 110 runs (DLS), claiming a series win 2-1.[785]
Australia beat the West Indies by 34 runs at the Adelaide Oval in the second of three Twenty20 Internationals, during which Glenn Maxwell scores the fastest T20 International century in Australia.[789]
Olympic equestrian Shane Rose is stood down from competition by Equestrian Australia while it conducts a review after receiving complaints after Rose wore a mankini during the Wallaby Hill Extravaganza in Robertson on 11 February.[798] Equestrian Australia subsequently clears Rose of any wrongdoing, finding that he did not breach the code of conduct.[799]
20 February – The Australian cricket team win the first match of the T20I series in New Zealand, with Tim David hitting a boundary off the last ball of the game to secure victory against New Zealand.[801]
4 March – Matildas captain Sam Kerr pleads not guilty in Kingston upon Thames Crown Court after being charged on 21 January 2024 with racially aggravated harassment of a police officer following an alleged incident on 30 January 2023.[809] Kerr is due to face trial at Wimbledon Magistrates Court on 1 February 2025.[809]
North Melbourne coach Alistair Clarkson is fined $20,000 and issued with a suspended two-match ban after allegedly using a homophobic slur while addressing players Jimmy Webster and Dougal Howard during a pre-season match on 3 March.[812]
In what is described as an "all time thriller", the Carlton Blues beat the Brisbane Lions by just 1 point in a 46-point comeback in their Opening Round match at The Gabba.[813]
14 March – South Sydney Rabbitohs player Latrell Mitchell swears multiple times in a live post-match interview with Triple M's Ben Dobbin.[817] The incident prompts several rugby league commentators and former players to criticise Mitchell with some also accusing the NRL failing to sanction Mitchell for his conduct.[818][819][820][821] The controversy also prompts complaints from Nine Entertainment and the Rabbitohs about Dobbin's interview being filmed and shared to social media despite Triple M having audio-only rights at NRL games.[822]
22 March – A 22-year-old man is arrested and charged with entering an oval during a scheduled event and banned from the Adelaide Oval at least for three years after allegedly invading the pitch during the AFL match between the Adelaide Crows and the Geelong Cats.[829] The man's alleged behaviour is widely condemned.[830][831]
28 March – Former AFL player Eddie Betts posts CCTV vision from his home on social media appearing to show his children being racially abused by a passing motorist as they played basketball in their backyard.[839] The alleged actions of the driver attracts widespread condemnation, with Victoria Police confirming they were investigating the incident.[840][841][842]
30 March – Tim Tszyu is defeated by Sebastian Fundora in Las Vegas losing his WBC super welterweight belt, in his first defeat in 25 fights.[b][843]
1 April – The Stawell Gift is held, despite being delayed more than two hours due to storms in western Victoria.The men's final is won by Jack Lacey while the women's final is won by Chloe Mannix-Power.[845]
11 April – The Sydney Roosters allow Michael Jennings to lead them out onto the field in Newcastle to mark his 300th game, after the NRL decides not to celebrate the milestone with the usual fanfare due to Jennings' past conduct.[852][853]
24 April – Racehorse trainer Darren Weir is cleared by the Victorian Racing Tribunal of allegations he used a jigger on horses with the intention of corrupting the outcome of the 2018 Melbourne Cup.[857]
Rugby league journalist Paul Kent is arrested and charged with affray after an alleged incident at a restaurant in Sydney, with Fox Sports and News Corp earlier issuing a statement on 28 April revealing Kent had been stood down from his duties pending an investigation into the incident.[862][863] Kent was replaced on Fox Sport's NRL 360 by James Graham.[862] It had been reported on 30 April that Kent was being treated in hospital with a suspected collapsed lung and approximately five broken ribs.[864]
Football Australia issues a Western Sydney Wanderers fan with a two-year ban effectively immediately after they were captured during a television broadcast performing the Nazi salute after an A-League game at Sydney Football Stadium.[871] New South Wales Police also confirm they are continuing to investigate the incident but are yet to make any arrests.[871]
15 May – In a surprising backflip, David Fifita announces he has decided against joining the Sydney Roosters, instead deciding to re-sign with the Gold Coast Titans.[867]
16 May –
Former Olympic basketballer and Australian Basketball Hall of Fame inductee Danny Morseu is found guilty of one count of bodily harm after punching a woman in the head eight times, and is sentenced to 18 months in prison, suspended after four months.[875]
1 June – The West Coast Eagles' live mascot "Auzzie the Eagle" escapes after doing its traditional pre-match flight of Perth Stadium prior to the game against St Kilda, and flies to various parts of the stadium before it is eventually recaptured.[881]
14 June – Following the Brisbane Lions Round 13 win over the Western Bulldogs on 7 June, The Age columnist Kate Halfpenny writes an opinion piece questioning whether it was appropriate for Lions player Lachie Neale to give Channel 7 commentator and former AFLW player Abbey Holmes a kiss on the cheek at the end of the post-match interview.[891] The article generates much public discussion, and is criticised by Holmes who said she is frustrated that her professionalism has been questioned.[892]
26 June - New South Wales defeat Queensland 38-18 in the second game of the 2024 State of Origin series at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, forcing the series to a decider in the third game at Suncorp Stadium. New South Wales set a record for the number of points scored in the first half of a State of Origin game with 34 unanswered points.[894] The attendance of 90,084[895] is the highest recorded crowd for a State of Origin game since Game 2 of 2015, which was also played at the MCG.
13 July – Max Purcell and Jordan Thompson are defeated by Harri Heliövaara and Henry Patten in the men's doubles final at the 2024 Wimbledon Championships.[903]
18 July – Volleyball Australia issues an apology to players who were based at the Australian Institute of Sport between 1997 and 2005 for having experienced an "environment of fear" which included physical and psychological abuse.[906]
20 July – The final two races at Eagle Farm Racecourse are called off when jockeys begin a boycott and refuse to continue riding at the venue due to safety concerns relating to the construction of a new apartment complex near the home turn.[907][908]
23 July – Two Australian water polo players scheduled to compete in the Paris Olympics test positive to COVID-19.[910]
24 July –
Amid growing security concerns and following the alleged gang-rape of an Australian woman and the alleged assault of two broadcast technicians, Australian chef de mission Anna Meares encourages Australian athletes in Paris for the 2024 Summer Olympics to consider not wearing their team uniforms outside the Olympic Village for their own safety.[911]
Jess Fox and Eddie Ockenden are announced as Australian flag bearers for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.[912]
25 July – In their opening group game at the Paris Olympics, the Matildas are defeated by Germany 3-0.[913][c]
The Australian Olympic Committee confirms an Australian hockey player is in custody after being arrested by police in Paris, after they allegedly attempted to purchase cocaine.[930] The player is identified as Tom Craig who is released without charge, but delivers a statement to the media during in which he apologises and admits he made a "terrible mistake" which he takes "full responsibility for", accepting that he has "embarrassed" his family, teammates, friends, his sport and the Australian Olympic team.[931]
8 August – NRL player Jake Granville officially announces he has left the North Queensland Cowboys following a season-ending pectoral injury but will explore opportunities overseas in 2025 to continue playing rugby league.[936]
9 August – 36-year-old university lecturer Rachael Gunn becomes Australia's first Olympic breakdancing competitor.[937] However, her routine fails to impress the judges and is eliminated in the round robin stages.[938] Her routine becomes the subject of worldwide ridicule and trolling which Australian chef de mission Anna Meares describes as "really disappointing."[939][940]
3 September – James Turner wins gold in the men's 400 metre T36 athletics event at Paris Paralympics.[952]
4 September –
Yang Qian wins gold in the women's singles WS10 table tennis event at Paris Paralympics.[953]
Alexa Leary wins gold in the women's 100 metre freestyle S9 swimming event at Paris Paralympics.[953]
5 September –
Lauren Parker wins gold in the women's road race H1-4 cycling event at the Paris Paralympics.[954]
Timothy Hodge wins gold in the men's 200 metre individual medley swimming event at the Paris Paralympics.[954]
Vanessa Low wins gold in the women's long jump T63 event at the Paris Paralympics and sets a new world record.[954]
6 September –
Benjamin Hance wins gold in the men's 100 metre backstroke S14 swimming event at the Paris Paralympics, breaking the world record.[955]
Callum Simpson wins gold in the men's 100 metre freestyle S8 swimming event at the Paris Paralympics.[955]
Swimming Australia coach Michael Palfrey is sacked due to a breach of his employment agreement after publicly supporting South Korean swimmer Kim Woo-min in the lead up to the Paris Olympics.[956]
7 September –
James Turner wins gold in the men's 100 metre T36 athletics event at the Paris Paralympics.[957]
Curtis McGrath wins gold in the men's KL2 paracanoeing event at the Paris Paralympics.[957]
Lauren Parker and James Turner carry the Australian flag at the 2024 Summer Paralympics closing ceremony with Australia finishing the Games with the lowest medal ranking in 36 years.[959]
13 September – England defeat Australia by 3 wickets at Sophia Gardens in the second game of the T20I series in England.[961]
14 September – At the semi-final between the Brisbane Lions and GWS Giants at Sydney Olympic Park, cultural educator Brendan Kerin makes comments during the Welcome to Country in which he states: "A Welcome to Country is not a ceremony we've invented to cater for white people. It's a ceremony we've been doing for 250,000 years-plus BC - and the BC stands for Before Cook."[962] The comments ignite a public debate about the relevance such ceremonies at sporting events.[963][964][965][966]
15 September – The third match of the T20I series between England and Australia which was scheduled to be played at Old Trafford is abandoned due to rain, with the series ending in a draw.[967]
Completing a clean sweep of the series, Australia defeats New Zealand by five wickets in the third and final match of the Women's T20I series at Allan Border Field in Brisbane.[974]
Kevin Walters is sacked as the head coach of the Brisbane Broncos following a disappointing season in which the team finished in 12th spot on the ladder.[976]
PETA calls on the Western Bulldogs to retire its live bulldog mascots and urges them to change its name to the Western Mutts to encourage fans to adopt from local dog shelters.[978] The push is criticised by multiple AFL identities including Kane Cornes, David King and Doug Hawkins while Animal Justice Party MP Georgie Purcell describes the campaign as not being the "right approach", stating: "there's other ways that we can address this in a more meaningful way that actually does something for the protection of brachy breeds and animal welfare in Victoria."[979][980][981]
27 September – England defeat Australia by 186 runs at Lord's Cricket Ground in the fourth match of the ODI series.[982]
29 September – Australia defeat England by 49 runs (DLS) at the Bristol County Ground in the fifth and final match of the ODI series in which Cooper Connolly makes his One Day International debut.[984] Australia win the series 3-2.[984]
11 October – Essendon confirm they were contacted by the AFL's integrity department after a convicted killer who was sentenced in 2018 to five years jail for fatally shooting a 20-year-old man in 2016 was permitted access to the Essendon changerooms following a match against Collingwood on 5 July 2024.[989][990]
AusCycling confirms Matthew Richadson will never be allowed to compete for Australia again after defecting to Great Britain.[1003] However, Richardson avoids a two-year ban from competition after a review finds that he asked Union Cycliste Internationale to delay disclosing his decision to defect until after he had competed for Australia at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.[1003]
5 December – 87-year-old former competitive swimmer Dawn Fraser undergoes emergency surgery on her hip in a Sunshine Coast hospital after being admitted to the intensive care unit after receiving multiple serious injuries in a fall at her daughter's home.[1005]
15 December – The Melbourne Storm announce that they will no longer hold Welcome to Country ceremonies prior to their home games, with the exception of the NRL's Indigenous round.[1007]
16 December – Fox Sports cricket commentator Isa Guha publicly apologises for having described Indian bowler Jasprit Bumrah as the "Most Va
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