1998 in Australia

1998 in Australia
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Governor-General	William Deane
Prime Minister	John Howard
Population	18,711,271
Elections	Federal, ACT, QLD, NSW

See also:

• 1998 Australian incumbents

Years in Australia:	1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001
Centuries:	19th Century · 20th century · 21st century
Decades:	1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s
Years:	1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001

Incumbents

• Queen of Australia – Elizabeth II
• Governor-General – Sir William Deane
• Prime Minister – John Howard

Premiers and Chief Ministers

• Premier of New South Wales – Bob Carr
• Premier of Queensland – Rob Borbidge (until 20 June), then Peter Beattie
• Premier of South Australia – John Olsen
• Premier of Tasmania – Tony Rundle (until 14 September), then Jim Bacon
• Premier of Victoria – Jeff Kennett
• Premier of Western Australia – Richard Court
• Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory – Kate Carnell
• Chief Minister of the Northern Territory – Shane Stone
• Chief Minister of Norfolk Island – George Charles Smith

Governors and administrators

• Governor of New South Wales – Gordon Samuels
• Governor of Queensland – Peter Arnison
• Governor of South Australia – Sir Eric Neal
• Governor of Tasmania – Sir Guy Green
• Governor of Victoria – Sir James Gobbo
• Governor of Western Australia – Michael Jeffery
• Administrator of the Northern Territory – Neil Conn
• Administrator of Norfolk Island – Tony Messner

Events

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

Film

• 2 May – Fox Studios Australia opens in Sydney on the site of the former Sydney Showgrounds.

Television

• 27 March – Darwin finally gets a second commercial television station when TND-34 opens, taking a Seven Network affiliation.
• WIN Television WA is granted a licence to broadcast to regional & remote Western Australia.
• November – After 25 years, the Midday Show is axed by the Nine Network.
• December – The remote Central & Eastern Australia markets are aggregated, with Imparja taking a Nine Network affiliation & Seven Central (formerly QSTV) taking a joint Seven & Network Ten affiliation.

Sport

Australian Rules Football

• 26 September – The Adelaide Crows (15.15.105) defeat North Melbourne (8.22.70) to win the 102nd VFL/AFL premiership.
• The Brownlow Medal was awarded to Robert Harvey of St Kilda
• The Leigh Matthews Trophy was awarded to Wayne Carey of North Melbourne
• The Coleman Medal was awarded to Tony Lockett of Sydney Swans
• The Norm Smith Medal was awarded to Andrew McLeod of Adelaide Crows
• The AFL Rising Star award was awarded to Byron Pickett of North Melbourne
• The Wooden Spoon was 'awarded' to Brisbane

NSL

• 16 May – South Melbourne become Australian Champions for the third time in their history, beating newly formed Carlton SC in the National Soccer League Grand Final at Olympic Park.

Rugby

• 13 March – The NRL competition kicks off, with the South Sydney Rabbitohs upsetting the Auckland Warriors 24–18 at Ericsson Stadium.
• 15 March – In their first match, the Melbourne Storm upset the Illawarra Steelers 14–12 at WIN Stadium. The Storm go on to have a remarkable debut season, going within one game of the grand final.
• 24 April – The Kangaroos play their first 'full-fledged' international match in four years. The Kiwis spoil the party however, winning 22–16.
• 12 June – Rugby league rocked by drugs scandal. Three Newcastle Knights players test positive, as do one Melbourne player & a Western Suburbs player.
• 23 September – The St. George Dragons & the Illawarra Steelers announce they will form the game's first joint venture team, the St George Illawarra Dragons.
• 27 September – The Brisbane Broncos defeat the Canterbury Bulldogs 38–12 to win the 91st NSWRL/ARL/NRL premiership. It is the first premiership held under the NRL name & the last grand final to be played at the Sydney Football Stadium (now Aussie Stadium). It is also the second consecutive premiership for the Broncos, if you count their 1997 success in Super League
• 1 & 3 December – The Adelaide Rams & the Gold Coast Chargers are eliminated from the NRL competition for 1999.

Cricket

• October – Mark Taylor equals Don Bradman's record of 334 in a test match against Pakistan. However, unlike Bradman, Taylor is not out & declares the innings closed when he reaches that score.
• Shane Warne & Mark Waugh confess to accepting money from an Indian bookmaker when the Australian cricket team was on tour in Pakistan & Sri Lanka in 1994.

FINA

• 8 January to 17 January – The VIII FINA World Championships are held in Perth. Ian Thorpe wins his first gold medal at a major meet in the 400m freestyle. Human growth hormone was found in a Chinese swimmer's bag at Sydney Airport, resulting in her deportation.

Motor Sport

• 8 March - Finnish driver Mika Häkkinen wins a controversial Australian Grand Prix ahead of McLaren team mate Scot David Coulthard after Coulthard moved over and allowed Häkkinen to take the race lead in the closing stages of the race.
• 4 October - Mick Doohan riding a Honda NSR500 won his third and final Australian motorcycle Grand Prix at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit. The win secured Doohan's fifth consecutive World Championship victory.
• 4 October – Jim Richards and Swede Rickard Rydell win the Bathurst 1000 in their TWR prepared Volvo S40, defeating Richards' son Steven Richards and Brit Matt Neal in a Nissan Primera by the smallest competitive margin in the races history. It was Richards' sixth Bathurst victory.
• 8 November - Finnish driver Tommi Mäkinen won his second Rally Australia driving a Mitsubishi Lancer.
• 15 November – Jason Bright and Steven Richards in a Ford Falcon take victory in the Bathurst Classic, the first major victory for Stone Brothers Racing team.

Commonwealth Games

• September – Australia comes home with a record 199 medals, 80 of them gold from the 1998 Commonwealth Games held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Netball

• 7 August – The Adelaide Thunderbirds defeat the Sydney Swifts 48–42 in the Commonwealth Bank Trophy netball grand final

Horse Racing

• 3 November – Jezabeel wins the Melbourne Cup.

Miscellaneous

• February – Zali Steggall wins bronze in the women's slalom at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. It is Australia's first ever individual Winter Olympic medal.
• 13 March – First day of the Australian Track & Field Championships for the 1997–1998 season, which are held at the Olympic Park in Melbourne, Victoria. The 10,000 metres was conducted at the Zatopek Classic, Melbourne on 18 December 1998. The men's decathlon event was staged at the Hobart Grand Prix on 21 – 22 February.
• 12 July – Greg Lyons wins the men's national marathon title, clocking 2:17:00 in Brisbane, while Lisa Dick claims her second women's title in 2:36:54.
• December – Six sailors die in the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race.

Births

• 1 January - Lara Robinson, actress
• 7 May - Jake Fiori - actor
• 24 July – Bindi Irwin – television presenter

Deaths

• 16 January – Alphonse Gangitano, Melbourne gangster
• 28 April – Mum (Shirl) Smith, Aboriginal activist
• 17 July – Marc Hunter, lead singer of the band Dragon
• 2 September – Tommy J. Smith, trainer of thoroughbred racehorses
• 9 October – Ian Johnson, Australian Test cricket captain
• 21 November – Sir Otto Frankel, geneticist