2006 in Australia

Infobox Australian year
monarch = Elizabeth II
governor-general = Michael Jeffery
pm =John Howard
population =
australian =
elections =Tas, SA, Qld, Vic"See also:"
2005 in Australia,
other events of 2006,
2007 in Australia

yearbox
in?= in Australia
cp=20th Century
c=21st century
cf=22nd century

yp1=2003
yp2=2004
yp3=2005
year=2006
ya1=2007
ya2=2008
ya3=2009
dp3=1970s
dp2=1980s
dp1=1990s
d=2000s
da=0
dn1=2010s
dn2=2020s
dn3=2030s

Incumbents

*Monarch – Queen Elizabeth II
*Governor-General – Michael Jeffery
*Prime Minister – John Howard

Premiers and Chief Ministers

*Premier of New South Wales – Morris Iemma
*Premier of South Australia – Mike Rann
*Premier of Queensland – Peter Beattie
*Premier of Tasmania – Paul Lennon
*Premier of Western Australia – Geoff Gallop (until January 16), then Alan Carpenter
*Premier of Victoria – Steve Bracks
*Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory – Jon Stanhope
*Chief Minister of the Northern Territory – Clare Martin
*Chief Minister of Norfolk Island - Geoffrey Robert Gardner (until 1 June), then David Ernest Buffett

Governors and Administrators

*Governor of New South Wales – Marie Bashir, Lady Shehadie
*Governor of South Australia – Marjorie Jackson-Nelson
*Governor of Queensland – Quentin Bryce
*Governor of Tasmania – William Cox
*Governor of Western Australia – Ken Michael
*Governor of Victoria – John Landy (until April 7), then David de Kretser
*Administrator of the Northern Territory – Ted Egan
*Administrator of Norfolk Island - Grant Tambling

Events

January

*January 1 - Bushfires grip parts of the Central Coast and the Riverina in New South Wales and the Wimmera in Victoria after one of the hottest New Years Days on record.
*January 2 - A skydiving plane crash near Willowbank in Queensland claims five lives.
*January 9 - Communities in the Pilbara region of Western Australia are evacuated due to Tropical Cyclone Clare.
*January 10 - Six Australians die when a bus flips over in Egypt.
*January 16 - Premier of Western Australia Geoff Gallop resigns, sighting clinical depression as the reason.
*January 22-January 29 - Bushfires affect several towns in Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia & Tasmania. Three volunteer firefighters are killed.
*January 24 - Alan Carpenter replaces Gallop as Premier of Western Australia

February

*February 18 - Six teenagers are killed and another is injured in a hit and run accident in Cardross, Victoria, near Mildura.

March

*March 18 - South Australia & Tasmania vote in parliamentary state elections. Both ALP governments are re-elected.
*March 20 - Tropical Cyclone Larry strikes Innisfail & Cairns in Far North Queensland. Despite hundreds of millions of dollars in damage, no-one is killed.
*March 23 - Microsoft releases the Xbox 360 games console in Australia.
*March 27 - The controversial WorkChoices industrial relations reforms come into effect.

April

*April 7 - John Landy retires as Governor of Victoria, and is succeeded by David de Kretser.
*April 18 - More than 19 AFP officers are injured as the capital of the Solomon Islands, Honiara, erupts into rioting. In response to this, the Prime Minister of Australia orders an Army deployment of 220 troops.
*April 21 - Private Jacob Kovco becomes the first casualty of Australia's involvement in the Iraq campaign. The reason given initially was that his gun had accidentally discharged while cleaning his gun, although this was later retracted. It was later stated that he had accidentally shot himself while skylarking with his pistol.
*April 25 - A small earthquake causes a rock fall in a gold mine in Beaconsfield, Tasmania. Eleven miners come out, but three are left inside. One of them is found dead on April 28. The other two are freed on May 9.
*April 26 - The body of Bosnian civilian contractor Juso Sinanovic is taken to Australia instead of the body of Private Kovco. Private Kovco's body later arrived in Australia on April 29.

May

*May 16 - Bill Stefaniak topples Brendan Smyth as leader of the ACT Liberal Party.
*May 25 - Australian troops are redeployed to East Timor after fresh outbreaks of violence.

June

*June 2 - The AU$1.4 billion sale of the Myer department store chain to Newbridge Capital & the Myer family is completed.

July

*July 9 - Revelations are published in News Limited newspapers that, in 1994, John Howard made a secret deal with Peter Costello to hand over the leadership of the Liberal Party to him after having served two terms in office as Prime Minister.
*July 29 - In the face of a worsening water supply crisis, a referendum is held in Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia's second largest inland city, on the issue of using water recycled from the city's sewerage as a source of drinking water. The acrimonious campaign and emotional debate were watched closely nation wide as most other Australian cities raise water restrictions in the face of record low dam and river levels.

August

*August 8 - 2006 census night.
*August 18 - US private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. launches a $16 billion takeover bid for Coles Group. KKR later withdraw their offer.

September

*September 4 - Steve Irwin dies in a marine accident off Queensland's coast.
*September 8 - Peter Brock is killed in a smash when his rally car skids off a bend and hits a tree.
*September 9 - Peter Beattie is re-elected Queensland premier at an early state election.
*September 26 - Seven people are killed in a horror road smash outside the Victoria town of Donald.

October

*After some of the hottest October days on record, bushfires ravage parts of New South Wales, Victoria & Tasmania.
*October 18 - Linda Lavarch resigns as Queensland's Attorney-General to seek treatment for depression, after it is revealed she refused a deal to return Jayant Patel (dubbed "Dr Death" by the media) to Australia to face criminal charges.
*October 20 - Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation company buys a 7.5% stake in its main competitor, John Fairfax Holdings (publisher of "The Sydney Morning Herald", "The Age" and the "Australian Financial Review").
*October 25 - New South Wales Police minister Carl Scully is sacked after it is shown that he had misled parliament on two occasions about the 2005 Cronulla riots.
*October 25 - Comments that Sheikh Taj El-Din Hilaly made about women who dressed immodestly being responsible for rape are made public in "The Australian". The Sheik is forced to retract such comments on October 26.

November

*November 11 - Belinda Emmett, a TV personality and wife of Rove McManus, dies, after a battle with breast cancer
*November 22 - Sydney is covered in smoke after raging fires in the Blue Mountains.
*November 25 - Steve Bracks is re-elected Victorian premier at the state election.
*November 29 - One SAS soldier & the helicopter captain are dead & eight more rescued when a Blackhawk helicopter hits the deck of the HMAS "Kanimbla" and crashes into waters off the coast of Fiji.

December

*December 4 - Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard successfully challenge Kim Beazley and Jenny Macklin in a caucus ballot for leadership and deputy leadership of the Australian Labor Party.
*The Gippsland region of Victoria and Eastern Tasmania come under threat as a result of bushfires.

Non-specific Dates

*Investigation into AWB Limited's role in the Oil-for-Food Programme, sometimes referred to as Wheatgate or Oil for wheat. The official inquiry states that AWB directors did know about the kickback payments as early as 2001 & that government ministers did not know about the kickbacks, although this was not in their brief.

Arts and literature

*June 22 - Roger McDonald wins the Miles Franklin Award for "The Ballad of Desmond Kale".

Film

*"Ten Canoes", the first full-length feature film made entirely in an Australian Aboriginal language, wins a special jury prize at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival.
*"Happy Feet" becomes the country's biggest earning film

Television

*January 1 - Mildura Digital Television, a joint venture between WIN Television Mildura & Prime Television, goes on air in the Mildura area of Victoria as a Network Ten digital-only affiliate.
*January 2 - The Seven and Ten Networks outbid Channel Nine and win the rights to broadcast the AFL from 2007-2011 for a record $780 million.
*January 30 - Channel Nine launches a new logo, dropping the famous dots and replacing it with a stand-alone nine in a blue box.
*February 2006 - "Wheel Of Fortune" returns and starts in 2006. Larry Emdur & Laura Csortan will definitely host "WOF" in a partnership instead of one. On the very first episode in 2006, the car was won! The final edition of the version was screened on July 28.
*February 9 - It is announced that Eddie McGuire will become Channel Nine's new CEO.
*February 13 - Network Ten's motto, "Seriously..." becomes "Seriously Ten" (this was Network Ten's 2001 motto), and has its new look Ten Watermark on the bottom right of the TV screens
*February 20 - Television Sydney formally launches after three months of testing, giving Sydney community television for the first time in almost two years.
*May 21 - Brant Webb & Todd Russell speak to "A Current Affair"'s new host Tracy Grimshaw about their time underground in Beaconsfield in a 2 hour special called "The Great Escape". They are paid a reported $2.6 million by Channel Nine for the right to talk to them.
*June 4 - After 12 years & a record-breaking 510 episodes, the last episode of the Seven Network show "Blue Heelers" goes to air.
*September 14 - "Today Tonight" host Naomi Robson is deported from Indonesia after doing a story on a West Papuan boy called Wa Wa who, supposedly, was going to be eaten by cannibals. This sparks a war of words between Seven & Nine, who ran the original story on Wa Wa in May on "60 Minutes". Naomi presents her final edition of "Today Tonight" on December 1.
*September 16 - Television in Australia turns 50. The next day, this is commemorated with a live TV special from Star City, Sydney on the Seven Network.
*September 29 - "Backyard Blitz" finishes its 6 year run on the Nine Network. Jamie Durie leaves Nine and signs up with the Seven Network, the next year, he dances his way on "Dancing With The Stars".
*September 30 - The Fox Footy Channel ceases broadcasting. It is replaced by Fox Sports 3 & Fox Sports News on October 1.
*October 18 - PBL announces the sale of 50% of the Nine Network, including its 50% stake in ninemsn & ACP to CVC Asia Pacific for $4.5 billion.
*November 26 - Irishman Damien Leith defeats 17 year old Jessica Mauboy to be based only on Sony BMG after being crowned the title of Australian Idol 2006 at the Sydney Opera House.
*November 27 - The last ever episode of " The Glass House" goes to air on ABC TV.

port

*January 1 – The Football Federation of Australia officially becomes a member of the Asian Football Confederation.
*February 2 – First day of the Australian Track & Field Championships for the 2005-2006 season, which are held at the Sydney Olympic Park in Homebush. The relays were conducted at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on February 19, 2006.
*February 16 – Dale Begg-Smith wins Winter Olympic gold in the men's moguls at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin.
*February 23 – Alisa Camplin adds to her gold in Salt Lake City with a bronze in the women's aerials.
*February 28 – Melbourne Tigers defeat Sydney Kings 88-83 in Game 3 of a series sweep in the NBL Grand Final series.
*March 5 – Sydney FC defeats the Central Coast Mariners 1-0 to win the inaugural A-League championship.
*March 5 – Australians Troy Corser and eventual World Champion Troy Bayliss win the two races making up the Australian Superbike Grand Prix at Phillip Island.
*March 15-March 26 – The 2006 Commonwealth Games take place in Melbourne. Australia finishes on top of the medal tally for the fifth consecutive time & wins a record 221 medals-84 gold, 69 silver & 68 bronze.
*March 28 – Queensland defeats Victoria to win the Pura Cup.
*April 2 – Eventual 2006 World Champion, Fernando Alonso takes victory for Renault F1 in the Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park, Melbourne.
*April 30 – St Kilda players & umpires fail to hear the final siren. St Kilda scores behind after siren has gone, resulting in the match being a draw. This is later overturned on an appeal to the AFL commission & Fremantle is awarded the four points.
*May 17 - At Aussie Stadium, Anthony Mundine defeats Danny Green in their long awaited bout.
*June 9-July 9 - The Socceroos participate in the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany for the first time since 1974. They are drawn in Group F along with Brazil, Croatia & Japan. They come second in their group & face off against Italy. They lose to them 1-0 as a result of a controversial penalty awarded in the dying seconds of the match.
*July 2 – Lee Troop wins the men's national marathon title, clocking 2:14:13 in Brisbane, while Jennifer Gillard claims the women's title in 2:41:06.
*July 5 - Queensland defeats New South Wales 16-14 in the dying stages of the match to take out the State of Origin series for the first time since 2002. It is also the first State of Origin match played in Melbourne since 1997.
*September 8 – Peter Brock dies in a smash while driving in the Targa West rally
*September 17 – Marco Melandri wins the 2006 Australian motorcycle Grand Prix held at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit. Australian Chris Vermeulen was second.
*September 30 - In a rematch of the previous year's AFL Grand Final, the West Coast Eagles (12.13.85) defeat the Sydney Swans (12.12.84) to take out the 110th VFL/AFL premiership. It is the first time since 1966 that the Grand Final has been decided by a margin of one point.
*October 1 - The Brisbane Broncos defeat the Melbourne Storm 15-8 to take out the 99th NSWRL/ARL/NRL premiership. It is the first time that the grand final has not involved any teams from New South Wales & the first time since 2000 - the last time the Broncos won - that a non-NSW team has taken out the premiership.
*October 8 – Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup win the V8 Supercars Bathurst 1000 race for Team Betta Electrical, Ford's first win since 1998. They are the inaugral winners of the Peter Brock Trophy.
*October 28 – Fields Of Omagh wins the Cox Plate for the second time.
*October 29 – Mikko Hirvonen, and co-driver Jarmo Lehtinen, driving a Ford Focus win the last Rally Australia to be held in Western Australia after 19 years of the rally.
*November 7 - Delta Blues wins the 2006 Melbourne Cup.
*November 21 - Ian Thorpe announces his retirement from competitive swimming.
*December 18 - Australia wins the Third Ashes Test by 206 runs at the WACA Ground in Perth, Western Australia, claiming The Ashes.
*December 21 - Shane Warne announces that he will retire from cricket after the Fifth Ashes Test. Glenn McGrath announces he will do likewise after the 2007 Cricket World Cup on December 23.

Deaths

*January 1 - Dawn Lake, 78, entertainer and widow of Bobby Limb
*January 3 - Steve Rogers, 51, Cronulla rugby league great
*January 5 - Sophie Heathcote, 33, actress
*January 9 - Andy Caldecott, 41, motorcyclist
*March 9 - Harry Seidler, 82, architect
*March 28 - Pro Hart, 77, artist
*April 24 - Jimmy Sharman jnr, 94, boxing troupe impresario
*May 6 - Grant McLennan, 48, musician
*May 7 - Richard Carleton, 62, journalist
*August 28 - Don Chipp, 81, politician
*September 4 - "The Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin, 44, environmentalist & documentarian
*September 4 - Colin Thiele, 85, author
*September 8 - Peter Brock, 61, motor racing driver
*September 15 - Abe Saffron, 86, notorious Sydney nightclub owner and suspected underworld figure
*October 3 - Peter Norman, 64, athlete
*November 2 - Wally Foreman, 58, sports commentator
*November 11 - Belinda Emmett, 32, actress
*November 27 - Alan "Fluff" Freeman, 79, Australian-born UK radio personality
*December 25 - Sir Robert Cotton, 91, politician