The following lists events that happened during 2009 in Australia.
Incumbents
Monarch – Elizabeth II Governor-General – Quentin Bryce Prime Minister – Kevin Rudd Deputy Prime Minister – Julia Gillard Opposition Leader – Malcolm Turnbull (until 1 December), then Tony Abbott Chief Justice – Robert French
State and territory leaders Premier of New South Wales – Nathan Rees (until 4 December), then Kristina Keneally Opposition Leader – Barry O'Farrell Premier of Queensland – Anna Bligh Opposition Leader – Lawrence Springborg (until 2 April), then John-Paul Langbroek Premier of South Australia – Mike Rann Opposition Leader – Martin Hamilton-Smith (until 8 July), then Isobel Redmond Premier of Tasmania – David Bartlett Opposition Leader – Will Hodgman Premier of Victoria – John Brumby Opposition Leader – Ted Baillieu Premier of Western Australia – Colin Barnett Opposition Leader – Eric Ripper Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory – Jon Stanhope Opposition Leader – Zed Seselja Chief Minister of the Northern Territory – Paul Henderson Opposition Leader – Terry Mills Chief Minister of Norfolk Island – Andre Nobbs
Governors and administrators Governor of New South Wales – Marie Bashir Governor of Queensland – Penelope Wensley Governor of South Australia – Kevin Scarce Governor of Tasmania – Peter Underwood Governor of Victoria – David de Kretser Governor of Western Australia – Ken Michael Administrator of the Australian Indian Ocean Territories – Brian Lacy (from 5 October) Administrator of Norfolk Island – Owen Walsh Administrator of the Northern Territory – Tom Pauling
Events
Whole year Year of the Blood Donor.Year of the Blood Donor 2009, Australian Red Cross.
January 2 to 8 January – Violence strikes the Housing NSW estate in Rosemeadow. The estate is due to be demolished.Demolition ordered for Rosemeadow estate , The Sydney Morning Herald, 8 January 2009. 4 January – Torrential downpours in north western Queensland cause flooding in Cloncurry and Mount Isa.Floods cut off north-west Qld towns , The Sydney Morning Herald, 4 January 2009. 16 January – Trooper Mark Donaldson is awarded the Victoria Cross for Australia for actions in Oruzgan province during Operation Slipper, the Australian contribution to the War in Afghanistan. 28 to 31 January – Southeastern Australia swelters in a 1 in 100-year heatwave. 29 January – Victoria Police arrest a Melbourne man for murder, after he allegedly throws his four-year-old daughter off the West Gate Bridge.Father to front court in May over Melbourne bridge tragedy , Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 30 January 2009.
February 3 February – Justice Virginia Bell is sworn in as a puisne judge of the High Court of Australia, replacing Justice Michael Kirby who retired the previous day., ABC News, 3 February 2009. 3 February – Prime Minister Kevin Rudd unveils a second economic stimulus package to the value of A$42 billion.Rudd's $42 billion 'nation building' plan, Canberra Times, 3 February 2009 4 February – Heavy rain causes major flooding at Ingham in north Queensland.Flood damage in Ingham 'horrendous' , Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 4 February 2009. 7 February – Bushfires in Victoria kill 173 people in what are not only the nation's worst ever bushfires, surpassing the record set by Ash Wednesday in 1983. Also the nation's worst peacetime disaster since Cyclone Mahina in 1899.Australia bushfires kill 14, more feared dead, Michael Perry, Reuters, 8 February 2009Victorian bushfires kill 181, Victorian Police, 11 February 2009 13 February – The Federal Government's $42 billion economic stimulus package is passed in the Senate, paving the way for promised cash bonuses for workers around the country. 22 February – Australia observes a National Day of Mourning in remembrance of the 209 (later revised downwards to 173) people who perished in the Victorian bushfires. 25 February – Pacific Brands announces it is ceasing manufacturing operations in Australia, at a cost of 1,850 jobs.Pacific Brands axes 1850 jobs , Australian Associated Press via The Sydney Morning Herald, 25 February 2009
March 4 March – Cyclone Hamish, the first category 5 cyclone since Cyclone George in 2007, develops in the Coral Sea and moves southwards along the Queensland coast causing extensive damage to the Great Barrier Reef but does not make landfall. It eventually dissipates on 14 March.Central Queensland braces as Cyclone Hamish looms as 30-year storm , The Australian, 8 March 2009 Australia's economy slumps 0.5 per cent, its first quarter of negative growth in 8 years. 11 March – The cargo ship MV Pacific Adventurer leaks about 230,000 litres of fuel oil along 60 km of southern Queensland's coast after battling a cyclone.Pacific Adventurer oil spill 10 times worse , couriermail.com.au, 14 March 2009 14 March – The Victorian bushfires are officially declared contained.It's over: Victorian fires contained , www.news.com.au, 14 March 2009 20 March – Marcus Einfeld (former Superior Court judge) is sentenced to 3 years in jail for perjury relative to a speeding ticket..)] 20 March – Emirates Flight 407 was taking off from Melbourne Airport for a flight to Dubai and failed to become airborne in the normal distance. When the aircraft was approaching the end of the runway, the crew commanded nose-up sharply causing the tail to scrape along the runway as it became airborne. 21 March – A Sydney film crew claims to be 100% certain of the finding of Sir Charles Kingsford Smith's plane Lady Southern Cross in the Bay of Bengal.ir Charles Kingsford Smith's final resting place found, says film crew , www.news.com.au, 21 March 2009 21 March – Anna Bligh claims victory in the Queensland state election and becomes the country's first elected female Premier.Anna Bligh claims victory in Queensland election , www.news.com.au, 22 March 2009. 22 March – A member of the Hells Angels is killed in a clash between the Hell's Angels and Comanchero motorcycle gangs in the terminal at Sydney Airport. 31 March – Torrential rain around the mid-north New South Wales coast leaves thousands stranded and forces people from over 100 properties to evacuate in the Coffs Harbour area.Floods leave thousands stranded, www.news.com.au, 1 April 2009.
April 7 April – The Australian government announces that it has terminated the request for proposal for the National Broadband Network, and that the network will be built as a public private partnership.Australia to build broadband network , Reuters, 6 April 2009. 16 April – An explosion on a boat carrying Afghan asylum seekers kills 5 and injures 34 off the coast of Western Australia.Asylum-seekers 'dead, missing' in explosion on way to Christmas Island , www.news.com.au, 16 April 2009. 16 April – Two adults and a child are killed when a V/Line bus rolls in Heathmere, Victoria.Three crushed to death as V/Line bus overturns in Heathmere, Victoria , www.news.com.au, 16 April 2009.
May
9 May – The first case of swine flu in Australia is confirmed in Queensland.First case of Human Swine Influenza detected in Australia, Department of Health and Ageing, 9 May 2009. 11 May – The Australian Broadcasting Corporation television program Four Corners presents a report titled "Code of Silence" about alleged sexual misconduct by rugby league players, leading to a public debate on professional sportsman and group sex. 12 May – Treasurer Wayne Swan hands down the 2009 Australian federal budget.Australia prepares for Budget 09 , news.com.au, 12 May 2009. 16 May – A plebiscite on daylight saving in Western Australia following a three-year trial fails on a No vote of 54.56%. On the same day, a by-election in the Western Australian state seat of Fremantle produces a victory for Greens WA candidate Adele Carles. 21– 22 May – Following 48 hours of torrential rain, Brisbane and other parts of South East Queensland and the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales are affected by major flooding, said to be the worst since the Brisbane River broke its bank in the 1974 Brisbane flood.
June 3 June – Australia avoids a recession after the Australian Bureau of Statistics reveals the economy for the March quarter grew by a 0.4 per cent from the final quarter of 2008. 4 June – Joel Fitzgibbon resigns as Minister for Defence after admitting to a breach of the Ministerial Code of Conduct.Rodgers, Emma: Fitzgibbon resigns as Defence Minister , Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 4 June 2009. 15 June – Des Moran, a member of Melbourne's notorious Moran family and brother of Lewis Moran, is shot dead in Ascot Vale.Des Moran shot dead in Melbourne's Ascot Vale , The Age, 15 June 2009. 19 June – Australia's first swine flu-related fatality occurs when a 26-year-old West Australian man dies in Adelaide.Pepper, Daile: WA man dies from swine flu , The Sydney Morning Herald, 19 June 2009.
July 5 July – An Australian mining executive for the Rio Tinto Group, Stern Hu, is detained in Shanghai, China facing accusations of stealing state secrets.Daley, Gemma: Rio's Stern Hu May Face Life in Chinese Jail, Australian Says, Bloomberg L.P., 23 July 2009. 14 July – The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts, Peter Garrett, announced that the Australian Government had approved the development of the Four Mile uranium mine in South Australia. 18 July – Five members of the Lin family are murdered in their North Epping home. A relative, Robert Xie, is arrested in 2011, and found guilty of the murders in 2017 after numerous retrials. 25 July – 108-year-old Perth man Claude Choules, who moved to Australia from Britain in 1926, becomes his birth nation's last known surviving World War I veteran on the death of 111-year-old Harry Patch in Somerset, England. Mr Choules, who was born in Worcestershire, England, joined the Royal Navy as a seaman in 1916.
August 4 August – Over 400 police and intelligence officers conduct a series of dawn raids in Melbourne, arresting members of an alleged Islamic terrorist cell who are suspected of plotting a suicide attack on Holsworthy Barracks in Sydney.Arrests in Vic counter-terrorism raids, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 4 August 2009. 11 August – Nine Australians, including seven from Victoria and two from Queensland, are killed when their plane crashes into the side of a cliff face on their way to Kokoda, Papua New Guinea., Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 13 August 2009. 14 August – Paul Henderson's Labor government in the Northern Territory survives a motion of no-confidence following the resignation of Alison Anderson, after receiving support from independent politician Gerry Wood.Calacouras, Nick: Henderson holds on, Northern Territory News, 14 August 2009. 30 August – Victorian MP Tim Holding goes missing while on a solo hike on Mount Feathertop. Searchers find him alive and well two days later on 1 September.Holding found alive on Mt Feathertop , Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 1 September 2009. 31 August– New South Wales Minister for Health and Australian Labor Party leader in the Legislative Council, John Della Bosca, resigned his Ministerial and leadership positions following public revelation of an extra-marital affair.
September 23 September – Major dust storms hit Eastern Australia.Sydney breathes again as dust covers Brisbane , Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 23 September 2009.
October 9 October – The world's largest tensegrity bridge, the Kurilpa Bridge is opened in Brisbane 15 October – A six-month-old baby survives when his pram rolls off the platform at Ashburton railway station, Melbourne and is struck by the approaching train.Baby survives after being run over by train , BBC News, 16 October 2009.