The following lists events that happened during 1995 in Australia.
Incumbents
Monarch – Elizabeth II Governor General – Bill Hayden Prime Minister – Paul Keating Deputy Prime Minister – Brian Howe (until 20 June), then Kim Beazley Opposition Leader – Alexander Downer (until 30 January), then John Howard Chief Justice – Sir Anthony Mason (until 20 April), then Sir Gerard Brennan
State and territory leaders Premier of New South Wales – John Fahey (until 4 April), then Bob Carr Opposition Leader – Bob Carr (until 4 April), then Peter Collins Premier of Queensland – Wayne Goss Opposition Leader – Rob Borbidge Premier of South Australia – Dean Brown Opposition Leader – Mike Rann Premier of Tasmania – Ray Groom Opposition Leader – Michael Field Premier of Victoria – Jeff Kennett Opposition Leader – John Brumby Premier of Western Australia – Richard Court Opposition Leader – Jim McGinty Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory – Rosemary Follett (until 2 March), then Kate Carnell Opposition Leader – Kate Carnell (until 2 March), then Rosemary Follett Chief Minister of the Northern Territory – Marshall Perron (until 26 May), then Shane Stone Opposition Leader – Brian Ede Head of Government of Norfolk Island – Michael King
Governors and administrators Governor of New South Wales – Peter Sinclair Governor of Queensland – Leneen Forde Governor of South Australia – Roma Mitchell Governor of Tasmania – Phillip Bennett (until 2 October), then Guy Green Governor of Victoria – Richard McGarvie Governor of Western Australia – Michael Jeffery Administrator of the Australian Indian Ocean Territories – Danny Gillespie Administrator of Norfolk Island – Alan Kerr Administrator of the Northern Territory – Austin Asche
Events January 4 January – Chief justice of the Family Court of Australia, Alastair Nicholson calls for the law to recognise homosexual couples and their children as a family unit, stating that it was "unhelpful to attempt to set limits to what a family can be." 15 January – Eight members of the same family are killed in a fire at a housing commission complex in the Sydney suburb of Liverpool. Following an inquest at Glebe Coroner's Court the following year, the fire was determined to have been deliberately lit by "a person or persons unknown." 23 January – The Tasmanian Conservation Foundation commences court proceedings to overturn 2 of the 11 woodchip licenses issued by the Federal Government. 30 January – John Howard becomes federal Liberal Party leader and thus federal leader of the opposition after the resignation of Alexander Downer.
February 2 February – Tasmanian Premier Ray Groom defies Prime Minister Paul Keating's moratorium on logging in 72 Tasmanian coupes. 3 February – A 4-day blockade of Parliament House, Canberra by 300 trucks and 2,500 timber workers and supporters ends as Prime Minister Paul Keating partially backs down on his 27 January decision to freeze logging in 509 old-growth coupes. 8 February – It's announced Brian Johns is to be the new managing director of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 13 February – 2,000-strong rally at Sydney Airport causes disruption. 16 February – Media magnate Kerry Packer appears on A Current Affair on his own Nine Network to attack cross-media ownership, and speaks of John Howard as prime minister material. Federal Opposition Leader John Howard promises to woo "the battlers", traditional Labor voters hurt by Labor's policies, and "demonstrate that our policies are not antagonistic to them". 17 February – Prime Minister Paul Keating attacks John Howard as a "political blancmange" and a "political chameleon". 18 February – Elections in the Australian Capital Territory replace the minority Australian Labor Party government of Rosemary Follett and elect a minority Liberal Party government of Kate Carnell. 26 February – Former Liberal Party leader John Hewson announces his resignation from federal parliament.
March 10 March – Ian McLachlan resigns his shadow portfolio of Environment for having misled Parliament over the opening of secret Aboriginal women's documents relating to the proposed construction of a bridge to Hindmarsh Island, South Australia. The New South Wales Government announces seven new parks and reserves, adding 6,000 hectares to the New South Wales National Parks estate. 18 March – The campaign to save Tasmania's Tarkine wilderness achieves success a week after the arrest of Australian Conservation Foundation executive director Tricia Caswell for trespass when Australian Heritage Commission chair Wendy McCarthy announces its interim listing for May. 25 March – Bob Carr leads the Labor Party to victory in the New South Wales state election, deposing the Liberal/National coalition government of John Fahey that had been in power since 1988. Labor scraped in with a 2.2% swing and 50 of the 99 seats. Liberal candidate Brendan Smyth wins the 1995 Canberra by-election with a 16% swing, a formerly safe Labor seat occupied by Ros Kelly.
April 4 April – New South Wales Premier Bob Carr assumes the Arts and Ethnic Affairs portfolio and Deputy Premier Andrew Refshauge assumes Health and Aboriginal Affairs. Peter Collins replaces John Fahey as New South Wales Liberal leader. Ron Phillips beats incumbent Kerry Chikarovski as Deputy Leader by 19-10. 8 April – The 1995 Wentworth by-election is held, triggered by the resignation of former Liberal leader John Hewson. The by-election is won by Liberal candidate Andrew Thomson but with no Labor candidate, Greens candidate Murray Matson attracts a record 27% of first preference votes, polling ahead of Bill Wentworth - a former Liberal member for Mackellar who runs as an independent candidate. 11 April – The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting is held. The assembled Premiers and territory leaders endorse a program of reforms envisaged by Professor Fred Hilmer's National Competition Policy Review. 24 April - The $5 note replaced the original polymer note after the pale colour was similar to the $10 note and purple is the banknote's new colour. 28 April – Rob O'Regan retires after 3 years at the helm of the Criminal Justice Commission (CJC) in Queensland, critical of poor standards of conduct among many politicians.
May May – The Australian Grand Prix is moved from Adelaide to Melbourne after the Premier of Victoria spends what is reported to be quite a large amount on securing the rights to the race from 1996 onwards. Protests ensue about what many saw as the turning of public parkland into a private racetrack. 9 May – The Federal Budget is delivered. The Budget's enormous turnaround in projected revenue, from a deficit of $12.9 billion to a small surplus, is received with scepticism by many commentators. 30 May – Dorothy Davis disappears. Believed murdered, her remains had not been located , when the man convicted of her murder dies.
June June–July – Qantas is privatised. 7 June – Prime Minister Paul Keating announces to Parliament that Australia would have a referendum on the republic with a head of state elected by Parliament by a majority of at least two-thirds. 8 June – The Tasmanian Labor Party and unions reach a historic agreement to overturn the Groom industrial relations regime if Labor wins office. 20 June – The Federal Labor Caucus selects Kim Beazley to replace Brian Howe who unexpectedly stepped down as deputy leader. 29 June – Australian Democrats leader Cheryl Kernot launches the Democrats' "Keeping the Senate Strong" campaign, attacking the "anarchical" Greens. 30 June – Minister for Administrative Services Frank Walker announces that both the Aboriginal flag and the Torres Strait Islander flag have been proclaimed as official flags of Australia.
July 1 July – Telecom Australia changes its domestic trading name to Telstra. 15 July – The 1995 Queensland state election produces a hung Parliament, with Labor holding a one-seat majority over the Liberal/National coalition, as well as suffering a 7% swing and the loss of 9 seats. 17 July – The West Australian Government's Royal Commission into former West Australian Premier Carmen Lawrence's role in the Easton affair opens in Perth, Western Australia, an inquiry earlier labelled by Prime Minister Paul Keating as a "flagrant abuse of the judicial system". 25 July – The count in Mundingburra is complete following the Queensland state election. Labor wins by 16 votes with the party claiming a one-seat victory (45 seats), the Nationals winning 29 seats, the Liberals winning 14 seats and 1 independent also winning a seat.
August 2 August – A combined Queensland Opposition Coalition frontbench is announced, with Joan Sheldon as Deputy Leader and Shadow Treasurer. 4 August – Federal Opposition Leader John Howard expels Noel Crichton-Browne from the Federal Liberal party room. 7 August – A second West Australian Federal MP, Allan Rocher leaves the Liberal Party to sit as an Independent, following the bitter power struggle in the West Australian branch. 16 August – New South Wales Premier Bob Carr concedes that his pre-election promise to lift the tolls on the M4 and M5 tollways in western Sydney would be abandoned as being impossibly expensive. 25 August – Labor's National Executive bans ALP members from associating with the right-wing Australian League of Rights. When maverick Kalgoorlie MP Graeme Campbell persists in his association and espousal of anti-immigration views embarrassing to the party, his pre-selection is later revoked causing him to resign. 31 August – The cast bronze statue of the dog Larry La Trobe situated on the northern end of Melbourne's City Square is stolen. 1 to 31 August – Sydney's official Observatory Hill weather station records its driest and only rainless month since records began in 1859.Australian Bureau of Meteorology; Climate statistics for Australian locations: SYDNEY (OBSERVATORY HILL) At the close of the month the city had gone 46 days without measurable rain, twelve more than the previous record from 1970 and 1975.Australian Bureau of Meteorology; Monthly Weather Review New South Wales (August 1995)
September 8 September – Noel Crichton-Browne is expelled from the Liberal Party. 13 September – The Queensland Government abandons the controversial Eastern Tollway to link Brisbane with the Gold Coast, having lost 4 seats in the affected area.
October 11 October – John Fahey is selected as Liberal candidate for the marginal seat of Macarthur. 19 October – South Australian Democrat and former leader Senator John Coulter resigns due to ill health, warning Cheryl Kernot that the party risked losing votes by becoming too mainstream. Coulter is replaced by former student activist and party worker Natasha Stott Despoja who is sworn in on November 30. 20 October – Brenda Hodge, the last person to be sentenced to death in Australia before the full abolition of capital punishment, is paroled from prison after serving eleven years of a life sentence. 24 October – Anna Wood, a 15-year-old schoolgirl from Sydney, dies after taking ecstasy at a rave. Her death sparks a media firestorm and a national debate over the use of illicit drugs.
November November – The rabbit calicivirus disease (RCD) escapes from an island testing station in South Australia & quickly spreads into Victoria and New South Wales.It is estimated that the feral rabbit population would be permanently reduced by 60%. 1 November – Federal Opposition Leader John Howard attempts to mend relations with the Asian community, telling Chinese business people in Melbourne how he values their commercial networks. 3 November- After a six-month trial, David Harold Eastman is convicted by a jury of the assassination of Australian Federal Police Assistant Commissioner Colin Winchester. He is sentenced to life imprisonment and can only be released by approval of the ACT parliament, Federal Parliament and the Governor-General.