The following lists events that happened during 1996 in Australia.
Incumbents
Monarch – Elizabeth II Governor-General – Bill Hayden (until 16 February), then Sir William Deane Prime Minister – Paul Keating (until 11 March), then John Howard Deputy Prime Minister – Kim Beazley (until 11 March), then Tim Fischer Opposition Leader – John Howard (until 11 March), then Kim Beazley Chief Justice – Sir Gerard Brennan
State and territory leaders Premier of New South Wales – Bob Carr Opposition Leader – Peter Collins Premier of Queensland – Wayne Goss (until 19 February), then Rob Borbidge Opposition Leader – Rob Borbidge (until 19 February), then Peter Beattie Premier of South Australia – Dean Brown (until 28 November), then John Olsen Opposition Leader – Mike Rann Premier of Tasmania – Ray Groom (until 18 March), then Tony Rundle Opposition Leader – Michael Field Premier of Victoria – Jeff Kennett Opposition Leader – John Brumby Premier of Western Australia – Richard Court Opposition Leader – Jim McGinty (until 15 October), then Geoff Gallop Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory – Kate Carnell Opposition Leader – Rosemary Follett (until 5 March), then Andrew Whitecross Chief Minister of the Northern Territory – Shane Stone Opposition Leader – Brian Ede (until 9 April), then Maggie Hickey Head of Government of Norfolk Island – Michael King
Governors and administrators Governor of New South Wales – Peter Sinclair (until 1 March), then Gordon Samuels Governor of Queensland – Leneen Forde Governor of South Australia – Roma Mitchell (until 21 July), then Eric Neal Governor of Tasmania – Guy Green Governor of Victoria – Richard McGarvie Governor of Western Australia – Michael Jeffery Administrator of the Australian Indian Ocean Territories – Danny Gillespie (until 30 June) Administrator of Norfolk Island – Alan Kerr Administrator of the Northern Territory – Austin Asche
Events January 15 January – New South Wales Police Commissioner Tony Lauer announces his resignation.
February 3 February – Liberal Frank Tanti wins the 1996 Mundingburra state by-election causing Labor to lose its Parliamentary majority in Queensland. 5 February – New South Wales Royal Commissioner Justice James Roland Wood's interim report concludes that the police service's internal security, ICAC and the Ombudsman's Office are all incapable of dealing with police corruption. 8 February – Queensland Premier Wayne Goss declares the Labor leadership open, but is re-elected unopposed. 19 February – Rob Borbidge becomes Premier of Queensland and Joan Sheldon becomes Deputy Premier after Independent MP Liz Cunningham declares her support for the Coalition. Peter Beattie becomes Labor leader, with Jim Elder as deputy. 24 February – A state election is held in Tasmania. The Liberal Party government of Ray Groom is re-elected; however, Groom's promise to only govern in a majority saw him resign. A swing of 12% against the Liberal Party saw them reduced to 16 seats with Labor gaining 14 and the Greens 4, with Bruce Goodluck as an Independent.
March 2 March – A federal election is held. The Liberal/National coalition defeats the Labor government of Paul Keating with a landslide two-party preferred vote of 53.9% and a 45-seat majority, one of the biggest wins since World War II. 4 March – Prime Minister John Howard outlines his reform agenda, declaring he has been given an emphatic and unambiguous mandate for the partial sale of Telstra and industrial relations changes. 8 March – Prime Minister John Howard announces cuts to the ministry (from 31 to 28) and dismisses six departmental heads. 11 March – John Howard is sworn in as Australia's 25th Prime Minister. Howard also restores the Queen to the oath of allegiance and the Australian flag to his official car. 12 March – Federal Treasurer Peter Costello declares that the "days of sloth and waste are over" and pledges to cut $8 billion from the budget over the next two years. 15 March – Malaysian Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir Mohamad agrees to visit Australia for the first time in a decade. Unable to head a minority Government, Tasmanian Premier Ray Groom resigns the Liberal leadership. 18 March – Prime Minister John Howard announces that he will move his family into Kirribilli House in Sydney, becoming the first Prime Minister since Sir William McMahon not to live at The Lodge. A paedophile inquiry, forming part of the Wood Royal Commission into police corruption, begins in New South Wales. Tasmanian Treasurer Tony Rundle beats Roger Groom and Michael Hodgman to become Tasmanian Liberal Leader and Premier, with Sue Knowles as deputy. 27 March – Indonesian President Suharto invites John Howard to visit Jakarta. 29 March – Prime Minister John Howard and Foreign Minister Alexander Downer meet Malaysian Prime Minister Dr.Mahathir Mohamad, who stops briefly in Brisbane on his way to New Zealand. 30 March – A state election is held in Victoria The Liberal/National coalition government of Jeff Kennett is re-elected for a second term with a massive 59 to 29 majority over Labor, but suffers a 2.8% swing and loses 2 seats. With 45% of the vote in the Legislative Council, Labor is reduced to 10 of the 44 seats.
April 4 April – The Wiggles' sixth album, Wake up Jeff is released. 8 April – Nine people die in a fire at a home for the intellectually disabled in Melbourne, Victoria. 28 April – Port Arthur massacre: Martin Bryant kills 35 people and injures 21 in a shooting spree at the Port Arthur historic site in Tasmania. Bryant is captured the next day after an 18½ hour standoff with the Special Operations Group of the Tasmania Police. Federal Attorney-General Daryl Williams says he will press for changes to gun laws. 29 April – Prime Minister John Howard orders an emergency meeting of state police ministers to toughen gun laws and draw up a national plan for firearm registration. The Port Arthur massacre crystallises resolve for a national approach to the issue. 30 April – Prime Minister John Howard imposes a new code of ministerial conduct on his first day in Parliament, forbidding ministers from engaging in any other work, from holding directorships in public companies and from holding shares in companies in the area of their portfolios.
May 3 May – Queensland Premier Rob Borbidge prepares to dump his election pledge of no new taxes and charges, while Queensland Opposition Leader Peter Beattie signals a move by Labor away from economic rationalism towards service delivery. 10 May – Prime Minister John Howard announces new gun control measures, which involve the banning of automatic and semi-automatic weapons, self-loading rifles, shotguns and pump-action shotguns, as well as tightening of other gun laws. A nationwide register will be established, along with requirements for a genuine reason for owning, possessing or using a firearm, minimum standards for storage and mail order sales controls. 15–16 May – Debate takes place in the Tasmanian Parliament on Green-sponsored gay reform legislation. The watered down bill is passed, but then rejected by the Legislative Council 8:6. 24 May – Prime Minister John Howard indicates that he may have to drop some of his election promises because of budget constraints. May – Floods in southern Queensland and northern New South Wales kill five people and cause more than A$55 million in farm losses. 25 May – Former federal member for Page, Harry Woods, wins the 1996 Clarence state by-election from the National Party with a 14% swing, thus giving the New South Wales Government a more comfortable 3-seat majority.
June 11 June – Peter Ryan replaces Tony Lauer as New South Wales Police Commissioner. 12 June – Two Blackhawk Helicopters collide near Townsville, killing 18 people. 16 June – Prime Minister John Howard wears a bullet-proof vest as he confronts an angry crowd of 3,000 in Sale on a tour of rural Australia to listen to the pro-gun lobby, stating that "If I am wrong and you are right then the democratic processes of Australia will vindicate you and condemn me". 26 June – Prime Minister John Howard rejects claims by Noel Pearson that he does not believe in the spirit of the Mabo decision, saying "I have always regarded the Mabo decision itself as being a justified, correct decision".
July 1 July – The Northern Territory legalises voluntary euthanasia. The legislation would be later be repealed by a conscience vote in the federal parliament in 1997. 3 July – Prime Minister John Howard slashes immigration by 10,000 places to 74,000 a year. citing high unemployment. 7 July – The Governor-General, Sir William Deane, warns that unless there are drastic improvements for Aboriginal Australians, reconciliation is doomed until well into the next century. 22 July – Foreign Minister Alexander Downer tells Asian governments that Australia will now fund some development aid projects which were to be axed with the closure of the Development Import Finance Facility (DIFF). 26 July – Road worker Ivan Milat is found guilty of the murder of seven backpackers between December 1989 and April 1992 in the Belango State Forest, south-west of Sydney. Justice David Hunt hands down a sentence of seven life terms, meaning that Milat will spend the rest of his life in prison. Prime Minister John Howard bolsters United States links by upgrading and expanding Pine Gap and increasing joint military exercises. 27 July – HMAS Collins; the first of the Collins Class Submarine, is officially commissioned into service by the Royal Australian Navy. 28 July – Janette Howard, wife of John Howard is admitted to hospital to be operated on for a serious medical condition. Howard cancels his first overseas trip to Indonesia and Japan as a result.
August 6 August – The Australian Bureau of Statistics conducts the 1996 National Census. 9 August – Federal Education Minister Amanda Vanstone cuts $1.8 billion from higher education funding, as well as a lowering of the HECS repayment threshold from $28,495 to $20,701 and HECS increases of between 35 and 125%. 13 August – The Federal Government announces a $400 million cut to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC). 14 August – Federal Treasurer Peter Costello releases the Statement on the Conduct of Monetary Policy giving the Reserve Bank of Australia independence, thereby ending the need for it to consult with the Government before making interest rate changes. 15 August – The Tasmanian Budget is handed down with big job losses predicted. 19 August – Thousands of protesters, in a breakaway group from a pre-budget rally against the Federal Government's workplace reforms, broke down the doors of Parliament House and caused an estimated $200,000 worth of damage in one of the most violent demonstrations ever seen in Australia. 20 August – Federal Treasurer Peter Costello hands the Government's first budget, which provides relief for families and small business, with cuts to unemployment programmes, the ages, universities, the ABC, the Australia Council, ATSIC and foreign aid. Senator Mal Colston defects from the Labor Party to become and Independent. 28 August – As Australian governor-general, William Deane issued a proclamation that officially established 3 September as Australian National Flag Day.
September 1 September – Senator Richard Alston calls for the full sale of Telstra, drawing a rebuke from Prime Minister John Howard the following day. 6 September – The Wiggles' Wiggly Wiggly Christmas album is released. 10 September – Independent Federal MP Pauline Hanson makes her maiden speech to Parliament, reigniting the race debate, attacking Asian immigration, calling for a tougher line on Aboriginal welfare, as well as the reintroduction of compulsory national service.