1–10 January –
The Kimberley and northern parts of
Western Australia are severely affected by flooding caused by
ex-Tropical Cyclone Ellie.[4] The
Fitzroy River at
Fitzroy Crossing peaks at a record 15.81 metres on 4 January, with the bridge which carries the
Great Northern Highway across the river damaged beyond repair.[4] Over 200 people evacuated from several communities with authorities declaring it the worst flooding the state has ever seen prompting prime minister
Anthony Albanese and state premier
Mark McGowan to visit the flood affected areas to inspect the damage.[5] The system eventually dissipates on 8 January and the
Australian Defence Force is deployed to the area to help with the recovery efforts.[4][6]
1 January – Residents in
Menindee, New South Wales are warned to prepare for the highest flood levels in fifty years with the
Darling River expected to peak at 10.7 metres.[7]
3 January – A Tasmanian prisoner who absconded from custody while receiving treatment at the
Royal Hobart Hospital just before 11 pm the previous evening is found shot dead at
Granton at approximately 1:30 am.[9] Three men are subsequently charged with his murder and an investigation into how he escaped from custody is launched.[10][11][12]
12–17 January – Heavy rainfall causes widespread flooding across large parts of
North Queensland.[15][16]
12 January –
Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese becomes the first foreign leader to address the
National Parliament of Papua New Guinea.[17] Albanese and Papua New Guinea prime minister
James Marape also sign a joint statement pledging that the two countries will reach a new security deal by the end of April.[18]
18 January – An engine fails on a Qantas twin-jet
Boeing 737 aircraft en route from New Zealand to Australia prompting the pilot of flight QF144 to declare a
mayday before it arrives safely in Sydney.[24]
22 January – Two West Australian women are killed when a boat crashes into a channel marker in the
Mandurah estuary including the mother of
West Coast Eagles player
Rhett Bazzo.[25] The skipper of the boat is later charged with two counts of manslaughter.[26]
24 January – Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visits
Alice Springs amid the town's youth crime crisis but is criticised for only spending four hours in the community.[27][28] Restrictions on the sale of alcohol in Alice Springs are introduced by the Northern Territory government in an attempt to combat the amount of crime.[29] The restrictions are put in place following calls from mayor Matt Paterson for the
Australian Federal Police to be deployed to the town.[30]
25 January – An arrest warrant is issued for pro-Russian
YouTuber Simeon Boikov after failing to appear in court accused of assaulting a 76-year-old man at a pro-Ukraine rally at Sydney Town Hall in December 2022, prompting Boikov to take refuge in the Russian consulate.[31][32]
Victoria coroner Simon McGregor hands down his findings into the
death in custody of Veronica Nelson at the
Dame Phyllis Frost Centre on 2 January 2020 four days after her arrest on suspicious of shoplifting on 30 December 2019.[35] He criticises the state government for failing to implement recommendations from the
Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody and finds the state's bail act discriminatory towards
First Nations people, incompatible with the
Charter of Human Rights and that the changes to the act in 2018 were a "complete, unmitigated disaster".[35]
Thousands of people at the Alice Springs Convention Centre for a "Save Alice Springs" town meeting organised by local business owner Garth Thompson to discuss the crime issues affecting the town.[36] Residents discuss the possibility of launching a $1.5 billion compensation claim against the
Northern Territory Government for negligence.[36] The one-hour meeting ends after just 20 minutes after attendees shouted down Thompson for suggesting
truant school children be reported to police for a welfare check.[36]
3 February – Despite pleading guilty one count of common assault, Australian tennis player
Nick Kyrgios has the charge dismissed by ACT magistrate
Beth Campbell who decides no conviction should be recorded against Kyrgios.[40]
9 February – Former Liberal Minister for Education and Youth
Alan Tudge announces his resignation in parliament, effective from the end of the following week.[43]
12–15 February – At least 21 structures including homes are destroyed in several bushfires burning on Queensland's
Western Downs.[44][45] The separate fires near
Tara,
Miles and
Jandowae burn a combined total of 150,000 hectares of land.[45]
17 February – New South Wales finance minister
Damien Tudehope resigns from state cabinet after it's discovered he failed to disclose he has shares in
Transurban.[47]
26 February – Papua New Guinea prime minister
James Marape announces that
University of Southern Queensland professor Bryce Barker and two of his colleagues have been released from captivity more than a week after they were kidnapped by a criminal gang while doing archaeological fieldwork in Papua New Guinea.[53]
March
1–15 March – Major flooding in the upper
Victoria River affects remote Northern Territory communities prompting the evacuation of residents to Darwin.[54] The flooding also severs road and rail links between the Northern Territory and Western Australia impacting the supply of fresh food and essential supplies.[55][56]
6 March – The historic Pride of the Murraypaddle wheeler sinks in the
Thomson River at
Longreach in
Central West Queensland with police treating the incident as suspicious.[58] The vessel, which had been trucked to Longreach from Victoria in 2022, is raised from the riverbed in September 2023 with the owner hopeful of it being restored in time for its 100th anniversary in 2024.[59][60]
8 March – Australian prime minister
Anthony Albanese commences a four-day bilateral visit to India at the invitation of Indian prime minister
Shri Narendra Modi.[61] During the visit, both prime ministers ride in a chariot in a lap of honour at the fourth cricket test at
Narendra Modi Stadium in
Ahmedabad.[62]
19 March – Victorian Liberal leader of the opposition,
John Pesutto announced, that he would move to have
Moira Deeming expelled from the parliamentary Liberal Party after she spoke at an anti-trans rally outside the Victorian Parliament.[74][75][76] In the end, a compromise was made with Deeming accepting a nine-month suspension from the party instead of expulsion from the party.[77]
22 March – Ten
Australian Defence Force personnel survive after the MRH-90 Taipan army helicopter they were on ditches into the sea at
Jervis Bay during counterterrorism exercises.[78][79]
26 March – Former US president
Barack Obama arrives in Australia for several public speaking engagements.[82] Controversy arises when organisers of the event in Melbourne prevent 78-year-old
Wurundjeri elder Aunty Joy Murphy from delivering the
Welcome to Country and is allegedly told she was being "too difficult" for requesting a support person and the opportunity to present Obama with a gift as per
cultural practice.[83][84]
30 March – Following the
2023 New South Wales state election,
Mark Latham NSW One Nation leader published a tweet in response to comments by gay politician
Alex Greenwich. Latham's tweet included an explicit and derogatory description of anal sex: "Disgusting? How does that compare with sticking your dick up a bloke's arse and covering it with shit?".[85] The comments were deemed to be homophobic by Alex Greenwich and other politicians,[86][87] Conservative commentator
Andrew Bolt and One Nation leader
Pauline Hanson criticised Latham and called for him to apologise.[88][86]
Terence Darrell Kelly, the man who
kidnapped 4-year-old Cleo Smith from her family's tent during a camping trip in Western Australia and held her captive for more than two weeks, is sentenced to 13 years and six months in jail.[93]
After a party room meeting, it was announced that the
Liberal Party of Australia will oppose
the Voice citing constitutional risks. All members of the shadow ministry are bound by this decision but a conscience vote is allowed for backbencher members.
13 April –
Cyclone Ilsa crosses the Western Australia coast between
Port Hedland and
Bidyadanga as a category 5 system just before midnight local time.[94]
20 April – Large crowds gather in Exmouth, Western Australia to experience a rare
total solar eclipse.[96]
22 April – Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Defence Minister Richard Marles announce that the wreck of Japanese transport ship Montevideo Maru had been discovered in the
South China Sea.[97] An estimated total of 979 Australian prisoners of war and civilians were on board when it was sunk by American submarine
USS Sturgeon in 1942 during World War II making it the worst maritime disaster in Australia's history.[98]
27 April – In what is her first official Australian engagement in ten years,
Mary, Crown Princess of Denmark arrives in Sydney for a 24-hour visit, leading a Danish delegation to discuss Australia's sustainability and its transition to
green energy.[99][100]
May
2 May –
Vanessa Hudson is announced as the new chief executive officer of
Qantas to succeed
Alan Joyce when he officially retires in November.[101]
10 May – The ACT Government announces plans to force an acquisition on the Christian
Calvary Hospital, Canberra hospital land and assets.[110] Archbishop of Sydney,
Anthony Fisher condemned the proposal as an abuse of property rights and religious freedom, acquiring the hospital to force an "anti-life agenda" by performing abortions and assisted suicide. The Opposition
Canberra Liberals also oppose the acquisition.[111][112][113][114]
12 May –
Lara Alexander, alongside fellow Tasmanian Liberal
John Tucker state MP, quits the Liberal Party to sit as an independent, in part due to concerns related to the proposed
Macquarie Point Stadium project. This leaves the Liberal Party in minority government and requiring seven seats to reach a majority in the next state election.[115]
16 May – A school bus crashes west of
Melbourne with 45 children on board.[116]
17 May – A
95-year-old woman with dementia is tasered by a New South Wales police officer at an aged care facility in
Cooma, New South Wales and sustains serious injuries after falling and fracturing her skull.[117] The officer is charged with recklessly causing grievous bodily harm, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and common assault.[118] The woman later dies in hospital from her injuries.[119]
21 May – Northern Territory chief minister
Natasha Fyles is allegedly accosted and harassed by anti-
fracking protestors while running the final five kilometres of the West Macs Monster – an annual 25 km running event along the
Larapinta Trail.[120]
22 May – Indian prime minister
Shri Narendra Modi arrives in Australia for a two-day visit to Australia during which he meets business and political leaders including prime minister Anthony Albanese.[121]
Western Australia premier
Mark McGowan announces his intention to resign, citing exhaustion as his reason for stepping down.[125]
22-year-old Queensland sailor Xavier Doerr departs the
Gold Coast on his attempt to break the records for the fastest solo and fastest non-stop circumnavigation of Australia.[126]
1 June – Former soldier
Ben Roberts-Smith loses a civil defamation trial in which he attempted to sue newspapers the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and Canberra Times and journalists
Chris Masters,
Nick McKenzie and David Wroe.[128] Roberts-Smith is found to have committed war crimes in Afghanistan with Justice
Anthony Besanko ruling that the newspapers and journalists had established substantial or contextual truth regarding alleged unlawful killings and bullying.[129]
5 June – New South Wales Attorney-General
Michael Daley announces
Kathleen Folbigg had been pardoned and would be released from the
Clarence Correctional Centre in
Grafton, New South Wales where she had been imprisoned for 20 years.[130] When making the announcement, Daley releases the summary findings prepared by an inquiry led by Justice
Thomas Bathurst into Folbigg's 2003 convictions of killing her four children.[130]
14 June – Independent senator
Lidia Thorpe uses
parliamentary privilege in
The Senate to accuse Liberal Party senator
David Van of inappropriate behaviour.[137] Although Thorpe later returns to withdraw the remarks citing standing orders, her accusations prompt more women including former Liberal senator
Amanda Stoker to come forward to raise further allegations against Van, all of which he strongly denies.[137][138] After he is removed from the Liberal Party's
party room by
Peter Dutton following the allegations, Van resigns from the Liberal Party and moves to the
crossbench, although Dutton encourages Van to resign from parliament altogether.[139][140] In his resignation letter to the Victorian branch president
Greg Mirabella, Van complains about not being afforded procedural fairness.[139]
20 June –
Nestlé announces its decision to stop manufacturing
Allen's Fantales, citing declining sales and the need for expensive upgrades at its factory to continue making the product.[142]
22 June – Queensland's oldest winery, the heritage-listed
Romavilla Winery at
Roma is destroyed by fire.[143]
27 June - Sydney drug lord Alen Moradian, 48, who held high-level links to the
Comanchero bikie gang, was shot dead in an underground carpark at
Bondi Junction.[144]
3 July – Indonesian president
Joko Widodo arrives in Sydney for a 36-hour visit to Australia during which he meets with business and political leaders including prime minister Anthony Albanese.[147]
8 July – 22-year-old Queensland sailor Xavier Doerr is rescued in the
Great Australian Bight by the bulk carrier Theodore JR after activating his emergency beacon at 5 pm the previous afternoon after his 6.4-metre
Mini Transat yacht Waterline struck severe weather.[149] Doerr was attempting to break the records for the fastest solo and fastest non-stop circumnavigation of Australia.[150]
9 July – Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese arrives in Germany ahead of his attendance at the
NATO summit in Lithuania.[151] Ahead of a scheduled meeting with German chancellor
Olaf Scholz, Albanese confirms a deal to sell Australian-made armoured vehicles to Germany.[151]
10 July – Federal transport minister
Catherine King denies an application by
Qatar Airways to add more flights to Australia which would have likely reduced the cost of international airfares due to increased competition.[152][153]
17 July – A 23-year-old woman is mauled by a pack of dingoes while jogging on
K'gari.[157] The latest
dingo attack prompts a debate about how to manage the issues surrounding K'gari's dingo population including the behaviour of tourists.[158][159][160][161]
22 July – The biennial joint
Exercise Talisman Sabre military exercise between Australia and the United States commences in Queensland.[164] As the exercise gets underway, a
People's Liberation Army Navy Dongdiao Class
Auxiliary General Intelligence vessel is identified, with authorities expecting it to anchor off the Central Queensland coast in an attempt to collect sensitive military information.[165]
26 July – The prime ministers of Australia and New Zealand,
Anthony Albanese and
Chris Hipkins, hold talks in Wellington as part of the annual Australia-New Zealand leader's meeting.[166]
28 July – A MRH-90 Taipan army helicopter carrying four
Australian Defence Force personnel from the
6th Aviation Regiment crashes into the ocean near
Hamilton Island while taking part in a two-helicopter training mission during
Exercise Talisman Sabre.[167][168] It's the second incident involving a Taipan army helicopter in four months, which raises more concerns regarding the safety of the fleet.[78][169]
30 July – Indonesia suspends imports of live Australian cattle from several
export facilities after
LSD is detected in livestock shipped from Australia.[172]
August
1 August – A 45-year-old
Gold Coast childcare worker is charged with 1,623 child abuse offences including 136 counts of rape and 604 counts of indecent treatment of a child.[173] The offences were allegedly committed between 2007 and 2022.[173]
After a long-running trade war, China announces it would be dropping the 80% tariffs on Australian
barley which had been introduced in May 2020, widely considered as retaliation against Australia's calls for an enquiry into the origins of
COVID-19.[176]
6 August – A 34-year-old man and his five children, aged between 3 and 11, are killed in a house fire on
Russell Island, near Brisbane.[178]
8 August –
The
Australian Federal Police reveal that 13 Australian children have been removed from danger while 19 men have been charged with child abuse offences in Operation Bakis, which was set up after an elaborate international child abuse network was uncovered on the
dark web following the
2021 murder of two
FBI agents in Florida who were killed while serving a search warrant on the home of pedophile
David Lee Huber.[179]
Queensland's
Department of Environment and Science advises that a number of camping areas on
K'gari would be temporarily closed to reduce the interaction between dingoes and humans after two women were attacked in separate incidents on 10 August.[183]
10 August – A
Southern Cross Austereo television sales executive is charged with two counts of murder (domestic violence) after the bodies of his wife and 11-week old daughter are discovered at a property in the
Rockhampton suburb of
Park Avenue two days after their deaths.[184]
A grave is exhumed at the cemetery in
Doomadgee, Queensland after the body of a respected
Gangalidda elder who was thought to have been buried on 9 August was discovered to be still in the morgue at Doomadgee Hospital.[186][187] It's discovered an empty coffin had been buried during the funeral instead, which leads to much criticism of the hospital.[186]
Four Australian surfers and two Indonesian crew members are rescued after spending 36 hours at sea off the coast of Indonesia's Aceh province after their boat sunk during bad weather.[188]
A magistrate finds
Hillsong Church founder
Brian Houston not guilty of concealing a serious indictable offence, concluding he had a reasonable excuse for not reporting his father
Frank Houston's sexual abuse of a child as he reasonably believed the victim, by then aged in his 30's, didn't want the matter reported to police.[190]
The 2023 Queensland Bush Summit is held in
Rockhampton and is attended by Queensland premier
Annastacia Palaszczuk and mining magnate
Gina Rinehart.[192] In her speech, Palaszczuk says her government would be introducing legislation to guarantee the future of
Glenden, a town which was destined to be demolished.[193] Local rural landholders also gather at the event, protesting the construction of a number of renewable energy projects.[194]
19 August – The Victorian Government agrees to pay $280 million in compensation to
Commonwealth Games bodies after withdrawing from hosting the games in
2026.[195]
22 August –
Almost thirty years after
AC/DC's manager
Crispin Dye was attacked and killed in Sydney, a new person of interest is identified during the special
Commission of Inquiry into LGBTIQ hate crimes, after DNA found on Dye's jeans matches DNA collected from another crime scene.[196]
The
Australasian Fire Authorities Council releases its seasonal outlook which identifies large parts of Queensland, New South Wales and the Northern Territory as well as parts of South Australia and Victoria as being at an increased risk of a "significant bushfire".[198]
The 2023
NAPLAN results are released. Assessed under a stricter criteria, the results indicate 10% of Australian school students aren't meeting minimum numeracy and literacy expectations.[199]
Gold Coast City Council councillor Ryan Bayldon-Lumsden is charged with the murder of his step-father, LNP identity Robert Lumsden whose body was discovered at a property in
Arundel.[200][201] Bayldon-Lumsden is released on bail on 31 August with a $250,000
surety.[202]
24 August –
Former school principal
Malka Leifer is sentenced in Melbourne to 15 years in prison with a non-parole period of 11 years and six months for sexually abusing two sisters at the
Adass Israel School from 2004 to 2007, after having been found guilty in the
County Court in April 2023 of 18 charges of sexual assault.[203]
21 people are arrested when
Victoria Police raid an illegal casino operating out of a factory in the Melbourne suburb of
Truganina.[204]
25 August – A 44-year-old surfer suffers serious injuries after being attacked by a shark at
Port Macquarie on the
Mid North Coast.[205]
26 August –
Nicole Werner wins the
2023 Warrandyte state by-election increasing the
Liberals' primary vote by 10%, while runner-up Tomas Lightbody increases the
Greens' primary vote by 6.8%.[206][207] With the
Labor choosing not to field a candidate, Werner picks up a +16.8 swing on a two-candidate preferred vote with 71.1% of the vote, while Lightbody picks up a +28.9 swing for the Greens with 28.9% of the vote.[207]
A 33-year-old man from
Gympie is charged with one count of arson after a church in
Rockhampton is completely destroyed by fire.[209][210]
28 August –
Assistant federal treasurer
Stephen Jones claims
Catherine King's decision to block an application by
Qatar Airways for additional flights to Australia was to protect the sustainability of
Qantas.[211] However, King insists that no individual factor that influenced her decision.[211]
Outgoing Qantas CEO
Alan Joyce faces a senate select committee where he faces hostile questioning relating to the airline's credibility.[212]
3 September – In an interview on
Sky News Australia, federal opposition leader
Peter Dutton vows that if elected at the next election he would seek to hold a second referendum if the Yes campaign loses the
2023 Australian Indigenous Voice referendum – but it would be a vote on constitutional rights rather than a voice to parliament.[215] His comments prompt much criticism.[216][217][218]
4 September – After a two-day trial in the
ACT Supreme Court, two men are found guilty by a jury of deliberately lighting the fire which caused extensive damage to the front of
Old Parliament House on 30 December 2021.[219]
6 September –
An emergency signal is detected off the
Far North Queensland coast, originating from an inflatable 9-metre catamaran which had sustained damage from attacks by
cookiecutter sharks.[220] The vessel belonging to the
Russian Geographical Society was carrying two Russians and a Frenchman attempting to circumnavigate the world. They were rescued by a nearby cargo ship.[220]
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese attends the
ASEAN Summit in Jakarta.[221]
Alan Joyce steps down from his role as chief executive officer of
Qantas two months early, citing recent controversies surrounding the airline, stating: "The best thing I can do under these circumstances is to bring forward my retirement and hand over to
Vanessa and the new management team now, knowing they will do an excellent job."[222]
7 September – After being continually pressed on her decision to reject an application by
Qatar Airways to add additional flights to Australia, federal transport minister
Catherine King admits the invasive searches of Australian women in Doha in 2020 was "a factor" in her decision, but insists it wasn't the only factor.[223]
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese meets with Philippines president
Bongbong Marcos in Manila during the first bilateral visit by an Australian prime minister in two decades.[226]
One person is killed and five are injured when a car ploughs through pedestrians and two other vehicles in
Melbourne. The driver is arrested at the scene.[227]
13 September –
Qantas loses its challenge to a court ruling that it had illegally outsourced 1,700 jobs at ten Australian airports during the
COVID-19 pandemic, with seven
High Court judges rejecting the company's appeal against a
Federal Court ruling in 2021.[228]
14 September –
Macquarie Bank announces it will commence phasing out over-the-counter cash and cheque transactions as well as its telephone banking service in 2024.[229]
21 September – Anthony Albanese announces an independent inquiry into the handling of the
COVID-19 pandemic in Australia, led by former public servant
Robyn Kruk, infectious diseases expert Catherine Bennett and economist Angela Jackson.[231] However, the exclusion of state and territory governments from the scope of the inquiry draws much criticism.[232][233][234][235]
24 September – Chief Minister of the Northern Territory
Natasha Fyles was allegedly assaulted with a cream-covered pancake by a member of the public at the Sunday markets at
Nightcliff.[236]
Federal defence minister
Richard Marles announces that 500 Australian troops would be relocated to
Townsville over the course of six years from 2025 to ensure the
Australian Army is more focused on conducting missions in the Pacific.[239] However, the move is criticised by the city's mayor
Jenny Hill who claims her
council was not consulted about where the soldiers would be housed.[240]
The
Queensland Police Service indicates that inquiries will be made into whether a serving police officer breached social media guidelines after he posted a photo to Instagram of himself,
Ben Roberts-Smith and
Zachary Rolfe spending time together in Bali.[241]
Attorney-General of Tasmania
Elise Archer resigns from parliament and the
Tasmanian Liberal Party after premier
Jeremy Rockliff asks for and receives her resignation when allegations emerged of Archer being involved in bullying and inappropriate behaviour.[245][246]
30 September – A man is killed when the boat he was in collided with a whale near Cape Banks at
La Perouse.[247]
New laws come into effect in Queensland allowing the media to name and publicly identify accused rapists and those charged with sexual offences prior to trial.[250] This leads to the eventual naming of former
Liberal Party senior adviser
Bruce Lehrmann as the "high profile man" accused of raping a woman in
Toowoomba in October 2021.[251] A former Gold Coast childcare worker charged on 1 August 2023 with more than 1,600 child sex offences is also named and identified as Ashley Paul Griffith.[252]
4 October – Flood warnings are issues for several communities in Victoria's
Gippsland region after heavy rain causes major flooding in the
Macalister River.[254][255]
6 October – A 65-year-old pilot and his three grandchildren, aged between 6 and 11, are killed when their light plane crashes near
Gundaroo in New South Wales'
Southern Tablelands en route from
Canberra to
Armidale.[257]
8 October – Following the
Re'im music festival massacre by
Hamas in Israel as part of the
October 2023 Gaza–Israel conflict, a pro-Palestinian rally takes place in
Lakemba in south-west Sydney during which Sheikh Ibrahim Dadoun described attacks on Israel by Hamas as an act of resistance. The comments earn a rebuke from prime minister
Anthony Albanese, foreign minister
Penny Wong, opposition leader
Peter Dutton and co-CEO of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry
Alexander Ryvchin who all condemned the rally and the comments made.[259]
After a march through the streets of Sydney, a pro-Palestinian rally is held at the
Sydney Opera House during which flares were thrown and anti-Jewish phrases were chanted.[261]
11 October –
Journalist
Cheng Lei returns to Australia after being detained in China for three years since being arrested in August 2020 while working for
CGTN, accused of supplying state secrets.[262][263]
A 66-year-old Sydney-born grandmother is confirmed as the first known Australian to be killed in the
attacks in Israel by terrorist group
Hamas.[264]
13 October –
238 Australians are successfully evacuated from Israel on a
Qantas mercy flight from Tel Aviv to London after the attacks by Hamas in Israel.[265]
The New South Wales government announces it will implement all five recommendations made in the Bus Industry Taskforce's initial safety report following the
Hunter Valley bus crash in June, which killed ten people.[266]
14 October – Australians vote in the
2023 Australian Indigenous Voice referendum, where the majority voted against establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice in the constitution, with the proposal failing to garner sufficient support to pass.[267][268]
18 October –
Glencore announces it will close all copper mining at
Mount Isa in 2025.[269]
Tim Mathieson, former partner of
Julia Gillard, is convicted of sexual assault and fined $7000 in Melbourne Magistrates Court.[272]
21 October –
Thousands of pro-Palestine protestors attend rallies throughout Australia to show their support for Palestinians in Gaza.[273]
Wollongong mayor
Gordon Bradbery is condemned by Jewish groups for comments he made at a local pro-Palestine rally.[274] The NSW Jewish Board of Deputies accuse Bradbery of seeking to justify the October 7 attack and describe his comments as "reprehensible and irresponsible in the extreme" which caused some local residents to be "disturbed and appalled".[274]
22 October – An open letter purportedly written by Indigenous leaders, describes the result of
2023 Australian Indigenous Voice referendum as "appalling and mean-spirited" and attributes the loss to a lack of bipartisanship, racism and lies in political advertising.[278][279]
23 October – Prime Minister
Anthony Albanese arrives in Washington, D.C. for a four-day visit and prepares to meet with members of congress and president of the United States
Joe Biden.[280]
Islamic terrorist
Abdul Nacer Benbrika won his
High Court (In a 6–1 decision) bid to restore his Australian citizenship, which was cancelled in 2020.[284]
A 10-year-old boy is killed after becoming trapped under an elevator at St Lucy's School – a Catholic school for students with disabilities in the Sydney suburb of
Wahroonga.[285][286]
3 November –
A 49-year-old woman faces court in
Morwell, Victoria after having been charged the previous day with three counts of murder and five counts of attempted murder in a suspected case of
mushroom poisoning during a family lunch she allegedly hosted at her home in
Leongatha.[287] The case is adjourned until May 2024.[287]
Qantas shareholders vote against an executive pay deal at the company's annual general meeting in Melbourne, with chairman
Richard Goyder heckled by company shareholders.[289]
4 November –
Three members of an aerial firefighting crew are killed when their firefighting aircraft crashes near
Cloncurry, Queensland while en route from
Toowoomba to
Mount Isa to map areas of recent bushfires.[290]
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese arrives in China for a three-day visit in which he will meet with Chinese president
Xi Jinping and premier
Li Qiang.[291]
5 November – A car ploughs through a beer garden in
Daylesford, Victoria, killing five people and injuring four others.[292]
The
Optus telecommunications network experiences a
widespread national outage which affects customers, businesses, hospitals, emergency services and rail networks.[296]
The
High Court of Australia rules that the practice of detaining asylum seekers and refugees in Australia is illegal, with 80 people released immediately into the community including several sex offenders and at least three murderers, including Sirul Azhar Umar who was convicted of the
murder of Shaariibuugiin Altantuyaa.[297][298]
10 November —
Violent clashes between pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian groups occur in the Melbourne suburb of
Caulfield South prompting the evacuation of a
synagogue and a
Shabbat service to be abandoned.[299] Free Palestine Melbourne apologised for protesting in such close proximity to a synagogue but said it was not their intention to intimidate Jewish worshippers.[299] Victorian premier
Jacinta Allan said it was unacceptable for people to feel unsafe to go to their places of worship, while state opposition leader
John Pesutto called the behaviour of protestors "absolutely disgusting".[299]
The bodies of two boys, aged two and three, are discovered hours apart in the same disused car in
Woorabinda, Queensland with early investigations suggesting they may have died from suspected
heat-related stress.[300]
11 November — Australians observe the 105th
Remembrance Day.[301] A war memorial in the Melbourne suburb of
Montrose needed to be cleaned before the local Remembrance Day service after it is vandalised with pro-Palestine graffiti the night before.[302]
12 November — For the fifth consecutive week, large crowds gather in Australian capital cities for pro-Palestinian rallies including in Sydney's
Hyde Park, with protestors calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.[303]
14 November — Divers from
HMAS Toowoomba operating in international waters off Japan sustain minor injuries from sonar pulses emanating from a Chinese warship.[304]
16 November — A 67-year-old
Scenic Rim man dies in a ramped ambulance after waiting three hours to be admitted to
Ipswich Hospital.[305] His death prompts the man's family to call for urgent reforms to Queensland's health system.[306]
A 52-year-old Brisbane woman dies after she had waited more than 90 minutes for an ambulance.[308] Calling
Triple Zero after experiencing chest pains just before 10:30pm the night before, she gets tired of waiting and cancels the ambulance just before midnight.[309] She is found dead by her son the following morning, prompting her sister to call on the state government to invest more money into the state's health system.[310]
The 18-year-old son of South Australian police commissioner
Grant Stevens dies at the
Flinders Medical Centre after sustaining an irreversible brain injury in an alleged
hit and run at
Goolwa Beach the previous evening.[311][312] The car was allegedly driven by an 18-year-old
Encounter Bay who was subsequently charged with causing death by dangerous driving, aggravated driving without due care, leaving the scene of a crash after causing death and failing to truly answer questions.[313]
19 November — Two Viper S-211 Marchetti planes conducting a formation flight collide in mid-air. One plane manages to make it back to
Essendon Airport, but the other plunges into
Port Phillip Bay killing the two people on board - the pilot and a television camera operator.[314] The plane's wreckage is found by emergency services on 21 November.[315]
The
2023 Wanneroo bushfire starts north of Perth, which will subsequently destroy or damage dozens of homes over the ensuing days.[319][320]
A 14-year-old high school student manages to stop a runaway bus from colliding with a busy petrol station in
Casino, New South Wales.[321]
23 November — The remains of the baby at the centre of the notorious "baby in the post"
cold case from 1965 are exhumed at a cemetery in
Darwin in the hope of investigators finding a
DNA match with the 53-year-old daughter of NTFL player Jimmy Anderson, who some investigators suspected was the intended recipient of the parcel sent from Melbourne.[322][323]
25 November — Hundreds of protesters commence a 30-hour blockade, blocking the shipping channel leading into the
Port of Newcastle in a protest organised by climate group
Rising Tide, objecting to the Federal Government approving new fossil fuel projects.[324]
109 protestors, including a 97-year-old
Uniting Church minister, are arrested for defying orders to leave the Port of Newcastle by 5pm, at the conclusion of the 30-hour blockade by Rising Tide to protest the Federal Government approving new fossil fuel projects.[327][328]
27 November —
Home Affairs secretary
Mike Pezzullo is sacked by the governor-general, after an independent inquiry finds Pezzullo breached the government's code of conduct at least 14 times.[329]
28 November — Labor senator for Western Australia
Pat Dodson announces he plans to retire from federal politics on
Australia Day, citing his treatment for cancer.[330]
The
FBI arrest a 58-year-old man in Arizona as part of the investigation into the
Wieambilla shootings on 12 December 2022.[332]
A 20-year-old man who lost control of the vehicle he was driving and crashed, killing his five teenage passengers in
Buxton on 6 September 2022 is sentenced to the maximum 12 years jail with a non-parole period of seven years.[333]
A 41-year-old convicted drug trafficker is sentenced to ten years in prison and declared a serious violent offender after the car she was driving crashed head-on into an
Australia Post truck at 164 km/h on the
Bruce Highway between
Mackay and
Rockhampton on 21 June 2022, killing the 62-year-old truck driver.[334]
2 December —
Two former detainees released into the community following the
High Court of Australia's ruling that indefinite
immigration detention in Australia was unlawful are arrested in separate incidents - a 65-year-old man is arrested for allegedly assaulting a woman in Adelaide while a 45-year-old man is arrested for allegedly being in possession of drugs in Sydney.[335]
3 December — Approximately thirty people in masks use
Eureka Day to hold a
white supremacist march in the Victorian city of
Ballarat, prompting outrage from the local community.[336]
Approximately $40,000 in cash is discovered scattered along the
Mitchell Freeway in Perth.[339] Police attending the incident conducted a search of a vehicle where they seized 51 grams of cocaine as well as $8,000 in cash.[339] They arrested a 34-year-old man was charged with possession of cocaine with intent to sell or supply, possession of stolen or unlawfully obtained property and having no authority to drive.[339]
5 December —
A third former immigration detainee who was released into the community after the
High Court's ruling that indefinite immigration in Australia was unlawful is arrested in Melbourne.[340] The 33-year-old registered sex offender is charged with nine counts of breaching his reporting obligations, which includes allegedly creating social media accounts and contacting children.[341]
The Federal Government begins to rush preventative detention laws through
Federal Parliament to give judges the power to cancel the Australian citizenship of serious offenders and to preventively detain some non-citizens released after the High Court's ruling that indefinite detention in Australia is unlawful.[342][343]
A fourth former immigration detainee released following the
High Court ruling that indefinite immigration in Australia was unlawful is arrested - a 45-year-old man is arrested in Melbourne and charged with one count of theft and one count of failing to comply with a curfew with the
Australian Federal Police alleging he breached the conditions of his visa.[347]
Attorney-General
Mark Dreyfus, Immigration minister
Andrew Giles and home affairs minister
Clare O'Neil hold a joint press conference to discuss Labor's proposed preventative detention laws.[348] Responding to a question by
Sky News journalist Olivia Caisley, Dreyfus rejects the notion the government owes the Australian community an apology for not being prepared for the High Court's decision.[349] Dreyfus, who described Caisley's question as "absurd", is criticised for the way he spoke to Caisley, prompting him to apologise to her in private.[350][351]
7 December — A fifth former immigration detainee released into the community following the
High Court ruling that indefinite immigration in Australia was unlawful is arrested by
police in Queensland after it was discovered that was an outstanding warrant for allegedly breaching parole conditions prior to entering immigration detention in 2012, after having been jailed for assault.[352]
11 December — The Federal Government unveils its 10-year
migration strategy which includes increasing minimum English language requirements for international students and tightening visa processes for migrant workers.[356][357]
A young boy and a man in his 30's are killed when the light plane they were in clipped powerlines and crashed on a rural property next to the
Clarence River at Lilydale near
Grafton, New South Wales.[359]
13 December —
It's announced that Australia will ban the use, supply and manufacturing of
engineered stone from 1 July 2024 following a
Safe Work Australia report which found the rates of
silicosis and silica-related diseases had risen substantially particularly among engineered stone workers.[360]
Cyclone Jasper makes landfall as a Category 2 cyclone near
Wujal Wujal in Far North Queensland bringing strong winds, heavy rain, flooding and power outages to the region.[361][362] The subsequent widespread flooding throughout Far North Queensland over the ensuing days force some residents onto rooftops, including patients at the Wujal Wujal Hospital, awaiting rescue.[363][364] The entire town of Wujal Wujal is evacuated and Cairns becomes completely isolated due to the closures of highways into the city and the inundation of the
Cairns Airport.[365][366]
Kirsty Bryant becomes the first woman in Australia to give birth to a baby from a
transplanted uterus.[373]
18 December — A woman is found dead with apparent stab wounds in the commercial kitchen area at the
National Zoo & Aquarium in
Canberra.[374] A 29-year-old co-worker is subsequently charged with her murder during a bedside hearing the following day at
Canberra Hospital to which he pleads not guilty.[375] The man is refused bail and is expected to appear in court again in April 2024.[375]
Charles Vincent Read, the 24-year-old son of
Chopper Read is sentenced to 15 months jail in the
Hobart Magistrates Court after pleading guilty to several charges including burglary, stealing and driving while disqualified.[380]
A federal court ruling sees
Airbnb fined $15 million and ordered to pay up to $15 million in compensation for misleading to around 70,000 Australian customers between January 2018 and August 2021 by failing to make clear prices on the website were in
USD and not
AUD.[382]
21 December —
Eva Lawler is sworn in as the 13th chief minister of the Northern Territory.[383]
The annual
Carols by Candlelight event at the
Sidney Myer Music Bowl in Melbourne is disrupted by
pro-Palestinian protestors.[387] Children preparing to perform with
Emma Memma are rushed off the stage for their own safety until security could intercept the protestors.[387] One of the protestors, a 21-year-old woman is arrested and issued with an infringement notice for carrying a controlled weapon.[387]
Acting foreign affairs minister
Mark Dreyfus confirms two Australian brothers were killed in an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon, after terrorist group
Hezbollah claims one of the brothers had been fighting for them.[390]
A 15-year-old Adelaide boy is killed in a shark attack while surfing on the
Yorke Peninsula in South Australia.[392]
29 December — The
United Workers Union sends a report to Worksafe SA claiming workers at the
Smith's factory in Adelaide have been experiencing adverse reactions from the seasoning used to flavour
Doritos 'Flamin' Hot' corn chips.[393] In response,
PepsiCo say they consider the safety of its employees as a "top priority" and they have mandated mask wearing during the production process and will install additional extraction fans.[393]
Field Day is held at
The Domain in Sydney where a total of 97 people are allegedly found in possession of illicit substances, with three people arrested for drug supply offences.[395][396]
15 January – Cate Blanchett wins
Best Actress at the
28th Critics' Choice Awards for her role in Tár, but uses her acceptance speech to criticise the award, describing it as a "poor second" to a bottle of mouthwash
Julia Roberts had given her, and accuses the film and television industry or promoting a "televised horse race".[399][400]
6 December –
Guy Sebastian's former manager
Titus Day who was found guilty by a jury in November 2022 of 34 fraud-related charges after allegedly embezzling $600,000 from Sebastian, has his conviction quashed and will be re-tried after winning an appeal in the
Court of Criminal Appeal.[428]
17 April – An episode of animated series Bluey entitled "Exercise" prompts criticism and accusations of
fat shaming, which leads to the episode being edited.[442][443]
1 May – The premiere of the
fifteenth series of MasterChef Australia is pulled from the schedule by Network 10 just hours before it is due to air due to the sudden death of judge
Jock Zonfrillo.[447] After consultation with Zonfrillo's family, the series commences on 7 May 2023.[447]
6 May – The ABC is heavily criticised for their coverage of the
Coronation of Charles III and Camilla on
ABC TV, during which they held a panel discussion featuring three anti-monarchists including Q+A host
Stan Grant, Australian Republican Movement chair
Craig Foster and Indigenous writer and lawyer Teela Reid, and one monarchist
Julian Leeser.[448][449][450][451][452] The panel discussion prompted more than 1,800 complaints from viewers and an ombudsman's investigation, which found no breach of impartiality standards during the coverage.[453][454] Grant also received racial abuse after his appearance on the panel which prompted him to step back from hosting Q+A.[455]
June
2 June – After losing his civil defamation trial, Ben Roberts-Smith resigns from
Seven West Media.[456] He had been the general manager of regional network
Seven Queensland since July 2015 before also being appointed as general manager of
Seven Brisbane in 2016.[457][458]
17 June – The
Australian Broadcasting Corporation's managing director
David Anderson announces a major restructure of the organisation in the new financial year, resulting in the loss of 120 jobs, the Sunday evening state-based ABC News bulletins on
ABC TV being replaced with a single national bulletin and the abolition of the ABC's arts team.[461] Among those to lose their jobs was national political editor
Andrew Probyn whose position is made redundant.[462] The ABC is widely condemned for the decisions.[463][464][465][466]
10 July – The Seven Network announces they have signed a two-year deal with
Hockey Australia to broadcast all internationally sanctioned games played by the
Kookaburras and
Hockeyroos as well as all matches of the
Hockey One league throughout 2023 and 2024.[468]
Weekend Sunrise becomes the final live television program to broadcast from the Seven Network's
Martin Place studios as the network completes its relocation to its
Eveleigh headquarters. The final editions of Sunrise and The Morning Show from Martin Place aired on 21 July while the final Seven News Sydney bulletin from Martin Place aired on 25 June.[470][471]
24 July – The ABC announces that
Stan Grant will not be returning to host Q+A with
Patricia Karvelas confirmed as the program's host for the remainder of the year.[473] It is also announced
Dan Bourchier would soon be hosting a special edition of Q+A from the
Garma Festival.[473]
After receiving much criticism, the
Australian Broadcasting Corporation announces it has reversed its earlier decision, deciding to retain the Sunday evening editions of the state-based ABC News bulletins on
ABC TV.[482]
4 August –
Eddie McGuire announces that Millionaire Hot Seat, the afternoon game show he has hosted since its debut in 2009, will be going into hiatus in January 2024, to be replaced with a new program produced in Melbourne.[484]
16 August – The
2023 FIFA Women's World Cup semi-final between the
Matildas and the
Lionesses becomes the most watched television program since the
OzTAM audience measuring commenced in 2001, with preliminary data showing a national average audience of 7.13 million watched the game.[487]
7 September – The
Australian Broadcasting Corporation admits it breached its own policies pertaining to the licensing of its archival television footage for political purposes after it's discovered the ABC's commercial arm licensed footage from the
1967 referendum to be used in Uluru Dialogue's advertisement for the
2023 referendum featuring
John Farnham's hit song You're the Voice.[493][494] That same footage was also inexplicably watermarked with a logo belonging to private company Australian Television Archive despite owner James Paterson stating that he had "nothing to do with the campaign, the agency or have any connection whatsoever to the footage our logo was placed on".[495][494]
14 November – It's announced
Network 10's morning program Studio 10 would be ending its 10-year run on 21 December 2023, after more than 2500+ editions.[506]
It's announced "
Fast Ed" would be departing the Seven Network's lifestyle program Better Homes and Gardens after almost twenty years, with the final edition in which he appears scheduled to air on 1 December.[510]
4 December – The
International Cricket Council announce that
Amazon Prime Video had secured the exclusive broadcast rights for all ICC tournament matches, commencing in 2024.[515] The announcement comes after federal communications minister
Michelle Rowland introduces proposed new
anti-siphoning laws to parliament, requiring free to air networks to be offered first refusal for major sporting events.[516] The decision to award the rights to the ICC tournament cricket matches to a streaming service is criticised by lobby group
FreeTV Australia, who call for the changes to the anti-siphoning rules laws to be fast-tracked.[517]
7 December –
It's announced that
Seven West Media CEO
James Warburton will step down from the role at the end of the financial year and will be succeeded by Jeff Howard.[518]
After appearing in Darwin Local Court for a brief committal hearing, the star of Outback Wrangler and Wild Croc Territory Matt Wright is committed to stand trial in the
Northern Territory Supreme Court on a charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice, which is related to the fatal helicopter crash in 2022 in which his co-star Chris "Willow" Wilson was killed.[519] Wright strenuously denies all charges.[519]
21 December –
Warren Mundine receives a formal apology from
SBS after its ombudsman Amy Stockwell found
NITV's The Point: Australia Decides program hosted by
Narelda Jacobs on the night of the
2023 Australian Indigenous Voice referendum twice breached the broadcaster's Code of Conduct.[524] During the program which featured Mundine and
Marcia Langton as panelists, Jacobs was found to have given the impression that one perspective had been unduly favoured when she criticised Mundine and described Langton as a "national treasure".[524] Stockwell also finds the program failed to provide an opportunity for Mundine to respond to a significant claim by Langton about Mundine's business when his microphone was muted.[524]
22 December – The final edition of Network 10's morning program Studio 10 goes to air.[525]
The ABC Ombudsman Fiona Cameron finds
ABC News breached the ABC's editorial guidelines of accuracy and impartiality when a radio report about a public meeting in Alice Springs was broadcast on current affairs program AM on 31 January 2023, finding that it had unduly favoured one perspective above all others.[529]
ABC managing director
David Anderson tells a
Senate Estimates hearing that the AM report on 31 January 2023 by reporter Carly Williams which claimed there were elements of
white supremacy at a public meeting in Alice Springs, should not have gone to air.[530] Anderson claims systems and processes which should have prevented the broadcast of the report had failed.[530]
8 May –
Triple M Townsville's Steve Price announces his retirement after hosting the station's breakfast program for the past 32 years, with his final program scheduled for
25 December.[535]
3 November –
Southern Cross Austereo reveals there will be only three
east coast breakfast shows on its regional
Hit Network in 2024, with
90.9 Sea FM's breakfast show hosted by Bonte Langbroek and Danny Lakey set to be heard across regional Queensland from the Gold Coast.[544] The
Hit 106.9Jess & Ducko breakfast show, hosted by Jess Farchione and Nick Ducat will also be networked across New South Wales from Newcastle, while
Hit 100.9's Dan & Christie breakfast show, hosted by Dan Taylor and
Christie Hayes, will be broadcast across Tasmania and regional Victoria from Hobart.[544]
15 November –
ABC Radio Sydney's Afternoons presenter
Josh Szeps announces on air that he has decided to leave the station at the end of the year, with his final program scheduled for 22 December.[545] Szeps cited "penalties" for speaking bluntly and bemoaned the risk involved in having conversations about controversial issues for his decision to resign from the ABC.[545]
17 November –
ABC Radio AdelaideBreakfast presenter Stacey Lee resigns from the ABC to be the new Afternoons host on
FIVEaa in 2024.[546]
Australia's first radio station,
ABC Radio Sydney (originally 2SB) celebrates 100 years on air.[548] To commemorate the anniversary, the station ceases its use of the
time signal "pips".[549]
Tom Switzer announces he is resigning from the ABC after nine years of hosting
Radio National's Between the Lines program.[550]
29 November –
Craig Reucassel is announced as the new host of
ABC Radio Sydney's Breakfast program in 2024, while it's also announced
James Valentine is returning to the station's Afternoons program.[551]
30 November –
Peter Goers signs off for the last time from
ABC Radio Adelaide's Evenings program, after having hosted the show since 2003.[552]
December
1 December –
Neil Mitchell signs off for the last time from the morning program on Melbourne's
3AW after having hosted the show since 1990.[553]
5 December –
ABC Radio National celebrates the 100th anniversary of the first test broadcasts of its original station
2FC.[556]
7 December – Former
2GBBreakfast host
Alan Jones is accused of indecently assaulting four young men during his time at the station, with the allegations published in The Sydney Morning Herald by investigative journalist
Kate McClymont.[557] Jones' lawyers respond to the allegations by describing them as "demonstrably false" and indicate they had commenced defamation proceedings against McClymont and
Nine Newspapers.[558][559]
11 December – It's announced that
Richard Kingsmill would be leaving the Australian Broadcasting Corporation after 35 years, after first joining the ABC's youth network
Triple J as a producer in 1988, ultimately becoming group music director in 2017 overseeing music content for Triple J and
ABC Local Radio as well as
Triple J Unearthed,
Double J and
ABC Country.[560]
13 December – ABC Ombudsman Fiona Cameron finds the 24 November 2023 edition of
Triple J's Hip Hop Show breached the ABC's standards for due impartiality and for the responsible management of controversial program material after guest presenter Miss Kaninna delivered
pro-Palestine comments during the show, prompting complaints.[561][562]
20 December – Journalist
Antoinette Lattouf who is filling in for
Sarah Macdonald on
ABC Radio Sydney's Mornings program is sacked by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation after posting about the
Israel-Hamas conflict on social media.[563] Lattouf responds by saying she believes she was terminated unlawfully and that it was "not a win for journalism or critical, fair thinking."[564]
10 January –
Football Australia rules that
Melbourne Victory FC brought the game into disrepute, penalising the club with a $550,000 fine and a suspended 10-point deduction for the violent
A-League pitch invasion which occurred at
AAMI Park on 17 December 2022 which saw fans run onto the field and assault referee
Alex King and player
Tom Glover.[572]
Play is suspended on all outside courts at the
Australian Open just after 2 pm AEDST when
Tennis Australia's extreme heat policy is enacted due to high temperatures.[577] Play resumes at 5 pm AEDST but is again interrupted due to rain.[577]
24 March – A power outage occurs at
The Gabba during the Friday night AFL game between the
Brisbane Lions and the
Melbourne Demons with 12 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, stopping play for 38 minutes.[589]
Australia wins the
second Ashes test, beating England by 43 runs at
Lord's, taking a 2–0 nil lead in the five-match series.[597] However, a controversial stumping of
Jonny Bairstow by
Alex Carey prompts some members of the
Marylebone Cricket Club to allegedly verbally abuse and physically contact the Australian players as they return to their dressing rooms at lunch, while accusing the players of cheating.[598] This prompts reactions from
Usman Khawaja and
David Warner before stewards usher them away.[599] Three MCC members are suspended as a result.[599]
5 July – An ongoing pay dispute with the
National Rugby League escalates when the
Rugby League Players Association announces it has instructed NRL and NRLW players not to partake in any media interviews during
Round 19 or the third
State of Origin after a breakdown in protracted negotiations over the collective bargaining agreement.[601] NRL CEO Andrew Abdo describes the action taken as disappointing.[602]
9 July – England win the
third Ashes test, beating Australia by three wickets at
Headingley Cricket Ground and with the series now 2–1 keep themselves in contention in the five-test series.[604]
More than 50,000 spectators at
Docklands Stadium watch a friendly women's soccer game between the
Matildas and
France, with the Matildas winning the match 1–0 after a
Mary Fowler goal.[608]
1 August – Australian runner
Peter Bol is cleared of doping following a
Sport Integrity Australia investigation.[620] The
World Anti-Doping Agency says it will review its testing processes after notifying Bol of a positive test result for synthetic
EPO in January despite subsequent analysis of a B-sample returning an "atypical" finding.[620]
A goal umpire denies the
Adelaide Crows a match-winning goal kicked by
Ben Keays in the final 90 seconds of their
Round 23 match against the
Sydney Swans at
Adelaide Oval, mistakenly believing the ball had hit the post, which results in the Crows missing out a place in the finals.[627] The goal umpire is subsequently stood down and the AFL's CEO
Gillon McLachlan apologises for the mistake.[628]
Just hours after playing his final game, footballer
Jack Ziebell is allegedly assaulted in an unprovoked at a bar in
South Yarra at approximately 1 am while celebrating his retirement.[630][631] Two men were subsequently arrested for the alleged assault.[632]
15 September – A stand at
Stadium Australia is named the Cathy Freeman Stand in honour of
Cathy Freeman, the first Aboriginal athlete to win an individual Olympic gold medal for Australia.[641]
24 September –
The Wallabies are defeated by
Wales by 40–6 and are likely to be knocked out of the
2023 Rugby World Cup without progressing past the pool stages for the first time in history.[643] Coach
Eddie Jones and captain
David Porecki both apologise to Australia for their team's poor performance.[644]
Australian cricketer
Alyssa Healy is taken to hospital and undergoes surgery on her hand after sustaining a dog bite at home forcing her to be ruled out of the entire
WBBL season.[664][665][666]
25 October – Australia wins by 309 runs in their 2023 Cricket World Cup match against the
Netherlands at
Arun Jaitley Stadium during which
Glenn Maxwell breaks the record for the fastest century.[668]
5 November –
Hayden Wilde and
Ashleigh Gentle win the respective men's and women's categories at the
Noosa Triathlon but the results are somewhat overshadowed when a 53-year-old competitor dies during the swimming leg.[674][675]
21 November – Former cricketer and television commentator
Michael Slater pleads guilty in
Noosa Magistrates Court to obstructing police following an altercation with police officers on 31 March 2023.[685] Slater is fined $600 but no conviction was recorded.[685]
25 November –
Courtney Bruce is awarded the
Liz Ellis Diamond at the
Australian Netball Awards, which is overshadowed when
Netball Australia confirms it threatened legal action against players who planned to boycott the event amid an ongoing pay dispute.[687] This prompts a rebuke from
Liz Ellis who accuses Netball Australia of treating players with "callous disregard".[688]
4 December – Olympic rower
Simon Burgess appears in Hobart Magistrates Court charged with one count of common assault, one count of injure property and three counts of breach Family Violence Order following an alleged incident in
Franklin on 2 December 2023.[694] Magistrate Andrew McKee remanded Burgess in custody after refusing a bail application.[694]
17 December – Australia defeat Pakistan by 360 runs in a match which saw
Nathan Lyon secure his 500th test wicket.[699]
21 December – Australian cricketer
Usman Khawaja is charged by the
International Cricket Council for breaching clothing and equipment regulations during the first test in Perth after wearing a
black armband without seeking prior approval.[700] Khawaja says he will be contesting the reprimand and asking for consistency in how the ICC officiates.[701] Khawaja had already been prevented from wearing boots displaying handwritten political slogans in the colours of the
Palestinian flag during the first test due to the ICC's regulations prohibiting political, religious or racial messaging.[702]
Former professional road racing cyclist
Rohan Dennis is arrested and charged causing death by dangerous driving, driving without due care and endangering life after his wife, fellow former professional cyclist
Melissa Hoskins, is allegedly struck by a ute in the Adelaide suburb of
Medindie.[711] Dennis is bailed to appear in the
Adelaide Magistrates Court in March 2024.[711]
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^"Passing of Shane McNally". Wests Old Boys. 13 August 2023. Retrieved 21 August 2023. ...Shane McNally passed away on Friday.
^Bennett, Jeff; Lindsay, Greg (15 August 2023).
"The scholar who helped transform Australia". Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 21 August 2023. sudden death of economist Wolfgang Kasper in North Queensland on Sunday...
^"Vale Rob Langer". WA Cricket. Western Australian Cricket Association Ltd. 15 September 2023. Retrieved 23 September 2023. ...passed away on Thursday...
^Rockliff, Jeremy (21 September 2023).
"Vale The Hon Graeme Page". Jeremy Rockliff Premier of Tasmania. Tasmanian Government. Retrieved 23 September 2023. ...sadly passed away last night...
^"Vale Kevin Byrne: 1949 to 2023". News and notices. Cairns Regional Council. 22 September 2023. Retrieved 23 September 2023. ...who passed away yesterday.
^"FREEMAN, Susan Marjory (Tracey)". Gladstone Valley Funerals. 5 October 2023. Retrieved 29 October 2023. FREEMAN (nee Lumby), Susan Marjory (Tracey); 10.01.1948– 04.10.2023
^Appleton, Molly (16 October 2023).
"Greens Bass MHA Lance Armstrong dies aged 83". The Examiner. Retrieved 29 October 2023. died peacefully in his sleep in a Melbourne nursing home on Saturday, October 14.
^"Vale Chris Stone". Manly Warringah District Cricket Club. 28 November 2023. Retrieved 6 December 2023. Chris was 64 and passed away in Belgium on the 24th November after a long illness.
1–10 January –
The Kimberley and northern parts of
Western Australia are severely affected by flooding caused by
ex-Tropical Cyclone Ellie.[4] The
Fitzroy River at
Fitzroy Crossing peaks at a record 15.81 metres on 4 January, with the bridge which carries the
Great Northern Highway across the river damaged beyond repair.[4] Over 200 people evacuated from several communities with authorities declaring it the worst flooding the state has ever seen prompting prime minister
Anthony Albanese and state premier
Mark McGowan to visit the flood affected areas to inspect the damage.[5] The system eventually dissipates on 8 January and the
Australian Defence Force is deployed to the area to help with the recovery efforts.[4][6]
1 January – Residents in
Menindee, New South Wales are warned to prepare for the highest flood levels in fifty years with the
Darling River expected to peak at 10.7 metres.[7]
3 January – A Tasmanian prisoner who absconded from custody while receiving treatment at the
Royal Hobart Hospital just before 11 pm the previous evening is found shot dead at
Granton at approximately 1:30 am.[9] Three men are subsequently charged with his murder and an investigation into how he escaped from custody is launched.[10][11][12]
12–17 January – Heavy rainfall causes widespread flooding across large parts of
North Queensland.[15][16]
12 January –
Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese becomes the first foreign leader to address the
National Parliament of Papua New Guinea.[17] Albanese and Papua New Guinea prime minister
James Marape also sign a joint statement pledging that the two countries will reach a new security deal by the end of April.[18]
18 January – An engine fails on a Qantas twin-jet
Boeing 737 aircraft en route from New Zealand to Australia prompting the pilot of flight QF144 to declare a
mayday before it arrives safely in Sydney.[24]
22 January – Two West Australian women are killed when a boat crashes into a channel marker in the
Mandurah estuary including the mother of
West Coast Eagles player
Rhett Bazzo.[25] The skipper of the boat is later charged with two counts of manslaughter.[26]
24 January – Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visits
Alice Springs amid the town's youth crime crisis but is criticised for only spending four hours in the community.[27][28] Restrictions on the sale of alcohol in Alice Springs are introduced by the Northern Territory government in an attempt to combat the amount of crime.[29] The restrictions are put in place following calls from mayor Matt Paterson for the
Australian Federal Police to be deployed to the town.[30]
25 January – An arrest warrant is issued for pro-Russian
YouTuber Simeon Boikov after failing to appear in court accused of assaulting a 76-year-old man at a pro-Ukraine rally at Sydney Town Hall in December 2022, prompting Boikov to take refuge in the Russian consulate.[31][32]
Victoria coroner Simon McGregor hands down his findings into the
death in custody of Veronica Nelson at the
Dame Phyllis Frost Centre on 2 January 2020 four days after her arrest on suspicious of shoplifting on 30 December 2019.[35] He criticises the state government for failing to implement recommendations from the
Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody and finds the state's bail act discriminatory towards
First Nations people, incompatible with the
Charter of Human Rights and that the changes to the act in 2018 were a "complete, unmitigated disaster".[35]
Thousands of people at the Alice Springs Convention Centre for a "Save Alice Springs" town meeting organised by local business owner Garth Thompson to discuss the crime issues affecting the town.[36] Residents discuss the possibility of launching a $1.5 billion compensation claim against the
Northern Territory Government for negligence.[36] The one-hour meeting ends after just 20 minutes after attendees shouted down Thompson for suggesting
truant school children be reported to police for a welfare check.[36]
3 February – Despite pleading guilty one count of common assault, Australian tennis player
Nick Kyrgios has the charge dismissed by ACT magistrate
Beth Campbell who decides no conviction should be recorded against Kyrgios.[40]
9 February – Former Liberal Minister for Education and Youth
Alan Tudge announces his resignation in parliament, effective from the end of the following week.[43]
12–15 February – At least 21 structures including homes are destroyed in several bushfires burning on Queensland's
Western Downs.[44][45] The separate fires near
Tara,
Miles and
Jandowae burn a combined total of 150,000 hectares of land.[45]
17 February – New South Wales finance minister
Damien Tudehope resigns from state cabinet after it's discovered he failed to disclose he has shares in
Transurban.[47]
26 February – Papua New Guinea prime minister
James Marape announces that
University of Southern Queensland professor Bryce Barker and two of his colleagues have been released from captivity more than a week after they were kidnapped by a criminal gang while doing archaeological fieldwork in Papua New Guinea.[53]
March
1–15 March – Major flooding in the upper
Victoria River affects remote Northern Territory communities prompting the evacuation of residents to Darwin.[54] The flooding also severs road and rail links between the Northern Territory and Western Australia impacting the supply of fresh food and essential supplies.[55][56]
6 March – The historic Pride of the Murraypaddle wheeler sinks in the
Thomson River at
Longreach in
Central West Queensland with police treating the incident as suspicious.[58] The vessel, which had been trucked to Longreach from Victoria in 2022, is raised from the riverbed in September 2023 with the owner hopeful of it being restored in time for its 100th anniversary in 2024.[59][60]
8 March – Australian prime minister
Anthony Albanese commences a four-day bilateral visit to India at the invitation of Indian prime minister
Shri Narendra Modi.[61] During the visit, both prime ministers ride in a chariot in a lap of honour at the fourth cricket test at
Narendra Modi Stadium in
Ahmedabad.[62]
19 March – Victorian Liberal leader of the opposition,
John Pesutto announced, that he would move to have
Moira Deeming expelled from the parliamentary Liberal Party after she spoke at an anti-trans rally outside the Victorian Parliament.[74][75][76] In the end, a compromise was made with Deeming accepting a nine-month suspension from the party instead of expulsion from the party.[77]
22 March – Ten
Australian Defence Force personnel survive after the MRH-90 Taipan army helicopter they were on ditches into the sea at
Jervis Bay during counterterrorism exercises.[78][79]
26 March – Former US president
Barack Obama arrives in Australia for several public speaking engagements.[82] Controversy arises when organisers of the event in Melbourne prevent 78-year-old
Wurundjeri elder Aunty Joy Murphy from delivering the
Welcome to Country and is allegedly told she was being "too difficult" for requesting a support person and the opportunity to present Obama with a gift as per
cultural practice.[83][84]
30 March – Following the
2023 New South Wales state election,
Mark Latham NSW One Nation leader published a tweet in response to comments by gay politician
Alex Greenwich. Latham's tweet included an explicit and derogatory description of anal sex: "Disgusting? How does that compare with sticking your dick up a bloke's arse and covering it with shit?".[85] The comments were deemed to be homophobic by Alex Greenwich and other politicians,[86][87] Conservative commentator
Andrew Bolt and One Nation leader
Pauline Hanson criticised Latham and called for him to apologise.[88][86]
Terence Darrell Kelly, the man who
kidnapped 4-year-old Cleo Smith from her family's tent during a camping trip in Western Australia and held her captive for more than two weeks, is sentenced to 13 years and six months in jail.[93]
After a party room meeting, it was announced that the
Liberal Party of Australia will oppose
the Voice citing constitutional risks. All members of the shadow ministry are bound by this decision but a conscience vote is allowed for backbencher members.
13 April –
Cyclone Ilsa crosses the Western Australia coast between
Port Hedland and
Bidyadanga as a category 5 system just before midnight local time.[94]
20 April – Large crowds gather in Exmouth, Western Australia to experience a rare
total solar eclipse.[96]
22 April – Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Defence Minister Richard Marles announce that the wreck of Japanese transport ship Montevideo Maru had been discovered in the
South China Sea.[97] An estimated total of 979 Australian prisoners of war and civilians were on board when it was sunk by American submarine
USS Sturgeon in 1942 during World War II making it the worst maritime disaster in Australia's history.[98]
27 April – In what is her first official Australian engagement in ten years,
Mary, Crown Princess of Denmark arrives in Sydney for a 24-hour visit, leading a Danish delegation to discuss Australia's sustainability and its transition to
green energy.[99][100]
May
2 May –
Vanessa Hudson is announced as the new chief executive officer of
Qantas to succeed
Alan Joyce when he officially retires in November.[101]
10 May – The ACT Government announces plans to force an acquisition on the Christian
Calvary Hospital, Canberra hospital land and assets.[110] Archbishop of Sydney,
Anthony Fisher condemned the proposal as an abuse of property rights and religious freedom, acquiring the hospital to force an "anti-life agenda" by performing abortions and assisted suicide. The Opposition
Canberra Liberals also oppose the acquisition.[111][112][113][114]
12 May –
Lara Alexander, alongside fellow Tasmanian Liberal
John Tucker state MP, quits the Liberal Party to sit as an independent, in part due to concerns related to the proposed
Macquarie Point Stadium project. This leaves the Liberal Party in minority government and requiring seven seats to reach a majority in the next state election.[115]
16 May – A school bus crashes west of
Melbourne with 45 children on board.[116]
17 May – A
95-year-old woman with dementia is tasered by a New South Wales police officer at an aged care facility in
Cooma, New South Wales and sustains serious injuries after falling and fracturing her skull.[117] The officer is charged with recklessly causing grievous bodily harm, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and common assault.[118] The woman later dies in hospital from her injuries.[119]
21 May – Northern Territory chief minister
Natasha Fyles is allegedly accosted and harassed by anti-
fracking protestors while running the final five kilometres of the West Macs Monster – an annual 25 km running event along the
Larapinta Trail.[120]
22 May – Indian prime minister
Shri Narendra Modi arrives in Australia for a two-day visit to Australia during which he meets business and political leaders including prime minister Anthony Albanese.[121]
Western Australia premier
Mark McGowan announces his intention to resign, citing exhaustion as his reason for stepping down.[125]
22-year-old Queensland sailor Xavier Doerr departs the
Gold Coast on his attempt to break the records for the fastest solo and fastest non-stop circumnavigation of Australia.[126]
1 June – Former soldier
Ben Roberts-Smith loses a civil defamation trial in which he attempted to sue newspapers the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and Canberra Times and journalists
Chris Masters,
Nick McKenzie and David Wroe.[128] Roberts-Smith is found to have committed war crimes in Afghanistan with Justice
Anthony Besanko ruling that the newspapers and journalists had established substantial or contextual truth regarding alleged unlawful killings and bullying.[129]
5 June – New South Wales Attorney-General
Michael Daley announces
Kathleen Folbigg had been pardoned and would be released from the
Clarence Correctional Centre in
Grafton, New South Wales where she had been imprisoned for 20 years.[130] When making the announcement, Daley releases the summary findings prepared by an inquiry led by Justice
Thomas Bathurst into Folbigg's 2003 convictions of killing her four children.[130]
14 June – Independent senator
Lidia Thorpe uses
parliamentary privilege in
The Senate to accuse Liberal Party senator
David Van of inappropriate behaviour.[137] Although Thorpe later returns to withdraw the remarks citing standing orders, her accusations prompt more women including former Liberal senator
Amanda Stoker to come forward to raise further allegations against Van, all of which he strongly denies.[137][138] After he is removed from the Liberal Party's
party room by
Peter Dutton following the allegations, Van resigns from the Liberal Party and moves to the
crossbench, although Dutton encourages Van to resign from parliament altogether.[139][140] In his resignation letter to the Victorian branch president
Greg Mirabella, Van complains about not being afforded procedural fairness.[139]
20 June –
Nestlé announces its decision to stop manufacturing
Allen's Fantales, citing declining sales and the need for expensive upgrades at its factory to continue making the product.[142]
22 June – Queensland's oldest winery, the heritage-listed
Romavilla Winery at
Roma is destroyed by fire.[143]
27 June - Sydney drug lord Alen Moradian, 48, who held high-level links to the
Comanchero bikie gang, was shot dead in an underground carpark at
Bondi Junction.[144]
3 July – Indonesian president
Joko Widodo arrives in Sydney for a 36-hour visit to Australia during which he meets with business and political leaders including prime minister Anthony Albanese.[147]
8 July – 22-year-old Queensland sailor Xavier Doerr is rescued in the
Great Australian Bight by the bulk carrier Theodore JR after activating his emergency beacon at 5 pm the previous afternoon after his 6.4-metre
Mini Transat yacht Waterline struck severe weather.[149] Doerr was attempting to break the records for the fastest solo and fastest non-stop circumnavigation of Australia.[150]
9 July – Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese arrives in Germany ahead of his attendance at the
NATO summit in Lithuania.[151] Ahead of a scheduled meeting with German chancellor
Olaf Scholz, Albanese confirms a deal to sell Australian-made armoured vehicles to Germany.[151]
10 July – Federal transport minister
Catherine King denies an application by
Qatar Airways to add more flights to Australia which would have likely reduced the cost of international airfares due to increased competition.[152][153]
17 July – A 23-year-old woman is mauled by a pack of dingoes while jogging on
K'gari.[157] The latest
dingo attack prompts a debate about how to manage the issues surrounding K'gari's dingo population including the behaviour of tourists.[158][159][160][161]
22 July – The biennial joint
Exercise Talisman Sabre military exercise between Australia and the United States commences in Queensland.[164] As the exercise gets underway, a
People's Liberation Army Navy Dongdiao Class
Auxiliary General Intelligence vessel is identified, with authorities expecting it to anchor off the Central Queensland coast in an attempt to collect sensitive military information.[165]
26 July – The prime ministers of Australia and New Zealand,
Anthony Albanese and
Chris Hipkins, hold talks in Wellington as part of the annual Australia-New Zealand leader's meeting.[166]
28 July – A MRH-90 Taipan army helicopter carrying four
Australian Defence Force personnel from the
6th Aviation Regiment crashes into the ocean near
Hamilton Island while taking part in a two-helicopter training mission during
Exercise Talisman Sabre.[167][168] It's the second incident involving a Taipan army helicopter in four months, which raises more concerns regarding the safety of the fleet.[78][169]
30 July – Indonesia suspends imports of live Australian cattle from several
export facilities after
LSD is detected in livestock shipped from Australia.[172]
August
1 August – A 45-year-old
Gold Coast childcare worker is charged with 1,623 child abuse offences including 136 counts of rape and 604 counts of indecent treatment of a child.[173] The offences were allegedly committed between 2007 and 2022.[173]
After a long-running trade war, China announces it would be dropping the 80% tariffs on Australian
barley which had been introduced in May 2020, widely considered as retaliation against Australia's calls for an enquiry into the origins of
COVID-19.[176]
6 August – A 34-year-old man and his five children, aged between 3 and 11, are killed in a house fire on
Russell Island, near Brisbane.[178]
8 August –
The
Australian Federal Police reveal that 13 Australian children have been removed from danger while 19 men have been charged with child abuse offences in Operation Bakis, which was set up after an elaborate international child abuse network was uncovered on the
dark web following the
2021 murder of two
FBI agents in Florida who were killed while serving a search warrant on the home of pedophile
David Lee Huber.[179]
Queensland's
Department of Environment and Science advises that a number of camping areas on
K'gari would be temporarily closed to reduce the interaction between dingoes and humans after two women were attacked in separate incidents on 10 August.[183]
10 August – A
Southern Cross Austereo television sales executive is charged with two counts of murder (domestic violence) after the bodies of his wife and 11-week old daughter are discovered at a property in the
Rockhampton suburb of
Park Avenue two days after their deaths.[184]
A grave is exhumed at the cemetery in
Doomadgee, Queensland after the body of a respected
Gangalidda elder who was thought to have been buried on 9 August was discovered to be still in the morgue at Doomadgee Hospital.[186][187] It's discovered an empty coffin had been buried during the funeral instead, which leads to much criticism of the hospital.[186]
Four Australian surfers and two Indonesian crew members are rescued after spending 36 hours at sea off the coast of Indonesia's Aceh province after their boat sunk during bad weather.[188]
A magistrate finds
Hillsong Church founder
Brian Houston not guilty of concealing a serious indictable offence, concluding he had a reasonable excuse for not reporting his father
Frank Houston's sexual abuse of a child as he reasonably believed the victim, by then aged in his 30's, didn't want the matter reported to police.[190]
The 2023 Queensland Bush Summit is held in
Rockhampton and is attended by Queensland premier
Annastacia Palaszczuk and mining magnate
Gina Rinehart.[192] In her speech, Palaszczuk says her government would be introducing legislation to guarantee the future of
Glenden, a town which was destined to be demolished.[193] Local rural landholders also gather at the event, protesting the construction of a number of renewable energy projects.[194]
19 August – The Victorian Government agrees to pay $280 million in compensation to
Commonwealth Games bodies after withdrawing from hosting the games in
2026.[195]
22 August –
Almost thirty years after
AC/DC's manager
Crispin Dye was attacked and killed in Sydney, a new person of interest is identified during the special
Commission of Inquiry into LGBTIQ hate crimes, after DNA found on Dye's jeans matches DNA collected from another crime scene.[196]
The
Australasian Fire Authorities Council releases its seasonal outlook which identifies large parts of Queensland, New South Wales and the Northern Territory as well as parts of South Australia and Victoria as being at an increased risk of a "significant bushfire".[198]
The 2023
NAPLAN results are released. Assessed under a stricter criteria, the results indicate 10% of Australian school students aren't meeting minimum numeracy and literacy expectations.[199]
Gold Coast City Council councillor Ryan Bayldon-Lumsden is charged with the murder of his step-father, LNP identity Robert Lumsden whose body was discovered at a property in
Arundel.[200][201] Bayldon-Lumsden is released on bail on 31 August with a $250,000
surety.[202]
24 August –
Former school principal
Malka Leifer is sentenced in Melbourne to 15 years in prison with a non-parole period of 11 years and six months for sexually abusing two sisters at the
Adass Israel School from 2004 to 2007, after having been found guilty in the
County Court in April 2023 of 18 charges of sexual assault.[203]
21 people are arrested when
Victoria Police raid an illegal casino operating out of a factory in the Melbourne suburb of
Truganina.[204]
25 August – A 44-year-old surfer suffers serious injuries after being attacked by a shark at
Port Macquarie on the
Mid North Coast.[205]
26 August –
Nicole Werner wins the
2023 Warrandyte state by-election increasing the
Liberals' primary vote by 10%, while runner-up Tomas Lightbody increases the
Greens' primary vote by 6.8%.[206][207] With the
Labor choosing not to field a candidate, Werner picks up a +16.8 swing on a two-candidate preferred vote with 71.1% of the vote, while Lightbody picks up a +28.9 swing for the Greens with 28.9% of the vote.[207]
A 33-year-old man from
Gympie is charged with one count of arson after a church in
Rockhampton is completely destroyed by fire.[209][210]
28 August –
Assistant federal treasurer
Stephen Jones claims
Catherine King's decision to block an application by
Qatar Airways for additional flights to Australia was to protect the sustainability of
Qantas.[211] However, King insists that no individual factor that influenced her decision.[211]
Outgoing Qantas CEO
Alan Joyce faces a senate select committee where he faces hostile questioning relating to the airline's credibility.[212]
3 September – In an interview on
Sky News Australia, federal opposition leader
Peter Dutton vows that if elected at the next election he would seek to hold a second referendum if the Yes campaign loses the
2023 Australian Indigenous Voice referendum – but it would be a vote on constitutional rights rather than a voice to parliament.[215] His comments prompt much criticism.[216][217][218]
4 September – After a two-day trial in the
ACT Supreme Court, two men are found guilty by a jury of deliberately lighting the fire which caused extensive damage to the front of
Old Parliament House on 30 December 2021.[219]
6 September –
An emergency signal is detected off the
Far North Queensland coast, originating from an inflatable 9-metre catamaran which had sustained damage from attacks by
cookiecutter sharks.[220] The vessel belonging to the
Russian Geographical Society was carrying two Russians and a Frenchman attempting to circumnavigate the world. They were rescued by a nearby cargo ship.[220]
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese attends the
ASEAN Summit in Jakarta.[221]
Alan Joyce steps down from his role as chief executive officer of
Qantas two months early, citing recent controversies surrounding the airline, stating: "The best thing I can do under these circumstances is to bring forward my retirement and hand over to
Vanessa and the new management team now, knowing they will do an excellent job."[222]
7 September – After being continually pressed on her decision to reject an application by
Qatar Airways to add additional flights to Australia, federal transport minister
Catherine King admits the invasive searches of Australian women in Doha in 2020 was "a factor" in her decision, but insists it wasn't the only factor.[223]
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese meets with Philippines president
Bongbong Marcos in Manila during the first bilateral visit by an Australian prime minister in two decades.[226]
One person is killed and five are injured when a car ploughs through pedestrians and two other vehicles in
Melbourne. The driver is arrested at the scene.[227]
13 September –
Qantas loses its challenge to a court ruling that it had illegally outsourced 1,700 jobs at ten Australian airports during the
COVID-19 pandemic, with seven
High Court judges rejecting the company's appeal against a
Federal Court ruling in 2021.[228]
14 September –
Macquarie Bank announces it will commence phasing out over-the-counter cash and cheque transactions as well as its telephone banking service in 2024.[229]
21 September – Anthony Albanese announces an independent inquiry into the handling of the
COVID-19 pandemic in Australia, led by former public servant
Robyn Kruk, infectious diseases expert Catherine Bennett and economist Angela Jackson.[231] However, the exclusion of state and territory governments from the scope of the inquiry draws much criticism.[232][233][234][235]
24 September – Chief Minister of the Northern Territory
Natasha Fyles was allegedly assaulted with a cream-covered pancake by a member of the public at the Sunday markets at
Nightcliff.[236]
Federal defence minister
Richard Marles announces that 500 Australian troops would be relocated to
Townsville over the course of six years from 2025 to ensure the
Australian Army is more focused on conducting missions in the Pacific.[239] However, the move is criticised by the city's mayor
Jenny Hill who claims her
council was not consulted about where the soldiers would be housed.[240]
The
Queensland Police Service indicates that inquiries will be made into whether a serving police officer breached social media guidelines after he posted a photo to Instagram of himself,
Ben Roberts-Smith and
Zachary Rolfe spending time together in Bali.[241]
Attorney-General of Tasmania
Elise Archer resigns from parliament and the
Tasmanian Liberal Party after premier
Jeremy Rockliff asks for and receives her resignation when allegations emerged of Archer being involved in bullying and inappropriate behaviour.[245][246]
30 September – A man is killed when the boat he was in collided with a whale near Cape Banks at
La Perouse.[247]
New laws come into effect in Queensland allowing the media to name and publicly identify accused rapists and those charged with sexual offences prior to trial.[250] This leads to the eventual naming of former
Liberal Party senior adviser
Bruce Lehrmann as the "high profile man" accused of raping a woman in
Toowoomba in October 2021.[251] A former Gold Coast childcare worker charged on 1 August 2023 with more than 1,600 child sex offences is also named and identified as Ashley Paul Griffith.[252]
4 October – Flood warnings are issues for several communities in Victoria's
Gippsland region after heavy rain causes major flooding in the
Macalister River.[254][255]
6 October – A 65-year-old pilot and his three grandchildren, aged between 6 and 11, are killed when their light plane crashes near
Gundaroo in New South Wales'
Southern Tablelands en route from
Canberra to
Armidale.[257]
8 October – Following the
Re'im music festival massacre by
Hamas in Israel as part of the
October 2023 Gaza–Israel conflict, a pro-Palestinian rally takes place in
Lakemba in south-west Sydney during which Sheikh Ibrahim Dadoun described attacks on Israel by Hamas as an act of resistance. The comments earn a rebuke from prime minister
Anthony Albanese, foreign minister
Penny Wong, opposition leader
Peter Dutton and co-CEO of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry
Alexander Ryvchin who all condemned the rally and the comments made.[259]
After a march through the streets of Sydney, a pro-Palestinian rally is held at the
Sydney Opera House during which flares were thrown and anti-Jewish phrases were chanted.[261]
11 October –
Journalist
Cheng Lei returns to Australia after being detained in China for three years since being arrested in August 2020 while working for
CGTN, accused of supplying state secrets.[262][263]
A 66-year-old Sydney-born grandmother is confirmed as the first known Australian to be killed in the
attacks in Israel by terrorist group
Hamas.[264]
13 October –
238 Australians are successfully evacuated from Israel on a
Qantas mercy flight from Tel Aviv to London after the attacks by Hamas in Israel.[265]
The New South Wales government announces it will implement all five recommendations made in the Bus Industry Taskforce's initial safety report following the
Hunter Valley bus crash in June, which killed ten people.[266]
14 October – Australians vote in the
2023 Australian Indigenous Voice referendum, where the majority voted against establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice in the constitution, with the proposal failing to garner sufficient support to pass.[267][268]
18 October –
Glencore announces it will close all copper mining at
Mount Isa in 2025.[269]
Tim Mathieson, former partner of
Julia Gillard, is convicted of sexual assault and fined $7000 in Melbourne Magistrates Court.[272]
21 October –
Thousands of pro-Palestine protestors attend rallies throughout Australia to show their support for Palestinians in Gaza.[273]
Wollongong mayor
Gordon Bradbery is condemned by Jewish groups for comments he made at a local pro-Palestine rally.[274] The NSW Jewish Board of Deputies accuse Bradbery of seeking to justify the October 7 attack and describe his comments as "reprehensible and irresponsible in the extreme" which caused some local residents to be "disturbed and appalled".[274]
22 October – An open letter purportedly written by Indigenous leaders, describes the result of
2023 Australian Indigenous Voice referendum as "appalling and mean-spirited" and attributes the loss to a lack of bipartisanship, racism and lies in political advertising.[278][279]
23 October – Prime Minister
Anthony Albanese arrives in Washington, D.C. for a four-day visit and prepares to meet with members of congress and president of the United States
Joe Biden.[280]
Islamic terrorist
Abdul Nacer Benbrika won his
High Court (In a 6–1 decision) bid to restore his Australian citizenship, which was cancelled in 2020.[284]
A 10-year-old boy is killed after becoming trapped under an elevator at St Lucy's School – a Catholic school for students with disabilities in the Sydney suburb of
Wahroonga.[285][286]
3 November –
A 49-year-old woman faces court in
Morwell, Victoria after having been charged the previous day with three counts of murder and five counts of attempted murder in a suspected case of
mushroom poisoning during a family lunch she allegedly hosted at her home in
Leongatha.[287] The case is adjourned until May 2024.[287]
Qantas shareholders vote against an executive pay deal at the company's annual general meeting in Melbourne, with chairman
Richard Goyder heckled by company shareholders.[289]
4 November –
Three members of an aerial firefighting crew are killed when their firefighting aircraft crashes near
Cloncurry, Queensland while en route from
Toowoomba to
Mount Isa to map areas of recent bushfires.[290]
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese arrives in China for a three-day visit in which he will meet with Chinese president
Xi Jinping and premier
Li Qiang.[291]
5 November – A car ploughs through a beer garden in
Daylesford, Victoria, killing five people and injuring four others.[292]
The
Optus telecommunications network experiences a
widespread national outage which affects customers, businesses, hospitals, emergency services and rail networks.[296]
The
High Court of Australia rules that the practice of detaining asylum seekers and refugees in Australia is illegal, with 80 people released immediately into the community including several sex offenders and at least three murderers, including Sirul Azhar Umar who was convicted of the
murder of Shaariibuugiin Altantuyaa.[297][298]
10 November —
Violent clashes between pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian groups occur in the Melbourne suburb of
Caulfield South prompting the evacuation of a
synagogue and a
Shabbat service to be abandoned.[299] Free Palestine Melbourne apologised for protesting in such close proximity to a synagogue but said it was not their intention to intimidate Jewish worshippers.[299] Victorian premier
Jacinta Allan said it was unacceptable for people to feel unsafe to go to their places of worship, while state opposition leader
John Pesutto called the behaviour of protestors "absolutely disgusting".[299]
The bodies of two boys, aged two and three, are discovered hours apart in the same disused car in
Woorabinda, Queensland with early investigations suggesting they may have died from suspected
heat-related stress.[300]
11 November — Australians observe the 105th
Remembrance Day.[301] A war memorial in the Melbourne suburb of
Montrose needed to be cleaned before the local Remembrance Day service after it is vandalised with pro-Palestine graffiti the night before.[302]
12 November — For the fifth consecutive week, large crowds gather in Australian capital cities for pro-Palestinian rallies including in Sydney's
Hyde Park, with protestors calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.[303]
14 November — Divers from
HMAS Toowoomba operating in international waters off Japan sustain minor injuries from sonar pulses emanating from a Chinese warship.[304]
16 November — A 67-year-old
Scenic Rim man dies in a ramped ambulance after waiting three hours to be admitted to
Ipswich Hospital.[305] His death prompts the man's family to call for urgent reforms to Queensland's health system.[306]
A 52-year-old Brisbane woman dies after she had waited more than 90 minutes for an ambulance.[308] Calling
Triple Zero after experiencing chest pains just before 10:30pm the night before, she gets tired of waiting and cancels the ambulance just before midnight.[309] She is found dead by her son the following morning, prompting her sister to call on the state government to invest more money into the state's health system.[310]
The 18-year-old son of South Australian police commissioner
Grant Stevens dies at the
Flinders Medical Centre after sustaining an irreversible brain injury in an alleged
hit and run at
Goolwa Beach the previous evening.[311][312] The car was allegedly driven by an 18-year-old
Encounter Bay who was subsequently charged with causing death by dangerous driving, aggravated driving without due care, leaving the scene of a crash after causing death and failing to truly answer questions.[313]
19 November — Two Viper S-211 Marchetti planes conducting a formation flight collide in mid-air. One plane manages to make it back to
Essendon Airport, but the other plunges into
Port Phillip Bay killing the two people on board - the pilot and a television camera operator.[314] The plane's wreckage is found by emergency services on 21 November.[315]
The
2023 Wanneroo bushfire starts north of Perth, which will subsequently destroy or damage dozens of homes over the ensuing days.[319][320]
A 14-year-old high school student manages to stop a runaway bus from colliding with a busy petrol station in
Casino, New South Wales.[321]
23 November — The remains of the baby at the centre of the notorious "baby in the post"
cold case from 1965 are exhumed at a cemetery in
Darwin in the hope of investigators finding a
DNA match with the 53-year-old daughter of NTFL player Jimmy Anderson, who some investigators suspected was the intended recipient of the parcel sent from Melbourne.[322][323]
25 November — Hundreds of protesters commence a 30-hour blockade, blocking the shipping channel leading into the
Port of Newcastle in a protest organised by climate group
Rising Tide, objecting to the Federal Government approving new fossil fuel projects.[324]
109 protestors, including a 97-year-old
Uniting Church minister, are arrested for defying orders to leave the Port of Newcastle by 5pm, at the conclusion of the 30-hour blockade by Rising Tide to protest the Federal Government approving new fossil fuel projects.[327][328]
27 November —
Home Affairs secretary
Mike Pezzullo is sacked by the governor-general, after an independent inquiry finds Pezzullo breached the government's code of conduct at least 14 times.[329]
28 November — Labor senator for Western Australia
Pat Dodson announces he plans to retire from federal politics on
Australia Day, citing his treatment for cancer.[330]
The
FBI arrest a 58-year-old man in Arizona as part of the investigation into the
Wieambilla shootings on 12 December 2022.[332]
A 20-year-old man who lost control of the vehicle he was driving and crashed, killing his five teenage passengers in
Buxton on 6 September 2022 is sentenced to the maximum 12 years jail with a non-parole period of seven years.[333]
A 41-year-old convicted drug trafficker is sentenced to ten years in prison and declared a serious violent offender after the car she was driving crashed head-on into an
Australia Post truck at 164 km/h on the
Bruce Highway between
Mackay and
Rockhampton on 21 June 2022, killing the 62-year-old truck driver.[334]
2 December —
Two former detainees released into the community following the
High Court of Australia's ruling that indefinite
immigration detention in Australia was unlawful are arrested in separate incidents - a 65-year-old man is arrested for allegedly assaulting a woman in Adelaide while a 45-year-old man is arrested for allegedly being in possession of drugs in Sydney.[335]
3 December — Approximately thirty people in masks use
Eureka Day to hold a
white supremacist march in the Victorian city of
Ballarat, prompting outrage from the local community.[336]
Approximately $40,000 in cash is discovered scattered along the
Mitchell Freeway in Perth.[339] Police attending the incident conducted a search of a vehicle where they seized 51 grams of cocaine as well as $8,000 in cash.[339] They arrested a 34-year-old man was charged with possession of cocaine with intent to sell or supply, possession of stolen or unlawfully obtained property and having no authority to drive.[339]
5 December —
A third former immigration detainee who was released into the community after the
High Court's ruling that indefinite immigration in Australia was unlawful is arrested in Melbourne.[340] The 33-year-old registered sex offender is charged with nine counts of breaching his reporting obligations, which includes allegedly creating social media accounts and contacting children.[341]
The Federal Government begins to rush preventative detention laws through
Federal Parliament to give judges the power to cancel the Australian citizenship of serious offenders and to preventively detain some non-citizens released after the High Court's ruling that indefinite detention in Australia is unlawful.[342][343]
A fourth former immigration detainee released following the
High Court ruling that indefinite immigration in Australia was unlawful is arrested - a 45-year-old man is arrested in Melbourne and charged with one count of theft and one count of failing to comply with a curfew with the
Australian Federal Police alleging he breached the conditions of his visa.[347]
Attorney-General
Mark Dreyfus, Immigration minister
Andrew Giles and home affairs minister
Clare O'Neil hold a joint press conference to discuss Labor's proposed preventative detention laws.[348] Responding to a question by
Sky News journalist Olivia Caisley, Dreyfus rejects the notion the government owes the Australian community an apology for not being prepared for the High Court's decision.[349] Dreyfus, who described Caisley's question as "absurd", is criticised for the way he spoke to Caisley, prompting him to apologise to her in private.[350][351]
7 December — A fifth former immigration detainee released into the community following the
High Court ruling that indefinite immigration in Australia was unlawful is arrested by
police in Queensland after it was discovered that was an outstanding warrant for allegedly breaching parole conditions prior to entering immigration detention in 2012, after having been jailed for assault.[352]
11 December — The Federal Government unveils its 10-year
migration strategy which includes increasing minimum English language requirements for international students and tightening visa processes for migrant workers.[356][357]
A young boy and a man in his 30's are killed when the light plane they were in clipped powerlines and crashed on a rural property next to the
Clarence River at Lilydale near
Grafton, New South Wales.[359]
13 December —
It's announced that Australia will ban the use, supply and manufacturing of
engineered stone from 1 July 2024 following a
Safe Work Australia report which found the rates of
silicosis and silica-related diseases had risen substantially particularly among engineered stone workers.[360]
Cyclone Jasper makes landfall as a Category 2 cyclone near
Wujal Wujal in Far North Queensland bringing strong winds, heavy rain, flooding and power outages to the region.[361][362] The subsequent widespread flooding throughout Far North Queensland over the ensuing days force some residents onto rooftops, including patients at the Wujal Wujal Hospital, awaiting rescue.[363][364] The entire town of Wujal Wujal is evacuated and Cairns becomes completely isolated due to the closures of highways into the city and the inundation of the
Cairns Airport.[365][366]
Kirsty Bryant becomes the first woman in Australia to give birth to a baby from a
transplanted uterus.[373]
18 December — A woman is found dead with apparent stab wounds in the commercial kitchen area at the
National Zoo & Aquarium in
Canberra.[374] A 29-year-old co-worker is subsequently charged with her murder during a bedside hearing the following day at
Canberra Hospital to which he pleads not guilty.[375] The man is refused bail and is expected to appear in court again in April 2024.[375]
Charles Vincent Read, the 24-year-old son of
Chopper Read is sentenced to 15 months jail in the
Hobart Magistrates Court after pleading guilty to several charges including burglary, stealing and driving while disqualified.[380]
A federal court ruling sees
Airbnb fined $15 million and ordered to pay up to $15 million in compensation for misleading to around 70,000 Australian customers between January 2018 and August 2021 by failing to make clear prices on the website were in
USD and not
AUD.[382]
21 December —
Eva Lawler is sworn in as the 13th chief minister of the Northern Territory.[383]
The annual
Carols by Candlelight event at the
Sidney Myer Music Bowl in Melbourne is disrupted by
pro-Palestinian protestors.[387] Children preparing to perform with
Emma Memma are rushed off the stage for their own safety until security could intercept the protestors.[387] One of the protestors, a 21-year-old woman is arrested and issued with an infringement notice for carrying a controlled weapon.[387]
Acting foreign affairs minister
Mark Dreyfus confirms two Australian brothers were killed in an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon, after terrorist group
Hezbollah claims one of the brothers had been fighting for them.[390]
A 15-year-old Adelaide boy is killed in a shark attack while surfing on the
Yorke Peninsula in South Australia.[392]
29 December — The
United Workers Union sends a report to Worksafe SA claiming workers at the
Smith's factory in Adelaide have been experiencing adverse reactions from the seasoning used to flavour
Doritos 'Flamin' Hot' corn chips.[393] In response,
PepsiCo say they consider the safety of its employees as a "top priority" and they have mandated mask wearing during the production process and will install additional extraction fans.[393]
Field Day is held at
The Domain in Sydney where a total of 97 people are allegedly found in possession of illicit substances, with three people arrested for drug supply offences.[395][396]
15 January – Cate Blanchett wins
Best Actress at the
28th Critics' Choice Awards for her role in Tár, but uses her acceptance speech to criticise the award, describing it as a "poor second" to a bottle of mouthwash
Julia Roberts had given her, and accuses the film and television industry or promoting a "televised horse race".[399][400]
6 December –
Guy Sebastian's former manager
Titus Day who was found guilty by a jury in November 2022 of 34 fraud-related charges after allegedly embezzling $600,000 from Sebastian, has his conviction quashed and will be re-tried after winning an appeal in the
Court of Criminal Appeal.[428]
17 April – An episode of animated series Bluey entitled "Exercise" prompts criticism and accusations of
fat shaming, which leads to the episode being edited.[442][443]
1 May – The premiere of the
fifteenth series of MasterChef Australia is pulled from the schedule by Network 10 just hours before it is due to air due to the sudden death of judge
Jock Zonfrillo.[447] After consultation with Zonfrillo's family, the series commences on 7 May 2023.[447]
6 May – The ABC is heavily criticised for their coverage of the
Coronation of Charles III and Camilla on
ABC TV, during which they held a panel discussion featuring three anti-monarchists including Q+A host
Stan Grant, Australian Republican Movement chair
Craig Foster and Indigenous writer and lawyer Teela Reid, and one monarchist
Julian Leeser.[448][449][450][451][452] The panel discussion prompted more than 1,800 complaints from viewers and an ombudsman's investigation, which found no breach of impartiality standards during the coverage.[453][454] Grant also received racial abuse after his appearance on the panel which prompted him to step back from hosting Q+A.[455]
June
2 June – After losing his civil defamation trial, Ben Roberts-Smith resigns from
Seven West Media.[456] He had been the general manager of regional network
Seven Queensland since July 2015 before also being appointed as general manager of
Seven Brisbane in 2016.[457][458]
17 June – The
Australian Broadcasting Corporation's managing director
David Anderson announces a major restructure of the organisation in the new financial year, resulting in the loss of 120 jobs, the Sunday evening state-based ABC News bulletins on
ABC TV being replaced with a single national bulletin and the abolition of the ABC's arts team.[461] Among those to lose their jobs was national political editor
Andrew Probyn whose position is made redundant.[462] The ABC is widely condemned for the decisions.[463][464][465][466]
10 July – The Seven Network announces they have signed a two-year deal with
Hockey Australia to broadcast all internationally sanctioned games played by the
Kookaburras and
Hockeyroos as well as all matches of the
Hockey One league throughout 2023 and 2024.[468]
Weekend Sunrise becomes the final live television program to broadcast from the Seven Network's
Martin Place studios as the network completes its relocation to its
Eveleigh headquarters. The final editions of Sunrise and The Morning Show from Martin Place aired on 21 July while the final Seven News Sydney bulletin from Martin Place aired on 25 June.[470][471]
24 July – The ABC announces that
Stan Grant will not be returning to host Q+A with
Patricia Karvelas confirmed as the program's host for the remainder of the year.[473] It is also announced
Dan Bourchier would soon be hosting a special edition of Q+A from the
Garma Festival.[473]
After receiving much criticism, the
Australian Broadcasting Corporation announces it has reversed its earlier decision, deciding to retain the Sunday evening editions of the state-based ABC News bulletins on
ABC TV.[482]
4 August –
Eddie McGuire announces that Millionaire Hot Seat, the afternoon game show he has hosted since its debut in 2009, will be going into hiatus in January 2024, to be replaced with a new program produced in Melbourne.[484]
16 August – The
2023 FIFA Women's World Cup semi-final between the
Matildas and the
Lionesses becomes the most watched television program since the
OzTAM audience measuring commenced in 2001, with preliminary data showing a national average audience of 7.13 million watched the game.[487]
7 September – The
Australian Broadcasting Corporation admits it breached its own policies pertaining to the licensing of its archival television footage for political purposes after it's discovered the ABC's commercial arm licensed footage from the
1967 referendum to be used in Uluru Dialogue's advertisement for the
2023 referendum featuring
John Farnham's hit song You're the Voice.[493][494] That same footage was also inexplicably watermarked with a logo belonging to private company Australian Television Archive despite owner James Paterson stating that he had "nothing to do with the campaign, the agency or have any connection whatsoever to the footage our logo was placed on".[495][494]
14 November – It's announced
Network 10's morning program Studio 10 would be ending its 10-year run on 21 December 2023, after more than 2500+ editions.[506]
It's announced "
Fast Ed" would be departing the Seven Network's lifestyle program Better Homes and Gardens after almost twenty years, with the final edition in which he appears scheduled to air on 1 December.[510]
4 December – The
International Cricket Council announce that
Amazon Prime Video had secured the exclusive broadcast rights for all ICC tournament matches, commencing in 2024.[515] The announcement comes after federal communications minister
Michelle Rowland introduces proposed new
anti-siphoning laws to parliament, requiring free to air networks to be offered first refusal for major sporting events.[516] The decision to award the rights to the ICC tournament cricket matches to a streaming service is criticised by lobby group
FreeTV Australia, who call for the changes to the anti-siphoning rules laws to be fast-tracked.[517]
7 December –
It's announced that
Seven West Media CEO
James Warburton will step down from the role at the end of the financial year and will be succeeded by Jeff Howard.[518]
After appearing in Darwin Local Court for a brief committal hearing, the star of Outback Wrangler and Wild Croc Territory Matt Wright is committed to stand trial in the
Northern Territory Supreme Court on a charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice, which is related to the fatal helicopter crash in 2022 in which his co-star Chris "Willow" Wilson was killed.[519] Wright strenuously denies all charges.[519]
21 December –
Warren Mundine receives a formal apology from
SBS after its ombudsman Amy Stockwell found
NITV's The Point: Australia Decides program hosted by
Narelda Jacobs on the night of the
2023 Australian Indigenous Voice referendum twice breached the broadcaster's Code of Conduct.[524] During the program which featured Mundine and
Marcia Langton as panelists, Jacobs was found to have given the impression that one perspective had been unduly favoured when she criticised Mundine and described Langton as a "national treasure".[524] Stockwell also finds the program failed to provide an opportunity for Mundine to respond to a significant claim by Langton about Mundine's business when his microphone was muted.[524]
22 December – The final edition of Network 10's morning program Studio 10 goes to air.[525]
The ABC Ombudsman Fiona Cameron finds
ABC News breached the ABC's editorial guidelines of accuracy and impartiality when a radio report about a public meeting in Alice Springs was broadcast on current affairs program AM on 31 January 2023, finding that it had unduly favoured one perspective above all others.[529]
ABC managing director
David Anderson tells a
Senate Estimates hearing that the AM report on 31 January 2023 by reporter Carly Williams which claimed there were elements of
white supremacy at a public meeting in Alice Springs, should not have gone to air.[530] Anderson claims systems and processes which should have prevented the broadcast of the report had failed.[530]
8 May –
Triple M Townsville's Steve Price announces his retirement after hosting the station's breakfast program for the past 32 years, with his final program scheduled for
25 December.[535]
3 November –
Southern Cross Austereo reveals there will be only three
east coast breakfast shows on its regional
Hit Network in 2024, with
90.9 Sea FM's breakfast show hosted by Bonte Langbroek and Danny Lakey set to be heard across regional Queensland from the Gold Coast.[544] The
Hit 106.9Jess & Ducko breakfast show, hosted by Jess Farchione and Nick Ducat will also be networked across New South Wales from Newcastle, while
Hit 100.9's Dan & Christie breakfast show, hosted by Dan Taylor and
Christie Hayes, will be broadcast across Tasmania and regional Victoria from Hobart.[544]
15 November –
ABC Radio Sydney's Afternoons presenter
Josh Szeps announces on air that he has decided to leave the station at the end of the year, with his final program scheduled for 22 December.[545] Szeps cited "penalties" for speaking bluntly and bemoaned the risk involved in having conversations about controversial issues for his decision to resign from the ABC.[545]
17 November –
ABC Radio AdelaideBreakfast presenter Stacey Lee resigns from the ABC to be the new Afternoons host on
FIVEaa in 2024.[546]
Australia's first radio station,
ABC Radio Sydney (originally 2SB) celebrates 100 years on air.[548] To commemorate the anniversary, the station ceases its use of the
time signal "pips".[549]
Tom Switzer announces he is resigning from the ABC after nine years of hosting
Radio National's Between the Lines program.[550]
29 November –
Craig Reucassel is announced as the new host of
ABC Radio Sydney's Breakfast program in 2024, while it's also announced
James Valentine is returning to the station's Afternoons program.[551]
30 November –
Peter Goers signs off for the last time from
ABC Radio Adelaide's Evenings program, after having hosted the show since 2003.[552]
December
1 December –
Neil Mitchell signs off for the last time from the morning program on Melbourne's
3AW after having hosted the show since 1990.[553]
5 December –
ABC Radio National celebrates the 100th anniversary of the first test broadcasts of its original station
2FC.[556]
7 December – Former
2GBBreakfast host
Alan Jones is accused of indecently assaulting four young men during his time at the station, with the allegations published in The Sydney Morning Herald by investigative journalist
Kate McClymont.[557] Jones' lawyers respond to the allegations by describing them as "demonstrably false" and indicate they had commenced defamation proceedings against McClymont and
Nine Newspapers.[558][559]
11 December – It's announced that
Richard Kingsmill would be leaving the Australian Broadcasting Corporation after 35 years, after first joining the ABC's youth network
Triple J as a producer in 1988, ultimately becoming group music director in 2017 overseeing music content for Triple J and
ABC Local Radio as well as
Triple J Unearthed,
Double J and
ABC Country.[560]
13 December – ABC Ombudsman Fiona Cameron finds the 24 November 2023 edition of
Triple J's Hip Hop Show breached the ABC's standards for due impartiality and for the responsible management of controversial program material after guest presenter Miss Kaninna delivered
pro-Palestine comments during the show, prompting complaints.[561][562]
20 December – Journalist
Antoinette Lattouf who is filling in for
Sarah Macdonald on
ABC Radio Sydney's Mornings program is sacked by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation after posting about the
Israel-Hamas conflict on social media.[563] Lattouf responds by saying she believes she was terminated unlawfully and that it was "not a win for journalism or critical, fair thinking."[564]
10 January –
Football Australia rules that
Melbourne Victory FC brought the game into disrepute, penalising the club with a $550,000 fine and a suspended 10-point deduction for the violent
A-League pitch invasion which occurred at
AAMI Park on 17 December 2022 which saw fans run onto the field and assault referee
Alex King and player
Tom Glover.[572]
Play is suspended on all outside courts at the
Australian Open just after 2 pm AEDST when
Tennis Australia's extreme heat policy is enacted due to high temperatures.[577] Play resumes at 5 pm AEDST but is again interrupted due to rain.[577]
24 March – A power outage occurs at
The Gabba during the Friday night AFL game between the
Brisbane Lions and the
Melbourne Demons with 12 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, stopping play for 38 minutes.[589]
Australia wins the
second Ashes test, beating England by 43 runs at
Lord's, taking a 2–0 nil lead in the five-match series.[597] However, a controversial stumping of
Jonny Bairstow by
Alex Carey prompts some members of the
Marylebone Cricket Club to allegedly verbally abuse and physically contact the Australian players as they return to their dressing rooms at lunch, while accusing the players of cheating.[598] This prompts reactions from
Usman Khawaja and
David Warner before stewards usher them away.[599] Three MCC members are suspended as a result.[599]
5 July – An ongoing pay dispute with the
National Rugby League escalates when the
Rugby League Players Association announces it has instructed NRL and NRLW players not to partake in any media interviews during
Round 19 or the third
State of Origin after a breakdown in protracted negotiations over the collective bargaining agreement.[601] NRL CEO Andrew Abdo describes the action taken as disappointing.[602]
9 July – England win the
third Ashes test, beating Australia by three wickets at
Headingley Cricket Ground and with the series now 2–1 keep themselves in contention in the five-test series.[604]
More than 50,000 spectators at
Docklands Stadium watch a friendly women's soccer game between the
Matildas and
France, with the Matildas winning the match 1–0 after a
Mary Fowler goal.[608]
1 August – Australian runner
Peter Bol is cleared of doping following a
Sport Integrity Australia investigation.[620] The
World Anti-Doping Agency says it will review its testing processes after notifying Bol of a positive test result for synthetic
EPO in January despite subsequent analysis of a B-sample returning an "atypical" finding.[620]
A goal umpire denies the
Adelaide Crows a match-winning goal kicked by
Ben Keays in the final 90 seconds of their
Round 23 match against the
Sydney Swans at
Adelaide Oval, mistakenly believing the ball had hit the post, which results in the Crows missing out a place in the finals.[627] The goal umpire is subsequently stood down and the AFL's CEO
Gillon McLachlan apologises for the mistake.[628]
Just hours after playing his final game, footballer
Jack Ziebell is allegedly assaulted in an unprovoked at a bar in
South Yarra at approximately 1 am while celebrating his retirement.[630][631] Two men were subsequently arrested for the alleged assault.[632]
15 September – A stand at
Stadium Australia is named the Cathy Freeman Stand in honour of
Cathy Freeman, the first Aboriginal athlete to win an individual Olympic gold medal for Australia.[641]
24 September –
The Wallabies are defeated by
Wales by 40–6 and are likely to be knocked out of the
2023 Rugby World Cup without progressing past the pool stages for the first time in history.[643] Coach
Eddie Jones and captain
David Porecki both apologise to Australia for their team's poor performance.[644]
Australian cricketer
Alyssa Healy is taken to hospital and undergoes surgery on her hand after sustaining a dog bite at home forcing her to be ruled out of the entire
WBBL season.[664][665][666]
25 October – Australia wins by 309 runs in their 2023 Cricket World Cup match against the
Netherlands at
Arun Jaitley Stadium during which
Glenn Maxwell breaks the record for the fastest century.[668]
5 November –
Hayden Wilde and
Ashleigh Gentle win the respective men's and women's categories at the
Noosa Triathlon but the results are somewhat overshadowed when a 53-year-old competitor dies during the swimming leg.[674][675]
21 November – Former cricketer and television commentator
Michael Slater pleads guilty in
Noosa Magistrates Court to obstructing police following an altercation with police officers on 31 March 2023.[685] Slater is fined $600 but no conviction was recorded.[685]
25 November –
Courtney Bruce is awarded the
Liz Ellis Diamond at the
Australian Netball Awards, which is overshadowed when
Netball Australia confirms it threatened legal action against players who planned to boycott the event amid an ongoing pay dispute.[687] This prompts a rebuke from
Liz Ellis who accuses Netball Australia of treating players with "callous disregard".[688]
4 December – Olympic rower
Simon Burgess appears in Hobart Magistrates Court charged with one count of common assault, one count of injure property and three counts of breach Family Violence Order following an alleged incident in
Franklin on 2 December 2023.[694] Magistrate Andrew McKee remanded Burgess in custody after refusing a bail application.[694]
17 December – Australia defeat Pakistan by 360 runs in a match which saw
Nathan Lyon secure his 500th test wicket.[699]
21 December – Australian cricketer
Usman Khawaja is charged by the
International Cricket Council for breaching clothing and equipment regulations during the first test in Perth after wearing a
black armband without seeking prior approval.[700] Khawaja says he will be contesting the reprimand and asking for consistency in how the ICC officiates.[701] Khawaja had already been prevented from wearing boots displaying handwritten political slogans in the colours of the
Palestinian flag during the first test due to the ICC's regulations prohibiting political, religious or racial messaging.[702]
Former professional road racing cyclist
Rohan Dennis is arrested and charged causing death by dangerous driving, driving without due care and endangering life after his wife, fellow former professional cyclist
Melissa Hoskins, is allegedly struck by a ute in the Adelaide suburb of
Medindie.[711] Dennis is bailed to appear in the
Adelaide Magistrates Court in March 2024.[711]
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^"Statement on the passing of Bruce Childs". Evatt Foundation. 6 May 2023. Retrieved 26 May 2023. It is with sadness that the Evatt Foundation received news of the passing of our former President (1998–2006) and Life Member, Bruce Childs on 4 May 2023.
^"Australian country music legend Joy McKean dies aged 93". news.com.au. 26 May 2023. Retrieved 26 May 2023. McKean's record company EMI made the announcement today, revealing that McKean, known as the "grand lady" of Australian country music, had died yesterday...
^"Vale Rale Rasic". Football Victoria. 8 June 2023. Zvonimir 'Rale' Rasic, the first coach to guide Australia to the FIFA World Cup, passed away earlier this morning, aged 87
^"STEWART, Craig Forbes". My Tributes. 10 June 2023. Retrieved 11 June 2023. 15/09/1956 – 08/06/2023
^Knox, David (11 June 2023).
"Vale: Camilla Ah Kin". TV Tonight. Retrieved 11 June 2023. She passed away in Sydney on Friday night
^Argall, Liz (20 June 2023).
"Vale Dennis Argall". Pearls and Irritations. Retrieved 27 June 2023. Dennis passed away peacefully at 11:10pm (AEST) on Tuesday the 13th of June...
^Holmesby, Russell (11 August 2023).
"Vale, Bob Dawson and Jeff Hilton". Saints. St Kilda Football Club. Retrieved 21 August 2023. At 102 years of age, Bob Dawson was the oldest living St Kilda player at the time of his death on July 31.
^"Passing of Jeff "Joffa" Hilton". Beaconsfield Football & Netball Past Players and Officials. 11 August 2023. Retrieved 21 August 2023. Beaconsfield Football Club is saddened by the passing of Jeff "Joffa" Hilton, one of our 1999 premiership players...
^"Passing of Shane McNally". Wests Old Boys. 13 August 2023. Retrieved 21 August 2023. ...Shane McNally passed away on Friday.
^Bennett, Jeff; Lindsay, Greg (15 August 2023).
"The scholar who helped transform Australia". Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 21 August 2023. sudden death of economist Wolfgang Kasper in North Queensland on Sunday...
^"Vale Rob Langer". WA Cricket. Western Australian Cricket Association Ltd. 15 September 2023. Retrieved 23 September 2023. ...passed away on Thursday...
^Rockliff, Jeremy (21 September 2023).
"Vale The Hon Graeme Page". Jeremy Rockliff Premier of Tasmania. Tasmanian Government. Retrieved 23 September 2023. ...sadly passed away last night...
^"Vale Kevin Byrne: 1949 to 2023". News and notices. Cairns Regional Council. 22 September 2023. Retrieved 23 September 2023. ...who passed away yesterday.
^"FREEMAN, Susan Marjory (Tracey)". Gladstone Valley Funerals. 5 October 2023. Retrieved 29 October 2023. FREEMAN (nee Lumby), Susan Marjory (Tracey); 10.01.1948– 04.10.2023
^Appleton, Molly (16 October 2023).
"Greens Bass MHA Lance Armstrong dies aged 83". The Examiner. Retrieved 29 October 2023. died peacefully in his sleep in a Melbourne nursing home on Saturday, October 14.
^"Vale Chris Stone". Manly Warringah District Cricket Club. 28 November 2023. Retrieved 6 December 2023. Chris was 64 and passed away in Belgium on the 24th November after a long illness.