2025 in Australia


The following is a list of events including expected and scheduled events for the year 2025 in Australia.

Incumbents

Monarch
Governor-General
Prime Minister
[Deputy Prime Minister of Australia|Prime Minister of Australia|Deputy Prime Minister]
[List of Australian Defence Force|Australian Leaders of the Opposition|Opposition Leader]
'''Chief Justice'''

State and territory leaders

Governors and administrators

Events

January

  • 1 January –
  • *One home and a number of other buildings are destroyed in a bushfire burning in the communities of The Lakes, Woottating and Wooroloo east of Perth, while a separate bushfire burning in the Great Southern region forces the closure of the South Coast Highway.
  • *Woolworths Group announce that it will be running a "Perfect for Australia Day" promotion in Woolworths Supermarkets and Big W stores following last year's controversial decision to not stock Australia Day-themed merchandise.
  • *The National Archives of Australia releases Cabinet documents from 2003 and 2004 which reveal the Howard Government avoiding disclosing it had sent Australian troops to the Middle East months before officially authorising the country's involvement in the Iraq War.
  • 2 January –
  • *Police in Fiji confirm they are investigating the alleged sexual assault and robbery of two Virgin Australia crew members while they were celebrating New Year's Eve at a nightclub in Nadi.
  • *A man is shot dead by police in a hospital carpark in Taree, New South Wales after he allegedly pointed a gun at officers. Police were initially responding to reports of the man firing shots into the air in Wingham 13 kilometres away.
  • *A 28-year-old man is believed to have been killed in a shark attack while surfing at Granites Beach near Streaky Bay in South Australia.
  • *A 3-year-old boy dies in a caravan fire at Boort, Victoria.
  • 3 January –
  • *A 7-year-old boy drowns in a river near a campsite on the Angusvale Track at Cobbannah in the East Gippsland region of Victoria.
  • *A 56-year-old man is killed and a 60-year-old woman is injured when the jetski they were on collided with mangroves on the Barron River in Cairns, Queensland.
  • *An abseiler is killed when he falls 20 metres off a cliff in the Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park near Sydney.
  • *A 72-year-old man is arrested in relation to the alleged murder 25-year-old Meaghan Louise Rose who was found dead at Point Cartwright on the Sunshine Coast in 1997.
  • 4 January – Two people are killed in a light plane crash near Nambucca Heads, just off the New South Wales Mid North Coast.
  • 5 January –
  • *A Forty Winks furniture showroom in the Melbourne suburb of Nunawading is destroyed by fire in a suspected arson attack.
  • *The 50th anniversary of the Tasman Bridge disaster is commemorated.
  • 6 January – In his first major announcement prior to the 2025 Australian federal election, prime minister Anthony Albanese announces a federal Labor government would provide $7.2 billion in funding to cover 80% of the cost of upgrading of Queensland's Bruce Highway.
  • 7 January –
  • *A man is charged for allegedly threatening worshippers at a Sydney synagogue.
  • *A Cessna 208 Caravan floatplane crashes during takeoff at Thomson Bay off Rottnest Island. The pilot and two passengers were killed, while another three passengers survived with serious injuries.
  • 8 January – After being lost in Kosciuszko National Park since Boxing Day, a 23-year-old bushwalker is found alive.
  • 11 January –
  • *Deputy leader of the Opposition in South Australia, Jing Lee announces she has resigned from the Liberal Party and will serve as an independent member of the upper house until the 2026 South Australian state election.
  • *It is confirmed that 32-year-old Australian man, Happy Charity co-founder Rory Sykes has been killed in the Southern California wildfires.
  • *The 60th anniversary of the Wanda Beach Murders is commemorated by the victims' families.
  • 13 January –
  • *A 58-year-old taxi driver and his two passengers, an 81-year-old woman and her 56-year-old daughter, are killed are when the Toyota Camry they were in was hit head-on by a Toyota RAV4 driven at high speed by a 43-year-old man travelling the wrong way on the Leach Highway in Perth. Authorities allege that the 43-year-old driver, who also died in the crash, had made a "conscious decision" to enter the highway via an off-ramp and drive on the wrong side of the highway, with police also launching an investigation into whether he had committed murder-suicide.
  • *A 63-year-old Coles Supermarket employee is critically injured when she is allegedly stabbed in the back by a 13-year-old boy while working at a supermarket in Ipswich, Queensland. The boy is subsequently charged with attempted murder. With police alleging the victim was attacked with a knife taken from the supermarket, Coles withdraws kitchen knives from sale across Australia.
  • *An Australian Federal Police officer is allegedly stabbed in the neck with a pen by a 34-year-old Perth woman who they were escorted off an aircraft while disembarking at Perth Airport. The woman is subsequently charged with two counts of causing harm to, and one count of obstructing, a Commonwealth public official.
  • 15 January – Prime Minister Anthony Albanese vows to take the strongest possible action against Russia if it can be verified that Russia's military had executed 32-year-old prisoner of war Oscar Jenkins, after being captured while serving in the Ukrainian armed forces. Federal opposition leader Peter Dutton also says if that if Jenkins has been executed, Russian's ambassador to Australia should be expelled.
  • 16 January –
  • *A 44-year-old Sydney man becomes the first person to be charged in a new AFP operation that attempts to crackdown on antisemitic behaviour. The man is charged following a search of his home in Blacktown in relation to the alleged posting of death threats to a social media page run by a Jewish organisation.
  • *27-year-old Melbourne burlesque performer Katie Tangey who performed under the name of Vivien May-Royale is killed after becoming trapped in a townhouse fire in the Melbourne suburb of Truganina. Police suspect the fire was deliberately lit by two arsonists in a case of mistaken identity.
  • *A three-year-old Australian girl dies in an accidental drowning while holidaying with her family in Bali.
  • 17 January – A house in the Sydney suburb of Dover Heights, formerly owned by Jewish leader Alex Ryvchin is targeted with antisemitic vandalism. Two cars are also set alight and red paint also used to damage a nearby property. The attack is widely condemned.
  • 19 January –
  • *A caravan loaded with powergel explosives is discovered in the Sydney suburb of Dural along with antisemitic material and a list of Jewish synagogues, prompting a major counterterrorism investigation to be launched by the New South Wales Police Force, the AFP, ASIO and the Joint Counter Terrorism Team with police alleging the explosives were intended for targeted antisemitic attacks in the Jewish community. A Liverpool home is raided two days after the caravan was discovered.
  • *A 22-month-old girl dies in a house fire in the Hobart suburb of Rokeby. Her five-year-old sister is taken to hospital in a critical condition but later dies in hospital.
  • *Federal Member for Hinkler Keith Pitt submits his resignation effective immediately, likely leaving the electorate without a member of parliament until the 2025 Australian federal election.
  • 21 January – A childcare centre near a synagogue in the Sydney suburb of Maroubra is set on fire and spray painted with antisemitic graffiti. NSW premier Chris Minns describes the alleged perpetrators as "bastards" who will be "rounded up" by New South Police while prime minister Anthony Albanese describes the incident as "an evil hate crime." The latest attack of antisemitism prompts Albanese to call a meeting of National Cabinet, during which the Australian Federal Police confirm they are investigating whether foreign actors have paid local criminals to carry out the attacks.
  • 22 January – Western Australia Police commissioner Col Blanch confirms a homeowner who killed a 20-year-old man who police allege was armed with a machete during a home invasion in Kalgoorlie on 29 November 2024 would not be charged.
  • 23 January –
  • *A crew from Australian space company Equatorial Launch Australia, including its CEO Michael Jones, were allegedly threatened and assaulted in an incident on a rural property near Weipa, Queensland. Three people, aged 36, 64 and 27, were subsequently arrested and charged on 29 January 2025 with over 50 offences.
  • *Twenty bronze statues in Prime Ministers Avenue in the Ballarat Botanical Gardens are vandalised, two of which are severed and stolen. The vandalism is condemned by the Gardens' foundation chair Mark Schultz who says he hopes the alleged offenders are identified and charged with "wanton destruction of public property".
  • 25 January –
  • *Victorian premier Jacinta Allan, Melbourne lord mayor Nick Reece and federal member for Deakin Michael Sukkar condemn the vandalism to an Anzac memorial in Parkville, a memorial to John Batman at Queen Victoria Market and to a Maroondah City Council citizenship ceremony marquee at Ringwood North.
  • *Former Australian rules footballer Neale Daniher is named 2025 Australian of the Year.
  • 26 January –
  • *The 2025 Australia Day Honours list is announced. Allen Cheuk-Seng Cheng, Megan Davis, James Edelman, Gillian Triggs, Lyn Williams and Galarrwuy Yunupingu are all bestowed with the highest honour of the Companion of the Order of Australia (AC).
  • *16 members of the National Socialist Network are arrested in Adelaide and charged with various offences.
  • 27 January –
  • *The Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service confirm they would increase patrols on K'gari following a string of incidents in which dingoes have bitten children.
  • 28 January – The Great Northern Brewing Co. halts its "Outdoors for a Cause" campaign which intended to raise money to buy land for national parks in support of the non-profit organisation Foundation for National Parks & Wildlife. The $200,000 campaign results in its customers boycotting the brand, alleging the campaign would see state forests converted into national parks, reducing the freedom to partake in outdoor recreational activities.
  • 29 January –
  • *The Supreme Court of Queensland convicts 14 members of the religious group "Saints", including its leader Brendan Stevens, for manslaughter over the death of eight-year old Elizabeth Struhs in 2022 from diabetic ketoacidosis, which came after the group withheld her insulin medication as part of their religious beliefs. Struh's parents and brother are also among those convicted.
  • *Prime minister Anthony Albanese confirms the Australian Government is urgently attempting to verify a report it has received from Russia that alleges prisoner-of-war Oscar Jenkins is actually alive despite earlier reports he had been executed by Russian forces.
  • 30 January – After pleading guilty to manslaughter after killing his wife Vanessa Godfrey in a hotel room on the Sunshine Coast during a drug-induced psychotic episode on 14 February 2022, Jeffrey James Godfrey is sentenced in the Brisbane Supreme Court to 12 years in jail and is automatically declared a serious violent offender.
  • 31 January –
  • *An internal investigation is released which finds eight Western Australia Police Force officers did not perform their duties and were subsequently disciplined after failing to correctly assess the risks before Mark Bombara murdered his wife's best friend Jennifer Petelczyz and her daughter Gretle before killing himself in the Perth suburb of Floreat on 24 May 2024 while attempting to locate his wife and daughter. Before the murders, Bombara's daughter had repeatedly attempted to warn police about her father's but to no avail.
  • *The federal government's National Redress Scheme awards compensation to two men who allege they were sexually abused when they were children by cardinal George Pell who died in 2023.

February

March

  • 1 March –
  • *A seven-day search for the remains of the three Beaumont children at the former Castalloy site in the Adelaide suburb of North Plympton concludes without any new evidence discovered.
  • *A magnitude 4.4 earthquake occurs in Townsville, Queensland.
  • 3 March – Victoria Police announce a $1 million reward for information relating to the murder of 48-year-old Gianni "John" Furlon who was killed in a car bombing on 3 August 1998 in the Melbourne suburb of Coburg North.
  • 4 March – Western Australia Police arrest a 16-year old boy in Eaton who allegedly made an online threat against the newly-opened Sydney Islamic House mosque.
  • 5 March –
  • *A second Bankstown Lidcombe Hospital nurse is charged with using a carriage service to menace, harass or offend, and possessing a prohibited drug in relation to an alleged antisemitic video incident in February 2025.
  • *Queensland authorities advise residents in southeast Queensland to evacuate in response to the approaching Cyclone Alfred.
  • 6 March –
  • *Cyclone Alfred brings stormy weather and heavy rainfall to southeast Queensland and northeast New South Wales.
  • *Police arrest a 17-year old youth who breached security at Avalon Airport and attempted to board a Jetstar plane with a loaded shotgun and a fake homemade explosives. The incident leads to the temporary closure of Avalon Airport and prompted investigations by federal and state authorities into the airport's security practices.
  • 8 March –
  • *Thirteen Australian Defence Force personnel are injured when two army vehicles carrying a total of 36 personnel are involved in an incident near Lismore, New South Wales. One vehicle left the roadway and rolled, causing the other vehicle to tip over while trying to avoid a collision.
  • *The 2025 Western Australian state election is held. The Labor Party led by Roger Cook is re-elected in a convincing victory over the Liberal Party which polled poorly. However, Perth lord mayor and former Channel 7 presenter Basil Zempilas wins the seat of Churchlands for the Liberal Party.
  • 10 March – A 37-year-old man is killed by a shark while surfing at a beach near Esperance, Western Australia.
  • 11 March –
  • *In a keynote address to the Australian Institute of Company Directors, Qantas chair John Mullen opined that corporate Australia "did itself no favours" by vocally campaigning in support of the 2023 Australian Indigenous Voice referendum stating that companies risked appearing like they were "virtue signalling". His comments were criticised by Noongar law academic Hannah McGlade who said they showed "a lack of respect to Aboriginal people" and accused Mullen of losing credibility with his comments.
  • *American actor Leonardo DiCaprio publicly criticises the Australian Government for approving South32's proposed expansion of its bauxite mine at Worsley in Western Australia's Northern Jarrah Forest with DiCaprio expressing his view on Instagram that mining developments were being prioritised over environmental protection due to separate government policies.
  • 12 March –
  • *The White House announces that the United States will not be granting Australia an exemption from tariffs on aluminium and steel imports despite president Donald Trump previously stating he would consider excluding Australia from the 25% tariffs. Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese criticises the decision describing it as "entirely unjustified" and "fundamentally at odds with the benefits that our economic partnership has delivered over more than 70 years."
  • *American influencer Sam Jones is widely condemned after she posts footage on Instagram of her taking a baby wombat from its mother and holding it up to the camera. After various wildlife organisations criticise her actions, prime minister Anthony Albanese suggests Jones attempts to take a baby crocodile from its mother to see what happens. After returning to the United States, after having been threatened with having her visa cancelled, Jones subsequently apologises but also criticises Albanese for his comments and accuses the Australian Government of allowing farmers to kill wildlife including wombats.
  • *A total of ten men aged between 22 and 36 are all found guilty of murdering 19-year-old man Girum Mekonnen at O'Callaghan Park in the Brisbane suburb of Zillmere in September 2020, while two other men are acquitted of all their charges. Justice Lincoln Crowley convicts Ben Abio, Alex Edward Deng, Kresto Wal Wal, Majok Riel Majok, Joseph Lokolong, Abraham Ajang Yaak, Juma Makuol, Santo Wal, Chan Kon and Gabreal Wal on the basis they were all party to a common unlawful purpose. The ten men all receive life sentences for the murder.
  • *The High Court of Australia dismisses an appeal by the Commonwealth, ruling that they are liable for compensation for lost or impaired native title rights relating to a bauxite mining lease on the Gove Peninsula in North East Arnhem Land.
  • 17 March –
  • *Authorities in South Australia close Waitpinga Beach and Parsons Beach to the public after a microalgal bloom leads to a fish kill and the sickening of two surfers.
  • ** the algal bloom continued and oyster harvesting in American River, Port Vincent and Stansbury was closed, as was some of the mouth of the Murray River to commercial harvesting of pipis.
  • *The Reserve Bank of Australia reveals the new design of the Australian five-dollar note will be a celebration of First Nation peoples' connection to Country.
  • 18 March –
  • *After entering its third day of deliberations in the Cairns Supreme Court, a jury is discharged after they advised they were deadlocked and unable to reach a verdict in the trial of 40-year-old Rajwinder Singh who is charged with murdering 24-year-old Toyah Cordingly on Wangetti Beach near Cairns in October 2018.
  • *An inquest commences into the murder of Lilie James, a water polo coach who was killed by Paul Thijssen at St Andrew's Cathedral School in Sydney before he took his own life.
  • 21 March –
  • *The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission hands down a 441-page report following their investigation into Australian supermarket operations. The report finds that Woolworths and Coles don't have a strict duopoly in Australia and is unable to conclude whether price gouging is occurring.
  • *A 39-year-old Australian woman dies when the snorkelling boat she was on capsizes in rough seas off Bali.
  • 22 March – A 54-year-old construction worker dies after falling into a silo at a Boral quarry at Montrose on Melbourne's outskirts.
  • 24 March –
  • *Peabody Energy is ordered to pay $196,560 in fines plus legal and investigative costs to the New South Wales Environment Protection Authority after the company pleaded guilty in 2024 to two incidents which occurred in 2022 in which contaminated water entered Camp Gully Creek and the Hacking River which flows through the Royal National Park.
  • *Federal teal independent MP Monique Ryan and her husband Peter Jordan both apologise after Jordan was observed removing a sign belonging to Ryan's political rival Amelia Hamer in the Melbourne suburb of Camberwell, Victoria. In his apology, Jordan claims the sign had been illegally placed on public property but concedes he should have reported his concerns to council.
  • 26 March –
  • *Australian clothing retailer Jeanswest collapses with the company's 90 stores across Australia set to close within months, putting hundreds of employees out of work.
  • *Alcoa receives a $400,000 fine after pleading guilty in the Rockingham Magistrates Court to failing to ensure the health and safety of workers after work experience students at its refinery in Kwinana suffered caustic burns when a pump discharged a hot caustic solution in September 2022.
  • *A woman is injured when a man allegedly drives a car into the Qantas call centre in Goodwood near Hobart. He is subsequently charged with a number of offences including attempted murder and arson.
  • *Australian Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young waves a dead fish during Question Time during a debate about legislation relating to reforms to Tasmania's salmon farming industry.
  • 27 March –
  • *40-year-old former South Australian opposition leader David Speirs pleads guilty in the Adelaide Magistrates Court to two counts of supplying or administering a drug that wasn't cannabis to another person at Kingston Park between 1 August 2024 and 10 August 2024.
  • *Australian discount retailer The Reject Shop agrees to a $259 million takeover bid by Canada's Dollarama.
  • 28 March –
  • *Prime minister Anthony Albanese officially calls the date for the 2025 Australian federal election sending voters to the polls on 3 May 2025 following a five-week election campaign.
  • *35-year-old former New South Wales police officer Kristian White is sentenced in the New South Wales Supreme Court to a two-year community correction order, requiring him to perform 425 hours of community service, after he was found guilty in November 2024 of the manslaughter of 95-year-old Clare Nowland, whom he tasered in an aged care facility in Cooma, New South Wales. The sentence is criticised by Nowland's family who describe it as "a slap on the wrist" with legal experts also expressing surprise at the non-custodial sentence imposed.
  • *A pilot is critically injured when his aircraft crashes during an aerobatic display at the Australian International Airshow at Avalon Airport in Victoria.
  • 31 March – A 16-year-old girl, a 13-year-old girl and a 10-year-old boy are found with stab wounds at a property in the Sydney suburb of Baulkham Hills. They were treated by paramedics before being taken to Westmead Hospital in a stable condition. A 47-year-old woman is also found at the scene with stab wounds and is taken to hospital under police guard. The woman is subsequently charged with the attempted murder of the three children.

April

  • 1 April –
  • *Authorities attempt to repair broken flood levees as the worst flooding since 1974 continues in outback Queensland.
  • *29-year-old Andre Rebelo is sentenced in the Western Australian Supreme Court to life imprisonment after he was found guilty in December 2024 of murdering his 58-year-old mother Colleen Rebelo in the Perth suburb of Bicton in May 2020 after he had taken out three life insurance policies in her name and forging her will.
  • 2 April –
  • *It is announced that an independent review led by former state governor Malcolm McCusker will be held into the 2025 Western Australian state election, following reports of widespread issues on polling day such as a shortage of ballot papers, delays with the counting and long wait times.
  • *New South Wales education minister Prue Car criticises a school in the Sydney suburb of Kellyville for their decision to allow students to "opt out" of their annual Anzac Day commemoration. The principal of the school later apologises and says it is now an expectation that "all students" attend the service, while acknowledging the initial messaging "was seen as disrespectful by some members of the broader community and has detracted from our longstanding tradition of acknowledging and respecting Anzac Day..."
  • 3 April –
  • *60-year-old Luke Samouel Simon is sentenced in the New South Wales Supreme Court to 31 years in jail with a non-parole period of 22 years for the murder of his daughter's fiance, 38-year-old tradie Damien Conlon in Oberon, New South Wales in February 2023. The murderer's daughter Linda Simon later states that she is "happy that justice was served" which had provided her family with "closure."
  • *Two climate protestors from Rising Tide Australia are ushered out of a hospital in Maitland, New South Wales after they begin yelling at prime minister Anthony Albanese during his visit to the hospital.
  • *Albanese is uninjured after he falls backwards from a stage at a Mining and Energy Union conference in Lovedale, New South Wales while repositioning himself for a photo opportunity.
  • 4 April –
  • *After 18 years in custody, 59-year-old Tony Mokbel is granted bail by the Victorian Court of Appeal after three judges approved his bail application.
  • *A series of cyberattacks hit large Australian superannuation funds including AustralianSuper, Rest, Hostplus, Insignia, and Australian Retirement.
  • 5 April – During opposition leader Peter Dutton's visit to Cazalys Stadium is Darwin during the federal election campaign, 10 News First camera operator Ghaith Nadir suffers a minor injury to his forehead after Dutton kicks a football which hits Nadir's camera, forcefully pushing the viewfinder into his forehead.
  • 8 April – A 10-year-old Australian girl is killed in a cooking school fire in Singapore.
  • 9 April – The Australian Transport Safety Bureau releases their final report into the fatal Gold Coast mid-air collision which highlights a series of safety issues that contributed to the collision between the two helicopters near Sea World including a faulty radio antenna.
  • 10 April – After appearing in the Brisbane Children's Court, a male teenager is committed to stand trial in the Brisbane Supreme Court charged with "a commonwealth offence of committing acts done "in preparation for, or planning, a terrorist act" allegedly targeting federal opposition leader Peter Dutton.
  • 11 April – 64-year-old child killer Rick Thorburn who murdered 12-year-old Tiahleigh Palmer in 2015 is found dead in his jail cell at the Woodford Correctional Centre, north of Brisbane.
  • 15 April – Prime minister Anthony Albanese condemns a decision by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency which finds Vegemite to be non-compliant with Canadian health regulations due to the added Vitamin B which would force a chain of Australian-style cafes in Toronto to remove $9000 worth of stock and ban the product from being served. A science-based health risk assessment from Health Canada finds Vegemite presents a low risk to human health when consumed in the suggested serving sizes. The CFIA therefore allows the cafe to continue selling the product with revised labelling while they reach a longer term plan for Vegemite sales across Canada.
  • 16 April – Australian footwear chain Wittner collapses and administrators appointed after 113 years of operations.
  • 19 April – Prosecutors for the occupied territory of Luhansk confirm Australian teacher Oscar Jenkins has been charged with being a mercenary in an armed conflict with the Russian Federation on the side of enemy troops.
  • 20 April – At least seven people are reported to have drowned following two days of strong swells along the coasts of New South Wales and Victoria.
  • 21 April – 53-year-old Adrian Torrens is charged with murder after the body of 19-year-old woman Audrey Griffin was found in a creek at Erina on the New South Wales Central Coast on 23 March 2025. Torrens subsequently dies by suicide in his jail cell at the Silverwater Correctional Complex on 24 April.
  • 21 April –
  • * A 22-year-old woman is killed and another man shot during a string of alleged carjackings on the Sunshine Coast. A 41-year-old Tewantin man is subsequently charged with 15 offences including unlawful possession of a firearm, armed robbery and dangerous operation of a vehicle causing death. The man is accused of losing control of his vehicle and crashing into another vehicle, fatally injuring a 22-year-old passenger before allegedly shooting a 62-year-old man who had stopped to help others involved in the accident. Helen Powers, the mother of The Twinnies also alleges the man threatened her with the gun after stopping to assist. The Twinnies subsequently give an interview about the incident which goes viral for their unique way of communicating.
  • *The death of Pope Francis prompts Catholics in Australia as well as other religious and political leaders to pay their respects, while flags on government buildings fly at half-mast. Both Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton also suspend their campaigning for the federal election out of respect. The pope's death also results in Ukrainian-born Melbourne-based Cardinal Mykola Bychok becoming the youngest member of the 2025 papal conclave.
  • 23 April –
  • *71-year-old supermarket owner Linford Feick is fatally stabbed after confronting an accused shoplifter in his Darwin supermarket. An 18-year-old man is subsequently charged with Feick's murder.
  • *A series of violent and aggressive incidents occur in the lead-up to the federal election, prompting the Australian Electoral Commission to call for respectful behaviour during the election campaign. The incidents include a 17-year-old boy allegedly punching a 79-year-old man who was allegedly attempting to vandalise a corflute outside a pre-polling centre in the Sydney suburb of Ashfield; A 30-year-old man allegedly intimidating and behaving aggressively towards volunteers and kicking over corflutes in the Sydney suburb of Macquarie Park; and three men disrupting a candidate's forum in the Melbourne seat of Kooyong which local member Monique Ryan describes as "stupid, pointless posturing" by "right-wing bullies."
  • 24 April –
  • *40-year-old former South Australian Liberal party leader David Speirs is sentenced in the Adelaide Magistrates Court after having earlier pleaded guilty to two counts of supplying drugs. He is fined $9,000 fine and sentenced to 37.5 hours of community service after being convicted of supplying cocaine to two people in 2024.
  • *An anonymous submission to a parliamentary inquiry into Victoria's ambulance service reveals Ambulance Victoria breached strict COVID-19 rules in 2021 by holding an illegal gathering at a funeral while Victorians were enduring Stage 4 lockdowns at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in Victoria. Despite a 10-person limit for funerals being in place, it's alleged up to 40 persons attended the funeral gathering. Premier Jacinta Allan condemned the event, describing it as incident which was entirely inappropriate.
  • 25 April –
  • *The 110th anniversary of the Gallipoli landings are commemorated at annual Anzac Day services across Australia and New Zealand.
  • *Jacob Hersant, a figurehead of neo-Nazi organisation National Socialist Network, is escorted by Victoria Police away from an Anzac Day dawn service at Melbourne's Shrine of Remembrance after allegedly disrupting the service by leading booing during a Welcome to Country address by Bunurong elder Mark Brown. A similar incident occurs at Perth's ANZAC Day dawn service at Kings Park where a heckler disrupts an Acknowledgement of Country, which premier Roger Cook describes as "disgusting." Among the leaders who condemn the heckling at Anzac services is Prime Minister Anthony Albanese who states: "The disruption of Anzac Day is beyond contempt, and the people responsible must face the full force of the law. This was an act of low cowardice on a day when we honour courage and sacrifice."
  • *A 36-year-old woman dies after falling 80 metres from Mapleton Falls on the Sunshine Coast.
  • *Valerie the dachshund attracts international attention when she is finally rescued after spending 529 days roaming Kangaroo Island off South Australia after disappearing while her owners were on a camping holiday in November 2023.
  • 26 April – The family of Virginia Giuffre, a prominent accuser of Jeffrey Epstein and Prince Andrew, announces that Giuffre had taken her own life on her farm at Neergabby, Western Australia stating that "she lost her life to suicide, after being a lifelong victim of sexual abuse and sex trafficking" and that she "was a fierce warrior in the fight against sexual abuse and sex trafficking".
  • 27 April – A 37-year-old woman and a 41-year-old man are arrested, and four police officers are injured after protesters at an anti-vilification law rally organised by Women's Voices Australia held on the steps of Melbourne's Parliament House clashed with counter-protestors. Following the rally, some protestors moved through the CBD obstructing traffic and removing road signs before a stand-off with police occurs on Swanston Street culminating in officers deploying OC spray.
  • 28 April – The coronal inquest into the Bondi Junction stabbings commences in the Coroners Court of New South Wales.
  • 29 April – The 2023 Leongatha mushroom murders trial commences in the Supreme Court in Morwell, Victoria.

May

June

  • 2 June –
  • *Senator Dorinda Cox leaves the Greens and joins the Australian Labor Party.
  • *The most expensive transport infrastructure project in Tasmania's history, the Bridgewater Bridge in Hobart, opens to traffic after two years of construction.
  • 5 June – After the Disappearance of Pheobe Bishop on 15 May, James Wood and Tanika Bromley are arrested and charged with murder and interfering with a corpse.
  • 5 June – Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliff loses a vote of no-confidence 18 votes to 17. Labor speaker Michelle O'Byrne uses her casting vote to break a 17 to 17 vote tie. Rockliff announces he will seek an early election after emergency budget measures are passed on 10 June.
  • 6 June – Human remains, consistent with the timeframe of Pheobe Bishop's disappearance, are found near the Goodnight Scrub National Park, which had been searched previously.
  • 11 June – Australia joins New Zealand, Canada, the United Kingdom and Norway in banning and freezing the assets of two far-right Israeli government ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich for advocating violence and the displacement of Palestinians.
  • 16 June – A police officer is shot dead while serving a warrant to repossess a rural home in North Motton, Tasmania. The shooter is arrested after being shot and injured by a second police officer.
  • 27 June – Jack Brearley and Brodie Palmer are sentenced to life imprisonment for the 2022 murder of 15 year-old Noongar Yamatji Cassius Turvey outside Perth.

July

  • 1 July – 26-year-old childcare worker Joshua Dale Brown is arrested on over 70 charges, including child sexual abuse and producing child abuse material. The charges relate to offences allegedly committed against eight children at a Point Cook childcare centre between April 2022 and January 2023. The alleged victims are between five months and two years of age. Victoria Police and the Department of Health orders infectious diseases screening for 1,200 children who attended centres where Brown was employed between January 2017 and May 2025.
  • 2 July –
  • *It is revealed that another Melbourne man, Michael Simon Wilson, had been charged with serious sex offences, including bestiality and possession of child abuse material. The charges relate to the alleged sexual assault of a teenage boy in Coburg on 16 August 2024. The ABC reports that detectives discovered material on Wilson's devices that linked him with Joshua Dale Brown, with police alleging that the two men were known to each other.
  • *The Yoorrook Justice Commission finds that British colonial settlers committed genocide against the Aboriginal population of Victoria from 1834 to 1851.
  • *Airline Qantas is hit by a cyberattack affecting a third-party platform used for its customer service support, compromising the data of 6 million customers.
  • 3 July – A man from northern New South Wales dies from Australian bat lyssavirus, making him the first confirmed case of the disease in NSW and only the fourth human case since the virus was discovered in 1996.
  • 4 July – Two suspected antisemitic attacks are made on a synagogue in East Melbourne and a Jewish-owned restaurant in the Melbourne central business district.
  • 6 July – One person is injured in a lion attack at the Darling Downs Zoo in Queensland.
  • 7 July –
  • *Erin Patterson is convicted of murder and attempted murder of her former in-laws in the 2023 Leongatha mushroom murders.
  • *An inquiry into the death of Kumanjayi Walker finds that police constable Zachary Rolfe, who fatally shot the Aboriginal youth during a home arrest in Yuendumu, Northern Territory in 2019, was "racist" and finds "clear evidence of entrenched, systemic and structural racism" within the Northern Territory Police Force.
  • 19 July – 2025 Tasmanian state election
  • 20 July – A Reims-Cessna F406 operated by a logistics company crashes and catches fire in Oakey, Queensland, killing the pilot and a medical examiner on board.
  • 25 July – New South Wales State MP Gareth Ward is convicted of sexual assault and rape in a case brought by two male victims.
  • 30 July –
  • *The government includes video-sharing site YouTube in the Online Safety Amendment for teenagers starting December, following a survey on harmful content being reported on the site.
  • *Eris, the first domestically-made rocket to attempt to reach orbit from Australian territory, malfunctions during its maiden flight and crashes 14 seconds after its launch from a spaceport in Bowen, Queensland.

August

September

October

November

December

  • 4 December
  • *The Tasmanian Legislative Council passes an order to build Macquarie Point Stadium in Hobart by 9 votes to 5.
  • *Meta Platforms begins removing users under the age of 16 years from its Facebook, Instagram and Threads platforms in anticipation of the Australian Government's new social media restriction that came into force on 10 December.
  • 6 December – Australia imposes a weapons embargo on Afghanistan and sanctions on four senior Taliban officials, citing their role in human rights violations against women.
  • 7 December – A firefighter is killed by a falling tree during a bushfire in Bulahdelah, New South Wales, that affects and destroys four homes.
  • 8 December – Barnaby Joyce joins One Nation.
  • 10 December
  • *The Online Safety Amendment comes into effect, introducing identification-based age checks to social media with the goal of restricting access to minors under the age of 16.
  • *The Parliament of Queensland confirms plans to introduce new legislation in 2026 enabling child offenders aged ten years or over to be fit with ankle bracelets without parental consent following a successful 2021 trial targeting serious youth offenders.
  • 14 December – At least 16 people are killed and 43 wounded during a mass shooting at a Hanukkah function at Bondi Beach. New South Wales Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon classifies the incident as a terrorist attack. One of the shooters is killed while a second shooter is in police custody.
  • 15 December – Prime Minister Albanese vows to "eradicate" antisemitism in Australia and proposes new tougher gun laws limiting the number of weapons and firearms licenses in response to the Bondi Beach massacre.
  • 16 December – Taekwondo instructor Kwang Kyung Yoo is sentenced to life imprisonment for the 2024 murder of a seven-year old boy and his parents in Sydney.
  • 17 December:
  • *The surviving Bondi Beach shooting perpetrator is charged by the New South Wales Police with 59 offenses including 15 counts of murder, committing a terrorist act and 40 counts of causing grievous bodily harmed.
  • *New South Wales Premier Chris Minns announces that the New South Wales Parliament will reconvene the following week to introduce new firearms laws and a ban on protests during a "terror designation."
  • 18 December:
  • *Albanese announces that the federal government will introduce new hate speech legislation creating new aggravated offenses and giving the Department of Home Affairs new visa cancellation powers.
  • *NSW Police conduct an operation in Liverpool, New South Wales and detain seven men in response to a "potential violent act being planned." NSW Police confirm that the seven men are assisting with their inquiries.
  • 19 December:
  • *Hundreds of surfers and beach-goers form a circle off the coast of Bondi Beach to pay tribute to victims of the Bondi Beach shooting.
  • *Albanese announces that the federal government will introduce a new gun buy-back scheme to reimburse gun owners who hand in firearms that have been proscribed by new firearms legislation to be introduced in the wake of the Bondi beach shooting.
  • 21 December:
  • *A national day of reflection to honour victims of the Bondi Beach shooting is held. 10,000 people gather on Bondi Beach to honour the victims of the terror attack.
  • *Anti-immigration protests are held in Sydney and Melbourne in the wake of the Bondi Beach shooting. The Sydney rally was organised by One Nation leader Barnaby Joyce, who called for the Albanese government to be fired.
  • 24 December – The New South Wales Parliament passes new laws tightening access to firearms for people with suspected terror links and restricting mass protests following major terror incidents.
  • 25 December – A suspected firebombing is carried out on a car belonging to a rabbi in the St Kilda East suburb of Melbourne.

Arts and entertainment

January

February

March

  • 21 March – Maud Page is announced as the new director of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, making her the first woman to hold the position in the gallery's history.
  • 25 March –
  • *The annual Queensland Music Awards are held in Brisbane. Troy Cassar-Daley wins the public-voted Album of the Year award for Between the Fires while Young Franco's "Wake Up" wins Song of the Year. Amy Shark wins the awards for both the highest selling album and the highest selling single while Christine Anu receives the Lifetime Achievement Award.
  • *Brisbane pianist Kellee Green wins the Jazz Award at the Queensland Music Awards for her work "River to Sea". In her acceptance speech she criticised the federal government for helping Israel "kill innocent Palestinian men, women and children" in Gaza. She received some backlash and accusations of antisemitism. Brisbane City Council withdraws funding from the event, with lord mayor Adrian Schrinner criticising the decision to present Green with the award and for her acceptance speech, stating: "The decision to hand a major prize to an offensively titled anti-Jewish song raises serious questions about whether the awards have been hijacked by extremists...The promotion of antisemitism at Tuesday night's Queensland Music Awards was utterly shameful and divisive. Allowing such vile hate speech to occur shows the awards seem to be no longer capable of achieving their own stated goal to 'promote diversity and inclusion'. As a result, we will be immediately withdrawing our funding and support for these awards." Brigidine College asks Green to take leave from her position as a teacher and issues a letter to parents which states that the college does not condone her comments and told parents that they value their connection with the Jewish community. Green received support from local musicians who rejected Schrinner's characterisations and said "These inflammatory claims are unfounded and dangerous in their attempt to suppress dissenting voices".
  • 26 March – The opening performance of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival is cancelled after an audience member dies during the Opening Night Allstars Supershow at the Palais Theatre in St Kilda.
  • 31 March –
  • *Runner starring Alan Ritchson and Owen Wilson commences filming in Queensland.
  • *Pianist Jayson Gillham confirms that his dispute with former managing director of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Sophie Galaise has been resolved. However, he also confirms his legal case against the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra pertaining to the cancellation of his performances after he made comments about the Gaza war, is still ongoing.

April

  • 17 April – Palace Cinemas chief executive Benjamin Zeccola says a screen will need to be replaced at an estimated cost of $50,000 after cinema goers threw their drinks at it as part of the Chicken Jockey TikTok trend which also sees disruptive behaviour from patrons across Australia during screenings of A Minecraft Movie.
  • 18 April – It is announced Byron Bay Bluesfest would return in 2026 after the 2025 event attracts 109,000 patrons - a decision which angers some people who say they feel betrayed after having bought tickets to what they thought was the final festival.
  • 27 April – Kita Alexander's cover of Madonna's 1983 song "Holiday" commences being used in a Queensland tourism campaign.
  • 29 April – Australian cookbook author Nagi Maehashi alleges Penguin Random House Australia has infringed her copyright, accusing fellow cookbook author Brooke Bellamy of plagiarism. Maehashi accuses Bellamy of publishing her recipes for caramel slice and baklava in her book Bake with Brooki. Bellamy rejects the allegations and claims her book contains over 100 recipes she created over many years. Although standing by her allegations, Maehashi subsequently issues a plea for online trolling of Bellamy to stop, emphasising it is a legal dispute between herself and Penguin Random House Australia. After Maehashi made her claims, US author Sally McKenney also levels similar accusations against Bellamy relating to a vanilla cake recipe. The allegations prompt an international conversation about the law surrounding the ownership, sharing, copying or republishing of recipes.

May

July

Sport

January

February

March

April

  • 1 April – Upon the release of the WTA rankings, world #12 tennis player Daria Kasatkina officially switches allegiances to Australia, celebrating her first official day as an Australian player after she is granted permanent residency.
  • 3 April –
  • *Two men smuggle firearms, one of which is loaded, into the Melbourne Cricket Ground for the AFL match between Collingwood and Carlton. Police discover the weapons while searching the men after they refuse requests to leave the MCG over their behaviour. The incident raises concerns about security measures at the MCG, in particular AI technology which was being used to screen for weapons.
  • *It is announced former Wallabies player Jordan Petaia has signed a three-year contract with American NFL team the Los Angeles Chargers.
  • 4 April – The Matildas defeat South Korea 1-0 in an international friendly at the Sydney Football Stadium.
  • 7 April – The Matildas defeat South Korea 2-0 in an international friendly match at McDonald Jones Stadium in Newcastle.
  • 8 April – Will Pucovski announces his retirement from all forms of cricket.
  • 10 April – The Australian Transport Safety Bureau releases a report into the incident involving an aerobatic Extra EA 300-LT aircraft delivering the trophy at the Bathurst 1000 in December 2024, during which the aircraft sustained damage when the tail hit a concrete barrier. The report finds the pilot breach safety restrictions by not inspecting the damage to the aircraft before taking off despite being alerted to the issue by a helicppter, and also found the aircraft's landing and take-off occurred in no-fly zones occupied by spectators.
  • 21 April – John Evans and Bree Rizzo win the men's and women's finals respectively at the 2025 edition of the Stawell Gift.
  • 22 April – After admitting to assaulting a man in Mulwala, 25-year-old Richmond player Noah Balta is sentenced in Albury Local Court to an 18-month community corrections order, fined $3,000 and issued with a 10pm to 6am curfew which he must adhere to until 22 July 2025. Following sentencing, the AFL says they will take no further action in addition to the punishment they had already issued to Balta but says Balta will continue to undertake a behavioral change program, and that his actions do not represent behaviours acceptable to anyone in the AFL of the community.
  • 25 April – A scheduled Welcome to Country address by Wurundjeri elder Joy Murphy Wandin at Melbourne's AAMI Park ahead of the ANZAC Day match against the Melbourne Storm and the South Sydney Rabbitohs is cancelled. The decision is made after neo-Nazi Jacob Hersant and his associates disrupt the dawn service during the Welcome to Country by at Melbourne's Shrine of Remembrance earlier in the day. Murphy Wandin describes the decision as hurtful as she had planned to wear her father's war medals during the address. Melbourne Storm chairman Matt Trips blames the cancellation on a "misunderstanding between the board and management" which led to "confusion with the pre-game cultural ceremony." Murphy alleges chief executive Justin Rodski had told her that the cancellation was partly because they wanted to "protect her" after the incident at the Shrine of Remembrance.
  • 27 April –
  • *Isabella Nichols and Jack Robinson complete an Aussie double by winning the respective women's and men's finals in the Rip Curl Pro finals at Bells Beach.
  • *23-year-old Jeremy Crawshaw is drafted by the Denver Broncos in the NFL.

May

June

August

September

October

  • 15 October – The Australian Rugby League Commission imposes a 10-year competition ban on players who would participate in the R360 competition.
  • 28 October – A 17-year old cricket-player dies after being hit in the neck by a ball during a local Twenty20 game at the Ferntree Gully Cricket Club in Melbourne.

November

Deaths

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Holidays

HolidayDateACTNSWNTQLDSATASVICWARef.
New Year's DayWednesday 1 January
Australia DayMonday 27 January
Royal Hobart Regatta Monday 10 February
Labour Day Monday 3 March
Public holiday under different namesMonday 10 March
Good FridayFriday 18 April
Easter SaturdaySaturday 19 April
Easter SundaySunday 20 April
Easter MondayMonday 21 April
Easter TuesdayTuesday 22 April
ANZAC DayFriday 25 April
May DayMonday 5 May
Reconciliation DayMonday 2 June
Western Australia DayMonday 2 June
King's BirthdayMonday 9 June
Picnic DayMonday 4 August
Royal Queensland Show Wednesday 13 August
Friday before the AFL Grand FinalFriday 26 September
King's BirthdayMonday 29 September
Labour DayMonday 6 October
Melbourne CupTuesday 4 November
Recreation Day Monday 3 November
Christmas Eve
Wednesday 24 December
Christmas DayThursday 25 December
Boxing DayFriday 26 December
New Year's Eve
Wednesday 31 December
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Country overviews