1985 in Australia


The following lists events that happened during 1985 in Australia.

Incumbents

January

  • 1 January - Australia commences a two-year term as a member of the United Nations Security Council.
  • 19 January - A hailstorm accompanied by severe winds sweeps through Brisbane and surrounding areas, causing an estimated $110 million of property damage. Subsequently, around 95,000 insurance claims are lodged.
  • 28 January - Victorian Premier John Cain's support for reforms to the Upper House rather than its abolition defuse this as an election issue.
  • 29 January - Federal Cabinet endorses an earlier decision to provide refuelling facilities to United States aircraft monitoring MX missile tests in the Pacific. Strong anti-American and anti-nuclear reaction soon forces Prime Minister Bob Hawke to withdraw the offer.

    February

  • 1 February - AM stereo broadcasting starts in Australia.
  • 5 February - The United States of America withdraws from a planned ANZUS naval exercise because New Zealand refused to permit nuclear-capable warships to call at its ports. Australia cancels its involvement in U.S.-led MX missile tests.

    March

  • March - The Bondi beast rapist commits his first assault in Clovelly, New South Wales.
  • 1 March - Uniform credit legislation is introduced in New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia.
  • 2 March - The ALP government of John Cain reelected in Victoria for a second consecutive term with 47 seats and over 50% of the primary vote. A tied result in Nunawading, decided in Labor's favour, is later declared void by Justice Starke.
  • 4 March - At the request of the United States, the Federal Government cancels the annual meeting of the ANZUS Council.
  • 21 March - The Queensland Government enacts harsh anti-strike legislation.
  • 23 March - Two electric trains collide head on just north of Trinder Park railway station in Woodridge, Queensland at 6.47 a.m. Two people including a train driver, are killed in the smash, and another 28 people are injured.
  • 30 March - Alderman Sallyanne Atkinson is elected as Brisbane's first female Lord Mayor.
  • 31 March - In excess of 300,000 people throughout Australia march in the Palm Sunday anti-nuclear rallies.

    April

  • 20 April - The Duke of Kent officially opens the Queensland Performing Arts Complex at a gala Royal Festival Performance. The opening celebrations – which include a parade, the launching of masses of balloons, fireworks and a fly-over by RAAF aircraft – are scheduled to continue for almost a month.
  • 26 April - Mr. Justice Lionel Murphy is committed for trial on two charges of attempting to pervert the course of justice.
  • 28 April - The Nuclear Disarmament Party splits.

    May

  • 14 May - Federal Treasurer Paul Keating releases a mini-Budget aimed at reducing Government spending, with cuts falling mainly on defence and the unemployed.
  • 20 May - Queensland police raid the Greenslopes Fertility Clinic, Brisbane and seize the patient files of 20,000 women. The search warrant is later ruled invalid and the files returned. Other raids are carried out on clinics in Brisbane and Townsville.
  • 30 May - At the Premiers' Conference, the Grants Commission makes cuts, especially to the Northern Territory and Queensland. Business and conservative interests praise Federal Treasurer Paul Keating as a result.

    June

  • 2 June - The vehicular ferry Empress of Australia makes its last trip between the mainland and Tasmania.
  • 4 June
  • *Victoria celebrates its 150th anniversary.
  • *A Government White Paper presents three options for taxation.
  • 24 June - Up to 40,000 farmers march on Parliament House, Melbourne protesting Labor's rural policies.

    July

  • 1 July - 4 July - A Tax Summit is held. Federal Treasurer Paul Keating abandons his preferred Option C after a public outcry.
  • 11 July Minister of Transport, Hon. D.F. Lane, M.L.A opened Albion Station.

    August

  • 6 August - The merging of two retail chain operations creates Coles Myer Limited.
  • 17 August - The 1985 Nunawading Province state by-election is held for the Victorian Legislative Council seat of Nunawading Province. which Labor loses with a swing of around 4.5% against it, returning minority status to the Legislative Council.
  • 22 August - The Royal Commission on the use and effects of chemical agents on Australian personnel in Vietnam finds no link between the chemical defoliant Agent Orange and the health problems of the Vietnam War veterans.

    September

  • 5 September – John Howard replaces Andrew Peacock as federal Liberal leader and thus federal Leader of the Opposition. Neil Brown beats 11 others to become Deputy Leader.
  • 10 September – Simon Crean becomes President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions.
  • 20 September – Capital gains tax is introduced. The rules allow the cost of assets held for 1 year or more to be indexed by the consumer price index before calculating a gain.
  • 21 September – At the inaugural "Light on the Hill" dinner at Bathurst, Prime Minister Bob Hawke describes privatisation as the "height of irrationality" and a "recipe for disaster".

    October

  • 3 October - Victorian Premier John Cain announces the resignation of Victorian Governor Sir Brian Murray over his acceptance of discounted air fares from Continental Airlines. The issue dragged on for several years, causing much embarrassment and recrimination.
  • 9 October - Victorian Police investigate complaints from the Nuclear Disarmament Party on bogus how-to-vote cards issued during the 1985 Nunawading Province state by-election, authorised by Australian Labor Party state secretary Peter Batchelor.
  • 12 October - Canon Arthur Malcolm becomes the first Aboriginal Bishop in Australia.
  • 24 October - South Australian Ombudsman Mary Beasley resigns over much publicity over travel concessions for her partner Susan Mitchell. Her successor Grant Edwards resigns on the same day, subject to an inquiry, with Eugene Biganovsky thus becoming the third to hold the office within the one day.
  • 26 October - The Mutijulu Aboriginal community is given freehold title to Ayers Rock and the Uluru National Park.

    November

  • 13 November - Mr. Justice Paul Brereton introduces amendments to the Darling Harbour Bill, stating that the intransigence of the SSC had forced the New South Wales Government to exempt the controversial Sydney Monorail from normal planning controls and claiming that the casino planned for the site would spell the end to illegal gambling.
  • 25 November - A man, later to be revealed as Bruce Goodluck, wears a chicken suit and walks into the House of Representatives and sits on the government front bench but is removed by officers at the request of the deputy speaker, Allan Rocher.

    December

  • 2 December - Federal Parliament passes the Australia Act, cutting the nation's last legal and constitutional ties with Britain.
  • 4 December - Retiring New South Wales Local Government Minister Kevin Stewart sacks Warringah Shire Council for negligence and granting favours to a developer.
  • 5 December - The Royal Commission into British atomic tests in Australia severely criticises Britain for violating safety standards and recommends that Britain clean up contaminated areas and pay compensation.
  • 7 December - The Labor government of John Bannon is re-elected for a second term in South Australia.
  • 16 December - New South Wales Premier Neville Wran is charged with contempt of court by the Federal Department of Public Prosecutions in relation to remarks he had made on 28 November when the Appeal Court had ordered a new trial for Mr. Justice Lionel Murphy.
  • 22 December - The new Victorian Governor is announced as academic and Uniting Church minister, Rev. Davis McCaughey, to be sworn in on 18 February 1986.
  • 30 December - Rural discontent at soaring interest rates and falling commodity prices is symbolised by a Canowindra farmer when he dumps 23 tonnes of wheat outside Parliament House in Canberra. His subsequent prosecution prompts a mass rally of up to 8,000 famers in Canberra on 14 February 1986.

    Unknown dates

  • New South Wales abolishes capital punishment for treason and piracy with violence, thereby abolishing capital punishment from Australia.
  • The McClelland Royal Commission into the nuclear tests at Maralinga in the 1950s reports its findings.