2007 in Australia

Incumbents

• Monarch – Elizabeth II
• Governor-General – Michael Jeffery
• Prime Minister – John Howard, then Kevin Rudd
• *Deputy Prime Minister – Mark Vaile, then Julia Gillard
• *Opposition Leader – Kevin Rudd, then Brendan Nelson
• Chief Justice – Murray Gleeson

  State and territory leaders

• Premier of New South Wales – Morris Iemma
• *Opposition Leader – Peter Debnam, then Barry O'Farrell
• Premier of Queensland – Peter Beattie, then Anna Bligh
• *Opposition Leader – Jeff Seeney
• Premier of South Australia – Mike Rann
• *Opposition Leader – Iain Evans, then Martin Hamilton-Smith
• Premier of Tasmania – Paul Lennon
• *Opposition Leader – Will Hodgman
• Premier of Victoria – Steve Bracks, then John Brumby
• *Opposition Leader – Ted Baillieu
• Premier of Western Australia – Alan Carpenter
• *Opposition Leader – Paul Omodei
• Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory – Jon Stanhope
• *Opposition Leader – Bill Stefaniak, then Zed Seselja
• Chief Minister of the Northern Territory – Clare Martin, then Paul Henderson
• *Opposition Leader – Jodeen Carney
• Chief Minister of Norfolk Island – David Buffett, then Andre Nobbs

  Governors and administrators

• Governor of New South Wales – Marie Bashir
• Governor of Queensland – Quentin Bryce
• Governor of South Australia – Marjorie Jackson-Nelson, then Kevin Scarce
• Governor of Tasmania – William Cox
• Governor of Victoria – David de Kretser
• Governor of Western Australia – Ken Michael
• Administrator of the Australian Indian Ocean Territories – Neil Lucas
• Administrator of Norfolk Island – Grant Tambling, then Owen Walsh
• Administrator of the Northern Territory – Ted Egan, then Tom Pauling

  Events

Whole year

• Year of the Surf Lifesaver

  January

• 1 January – An estimated five hundred rioters turn on police in Rye, Victoria.
• 4 January – Storms lash the town of Esperance, Western Australia. A natural disaster area is declared.
• 13 January – Youth attending an illegal drag race in the Melbourne suburb of Noble Park turn on police throwing flares and trashing a video store.
• 15 January – The first day of competition at the Australian Open is marred by clashes between Serbian and Croatian supporters and the Victorian police.
• 16 January – Large parts of Victoria are hit with power outages, including Melbourne, Geelong and Bendigo, after bushfires knock out power transmission lines connecting the state to the national electricity grid.
• 23 January – John Howard reshuffles his federal cabinet. Such changes include the sacking of the Immigration Minister, Amanda Vanstone.
• 26 January – Organisers of the Big Day Out in Sydney plead with event-goers not to bring Australian flags with them, fearing outbreaks of racial violence. The plea is ignored, and the day passes without incident.
• 31 January – A report commissioned by the Government of New South Wales predicts large temperature rises and a decrease in rainfall of up to 40 per cent over the next 70 years.

  February

• 5 February – The first inquest into the deaths of the Balibo Five begins.
• 7 February – James Hardie announces it has approved long-term compensation arrangements for asbestos victims.
• 11 February – Prime Minister John Howard causes a diplomatic stir when he publicly criticises U.S. presidential nominee Barack Obama for his plan to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq.

  March

• 3 March – Liberal Senator Ian Campbell resigns his cabinet portfolio as Minister for Human Services after it is revealed that he, like Kevin Rudd, had met with disgraced former Premier of Western Australia, Brian Burke.
• 4 March – At the request of president Xanana Gusmão and prime minister José Ramos-Horta, Australian Special Air Service troops raid a rebel stronghold in Same, East Timor, in an attempt to capture rebel leader Alfredo Reinhado. Four Timorese men are killed in the battle, and Reinhado escapes.
• 6 March – The Australian government approves a proposed A$11.1 billion sale of the national airline Qantas to an international consortium after the Foreign Investment Review Board finds that the sale would not breach foreign ownership laws.
• 7 March – Five Australians are killed when Garuda Indonesia Flight 200 crashes and explodes in Java: a journalist, two Australian Federal Police officers, an Australian embassy official and a foreign aid worker.
• 8 March – Two people are killed when Severe Tropical Cyclone George makes landfall near Port Hedland, Western Australia. A third death occurs three days later when a man dies of head injuries sustained in the cyclone.
• 9 March – Shadow Attorney-General Kelvin Thomson resigns from the Opposition front bench after it is revealed that he wrote a positive character reference for Melbourne gangland figure and fugitive Tony Mokbel six years ago.
• 14 March – An electrical fault on a Northern Line train near the Sydney Harbour Bridge strands 4,000 passengers on Sydney's CityRail train system for nearly three hours, and causes substantial delays during the evening rush hour.
• 16 March – Senator Santo Santoro resigns as Minister for Ageing following a scandal involving his ownership of shares in a company related to his portfolio. He resigns from the Senate on 20 March.
• 18 March – More than 200,000 people walk across the Sydney Harbour Bridge to celebrate its 75th anniversary.
• 23 March – Three people are killed when three trucks and four cars are involved in a major collision and explosion in Melbourne's Burnley Tunnel.
• 23 March – The PlayStation 3 games console is released in Australia, exactly a year after the Australian release of Microsoft's Xbox 360.
• 24 March – The Australian Labor Party and Premier Morris Iemma are returned to power with a reduced majority in the 2007 New South Wales state election. Peter Debnam resigns as Opposition Leader & Barry O'Farrell is elected leader on 4 April.
• 26 March – Australian Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hicks pleads guilty to a charge of providing material support for terrorism before a United States military commission in Cuba.
• 28 March – Four people are killed after a private charter boat collides with a Sydney Harbour ferry.
• 29 March – New South Wales Police arrest three people, including an Australian Army captain, for alleged involvement in the theft and distribution of M72 LAW rocket launchers to criminals.
• 31 March – Earth Hour, in which Sydneysiders were encouraged to turn off their lights between 7:30 pm and 8:30 pm, takes place.

  April

• 2 April – The Bureau of Meteorology issues a tsunami warning for the east coast of Australia after an earthquake in the South Pacific Ocean is detected. Precautions are taken, such as the suspension of Sydney Ferries services, but Australia is unaffected. The tsunami, however, causes devastation in the Solomon Islands.
• 10 April – Four elderly residents of the Broughton Hall nursing home in Melbourne die after a gastroenteritis outbreak at the home over the Easter weekend. A fifth resident dies in hospital on 16 April.
• 19 April – Prime Minister John Howard announces a report which states that unless significant rain falls in the Murray-Darling Basin within the next six to eight weeks, Australia will face a major agricultural crisis with no irrigation allocations available to farmers.
• 24 April – Two Australian soldiers are injured when a roadside bomb goes off in Iraq.
• 26 April – Former immigration minister Senator Amanda Vanstone announces her immediate resignation from the Australian Senate. It is announced later that day that Vanstone will take up the position of Australia's Ambassador to Italy in late June.

  May

• 20 May – Australian Guantanamo Bay detainee David Matthew Hicks returns to Australia, where he will serve the remaining seven months of his sentence at Adelaide's Yatala Labour Prison.

  June

• 1 June – The Australian Government climate task force releases its report, recommending Australia implement an emissions trading scheme by 2012. Prime Minister John Howard declines to set a target for greenhouse gas reduction until after the 2007 election.
• 5 June – Eleven people are killed, 12 seriously injured, 50 others wounded and 13 still missing after a V/Line train collides with a truck at a level crossing near Kerang, Victoria.
• 6 June – Fugitive Tony Mokbel is recaptured in Greece after being missing since March 2006.
• 8–10 June – Major storms strike New South Wales, killing at least nine people and causing major flooding. The coal freighter Pasha Bulker is forced to run aground on Nobby's Beach, a major Newcastle beach.
• 18 June – Victoria Police cordon off a large part of the Melbourne central business district after a gunman shoots three people, killing one, and then escapes.
• 21 June – After the release of a report into child abuse and domestic violence in indigenous communities, the Prime Minister declares the situation a "national emergency" and announces a series of measures to deal with the crisis.
• 25 June – John Laws announces his retirement from radio after a career spanning 54 years.

  July

• 2 July – The Pasha Bulker is refloated after 25 days aground.
• 2 July – Thai Airways International flight TG999 arrives in Melbourne from Bangkok, causing a health scare when one of the passengers is later diagnosed with polio.
• 3 July – Wesfarmers announces a A$22 billion takeover of the Coles Group in the nation's largest ever corporate takeover.
• 3 July – Dr. Mohamed Haneef is arrested at Brisbane Airport on suspicion of being involved in the 2007 Glasgow International Airport attack.
• 7 July – Sydney Football Stadium in Sydney hosts one of seven global legs of the Live Earth concert series, which aim to promote action on climate change.
• 14 July – Dr. Mohamed Haneef is charged with providing support to a terrorist organisation, after it is alleged that he "recklessly" provided his mobile phone SIM card to the group responsible for the 2007 Glasgow International Airport attack.
• 27 July – Steve Bracks resigns as Premier of Victoria. Deputy Premier John Thwaites also resigns.
• 27 July – The Director of Public Prosecutions drops the terrorism support charges against Dr. Mohamed Haneef.
• 30 July – John Brumby and Rob Hulls are elected unopposed as Premier and Deputy Premier of Victoria respectively, following the sudden resignation of Steve Bracks and John Thwaites.