2012 in Australia

2012 in Australia
Monarchy	Elizabeth II
Governor-General	Quentin Bryce
Prime minister	Julia Gillard
Elections	ACT, NT, QLD

← 2011 2010 2009 2012 in Australia → 2013 2014 2015
Decades:	1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s
See also:	Other events of 2012 Timeline of Australian history

Incumbents

Main article: 2012 Australian incumbents

• Monarch – Queen Elizabeth II
• Governor-General – Quentin Bryce
• Prime Minister – Julia Gillard

Premiers and Chief Ministers

• Premier of New South Wales – Barry O'Farrell
• Premier of South Australia – Jay Weatherill
• Premier of Queensland – Anna Bligh (until 26 March), then Campbell Newman
• Premier of Tasmania – Lara Giddings
• Premier of Western Australia – Colin Barnett
• Premier of Victoria – Ted Baillieu
• Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory – Katy Gallagher
• Chief Minister of the Northern Territory – Paul Henderson (until 29 August), then Terry Mills
• Chief Minister of Norfolk Island – David Buffett

Governors and Administrators

• Governor of New South Wales – Marie Bashir
• Governor of South Australia – Kevin Scarce
• Governor of Queensland – Penelope Wensley
• Governor of Tasmania – Peter Underwood
• Governor of Western Australia – Malcolm McCusker
• Governor of Victoria – Alex Chernov
• Administrator of the Northern Territory – Sally Thomas
• Administrator of Norfolk Island – Owen Walsh (until 31 March), then Neil Pope

Events

Whole year

• Australian Year of the Farmer

January

• 12 January – Category 2 Tropical Cyclone Heidi battered Western Australia's Pilbara region bringing disruption to the local iron ore industry, damaging roofs, bringing down trees, and cutting power to at least 3,500 people.
• 26 January – Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Leader of the Opposition Tony Abbott are evacuated by a security detail from a celebratory function when a protest by supporters of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy threatened to turn violent.

February

• 3 February – The Mehi River at Moree, in northern New South Wales breaks its banks, flooding much of the town. Around 1,600 people are evacuated from their homes. Other towns affected by the flooding include Wee Waa, Pallamallawa and Biniguy. In south west Queensland, the Maranoa River floods the town of Mitchell, inundating 100 homes and threatens to flood downstream Roma.
• 17 February – Air Australia's fleet is grounded as the budget airline goes into voluntary administration.
• 27 February – The Federal Parliamentary Australian Labor Party holds a ballot to determine its leader and by extension the Prime Minister of Australia. Julia Gillard wins the ballot by 71 votes to Kevin Rudd's 31 votes.

March

• 20 March – A tornado destroys houses and injures nine people in the Townsville suburb of Vincent.
• 24 March – The Queensland state election is held. Anna Bligh's Labor government is defeated heavily, with the Liberal National Party led by Campbell Newman winning the largest parliamentary majority in the state's history.
• 31 March – Genieve Blackwell is the first woman appointed as an Anglican bishop in New South Wales.

April

• 22 April – Peter Slipper stands aside as Speaker of the House of Representatives while a civil claim of sexual harassment is dealt with by the Federal Court.

June

• 5 June – Record rainfall across much of Gippsland leads to flooding in Traralgon. Omeo records its wettest day since records began 133 years ago—133 millimetres (5.2 in).
• 12 June – A fourth coronial inquest into the disappearance of Azaria Chamberlain rules that a dingo took the infant from an Uluru campsite in 1980.
• 14 June – The world's largest network of marine parks in offshore waters is announced by Environment Minister Tony Burke.
• 18 June – Fairfax Media—the publishers of The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald—announce plans to cut 1900 jobs and to reformat both papers to a compact tabloid size.
• 19 June – A minor earthquake shakes Melbourne and much of regional Victoria. The epicentre of the 5.4 magnitude earthquake was around 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) south west of the Gippsland town of Moe.

July

• 1 July – A carbon pricing scheme is introduced in Australia, which will charge a group of "liable entities" $23 per tonne of carbon emissions they produce in the 2012–13 financial year.

August

• 15 August – The High Court of Australia rules in the cases JT International SA v Commonwealth of Australia and British American Tobacco Australasia Limited & Ors v Commonwealth of Australia that the government's plain cigarette packaging legislation was not contrary to s 51 (xxxi) of the Australian Constitution, which empowers the Parliament to make laws with respect to "the acquisition of property on just terms".
• 25 August – A general election is held in the Northern Territory. Paul Henderson's Labor government is defeated by the Country Liberal Party led by Terry Mills.

September

• 15 September – 2012 Sydney Islamic Riots erupt in response to an American anti-Islamic film.

October

• 9 October – Peter Slipper resigns as Speaker of the House of Representatives. Anna Burke is elected the new Speaker.
• 20 October – A general election is held in the Australian Capital Territory. The Labor Party led by Katy Gallagher retains minority government with the support of the only remaining Greens MLA, Shane Rattenbury.
• 31 October – Groundbreaking occurs at Australia's largest master planned community, Ecco Ripley.

November

• 1 November – Daniel Keighran is awarded the Victoria Cross for Australia for his actions of 24 August 2010 during the Battle of Derapet, part of Operation Slipper in the War in Afghanistan.
• 12 November – Prime Minister Julia Gillard announces the creation of a national Royal Commission into institutional responses to instances of child sexual abuse.
• 14 November – Total solar eclipse in northern Australia.

December

• 12 December – The Federal Court dismisses the sexual harassment case against Peter Slipper by his former staffer, James Ashby.

Arts and literature

Main article: 2012 in Australian literature

• 30 March – Tim Storrier is awarded the Archibald Prize for his portrait The histrionic wayfarer (after Bosch). The Wynne Prize was awarded to Imants Tillers for Waterfall (after Williams) and the Sulman Prize was awarded to Nigel Milsom for Judo House pt4 (Golden mud).
• 20 June – Anna Funder is awarded the Miles Franklin Award for her novel All That I Am.

Sport

• 28 January – Tennis: Victoria Azarenka wins the women's singles title at the 2012 Australian Open, defeating Maria Sharapova.
• 28 January – Cricket: Sydney Sixers defeat Perth Scorchers by seven wickets in the final of the 2011–12 Big Bash League at the WACA Ground.
• 29 January – Tennis: Novak Djokovic wins the men's singles title at the 2012 Australian Open, defeating Rafael Nadal.
• 12 February – Baseball: Perth Heat defeat Melbourne Aces 7–6 in the 13th inning in the third and deciding game of the championship series and claim the 2012 Australian Baseball League championship.
• 25 February – Cricket: The South Australian Redbacks tied with the Tasmanian Tigers in the final of the 2011–12 Ryobi One-Day Cup at the Adelaide Oval, but the Redbacks won on a count back. The win was South Australia's first One-Day domestic title in 25 years.
• 29 February – Soccer: Football Federation Australia revokes the A-League licence of Gold Coast United FC.
• 11 March – Basketball: Dandenong Rangers defeat Bulleen Boomers 94-70 in the Grand Final of the 2011–12 Women's National Basketball League.
• 18 March – Motor racing: British driver Jenson Button of McLaren wins the 2012 Australian Grand Prix.
• 19 March – Cricket: Queensland defeat Tasmania by three wickets in the final of the 2011–12 Sheffield Shield.
• 9 April – Athletics: Matt Wiltshire wins the men's event at the 131st Stawell Gift. The women's event was won by Melissa Breen.
• 22 April – Soccer: A last minute penalty sees Brisbane Roar FC defeat Perth Glory FC 2–1 in the 2012 A-League Grand Final.
• 24 September – Australian rules football: Jobe Watson (Essendon) wins the 2012 Brownlow Medal.
• 29 September – Australian rules football: The Sydney Swans win the 2012 AFL Grand Final, defeating Hawthorn 14.7 (91) to 11.15 (81).
• 30 September – Rugby league: Melbourne Storm defeats Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in the 2012 NRL Grand Final.
• 7 October – Motor racing: Triple Eight Race Engineering Holden Commodore drivers Jamie Whincup and Paul Dumbrell win the 2012 Bathurst 1000 by 0.3 seconds after a late race challenge from the Rod Nash Racing Ford Falcon team of David Reynolds and Dean Canto. Triple Eight's second Commodore of Craig Lowndes and Warren Luff climbed into third place with three laps remaining.
• 6 November – Horse racing: Green Moon, ridden by jockey Brett Prebble, wins the 2012 Melbourne Cup.

Deaths

• 4 January –
  • Sir Archibald Glenn, 100, industrialist, Chancellor of La Trobe University
  • Patricia Mather, 88, zoologist
  • Bob McKenzie, 83, Australian rules footballer (Melbourne)
• 6 January – Spike Pola, 97, football player
• 14 January – Charles Howard, 87, Roman Catholic clergyman
• 15 January –
  • Chris Pavlou, 72, football player
  • Peter Veness, 27, journalist
• 21 January – Jodie-Anne White, 44, dancer and choreographer
• 23 January – Bill Robb, 84, politician, member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly for Miranda (1978–1984)
• 25 January – Charles Stanmore, 87, Olympic fencer
• 4 February – Andrew Wight, 52, writer and film producer (Sanctum)
• 4 February – Mike DeGruy, 60, filmmaker and cinematographer
• 12 February – Denis Flannery, 83, rugby league footballer
• 17 February – Danny Halloran, 57, Australian rules footballer
• 17 February – Hank Nelson, 74, historian
• 11 March – Ian Turpie, 68, entertainer, TV host (The New Price Is Right)
• 16 March – Margaret Whitlam, 92, swimmer, activist, wife of Gough Whitlam
• 17 March – Jaye Radisich, 35, Western Australian politician
• 20 March – Jim Stynes, 45, Australian rules footballer and administrator
• 21 March – Lincoln Hall, 56, mountaineer
• 24 March – Vince Lovegrove, 65, musician, band manager and AIDS activist
• 27 March – Dale Baker, 73, South Australian politician
• 29 March – Michael Peterson, 59, surfer
• 30 March – Ron Gaunt, 78, cricketer
• 31 March – Judith Adams, 68, Senator for Western Australia
• 1 April – Lionel Bowen, 89, politician; Deputy Prime Minister (1983–1990)
• 2 April – Jimmy Little, 75, country musician
• 2 April – Warren Bonython, 95, conservationist, explorer, author and chemical engineer
• 6 April – Sheila Scotter, 92, magazine editor, fashion designer, businessperson
• 15 April – Murray Rose, 72, swimmer
• 18 April – Col Saddington, 74, Australian rules footballer (Richmond)
• 19 April – Greg Ham, 58, musician (Men at Work)
• 2 May – Les Mogg, 82, Australian rules footballer (North Melbourne)
• 3 May – Edith Bliss, 52, pop singer and television presenter
• 3 May – Felix Werder, 90, composer
• 9 May – Northerly, race horse, 15
• 10 May – Gulumbu Yunupingu, 69, Aboriginal artist
• 13 May – Don Ritchie, 85, volunteer ("Angel of The Gap")
• 18 May – Peter Jones, 49, drummer (Crowded House)
• 20 May – Robin Gibb, 62, Bee Gee
• 21 May – Alan Thorne, 73, anthropologist
• 5 June – Charlie Sutton, 88, Australian rules footballer and coach
• 12 June – Rolly Tasker, 86, sailor
• 26 June – Daniel Batman, 31, sprinter
• 27 June – Rosemary Dobson, 92, poet
• 30 June – Michael Abney-Hastings, 69, Earl of Loudoun, pretender to the British throne
• 4 July – Peter Bennett, 85, Australian rules footballer (St Kilda) and Olympic water polo player
• 8 July – Rodger Head, 73, Australian rules footballer (St Kilda)
• 9 July – Edwin Duff, 84, jazz singer
• 23 July – John Treloar, 84, sprinter
• 27 July – Darryl Cotton, 62, musician (Zoot) and television presenter (The Early Bird Show)
• 29 July – Adam Cullen, 46, artist, Archibald Prize winner
• 30 July – Jonathan Hardy, 71, actor
• 6 August – Robert Hughes, 74, art critic, writer (died in New York)
• 13 August – Ray Jordon, 75, cricketer and Australian rules football coach
• 21 August – Gary Mara, 50, rugby league player (died in Los Angeles)
• 23 August – Merv Neagle, 54, Australian rules footballer
• 31 August – Max Bygraves, 89, British entertainer
• 2 September – Bert Worner, 82, Australian football player (Geelong)
• 5 September – Eric Deeral, 79, politician, Queensland MLA for Cook (1974–1977), first Aboriginal member of the Queensland Parliament
• 9 September – John McCarthy, 22, Australian rules footballer (Port Adelaide) (died in Las Vegas)
• 6 September – Amanda Thane, 59, operatic soprano (death announced on this date)
• 8 September – John Gillard, 82, father of then Prime Minister of Australia, Julia Gillard.
• 9 September – Ron Taylor, 78, shark expert
• 12 September – Whobegotyou, 7, Thoroughbred racehorse
• 4 October – Tom Stannage, 68, historian
• 7 October – Wiley Reed, 68, blues musician
• 9 October – George Paciullo, 78, New South Wales politician
• 14 October – Max Fatchen, 92, journalist and children's writer
• 28 October – Gordon Bilney, 73, politician
• 22 November – Bryce Courtenay, 79, author
• 30 November – Keith Henry McDonald, 86, journalist, stockbroker, academic and businessman
• 5 December – Dame Elisabeth Murdoch, 103, philanthropist
• 17 December – Tony Charlton, 83, sports broadcaster
• 20 December – Robert Juniper, 83, artist
• 29 December – Tony Greig, 66, cricketer and broadcaster.

See also

• 2012 in Australian literature
• 2012 in Australian television