2006 in Australia

The following lists events that happened during 2006 in Australia.

2006 in Australia
MonarchyElizabeth II
Governor-GeneralMichael Jeffery
Prime ministerJohn Howard
ElectionsSA, TAS, QLD, VIC

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 2006
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Decades:
  • 1980s
  • 1990s
  • 2000s
  • 2010s
  • 2020s
See also:

Incumbents
Michael Jeffery
John Howard

Federal government

Cabinet

Other Ministers

Members of Parliament

See: 41st Australian parliament

Opposition leaders

High Court justices

Other

States

Premiers

Governors

Lord Mayors

Religious leaders

Events

January
  • 1 January – Bushfires grip parts of the Central Coast and the Riverina in New South Wales and the Wimmera in Victoria after one of the hottest New Years Days on record, with the Sydney CBD reaching 45 °C (113 °F).
  • 2 January – A skydiving plane crash near Willowbank in Queensland claims five lives.
  • 9 January – Communities in the Pilbara region of Western Australia are evacuated due to Tropical Cyclone Clare.
  • 10 January – Six Australians die when a bus flips over in Egypt.
  • 16 January – Premier of Western Australia Geoff Gallop resigns, citing clinical depression as the reason.
  • 22–29 January – Bushfires affect several towns in Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania. Three volunteer firefighters are killed.
  • 24 January – Alan Carpenter replaces Gallop as Premier of Western Australia.

February
  • 18 February – Six teenagers are killed and another is injured in a hit and run accident in Cardross, Victoria, near Mildura.

March

April
  • 7 April – John Landy retires as Governor of Victoria, and is succeeded by David de Kretser.
  • 18 April – More than 19 AFP officers are injured as the capital of the Solomon Islands, Honiara, erupts into rioting. In response to this, the Prime Minister of Australia orders an Army deployment of 220 troops.
  • 21 April – Private Jacob Kovco becomes the first casualty of Australia's involvement in the Iraq campaign. The reason given initially was that his gun had accidentally discharged while cleaning his gun, although this was later retracted. It was later stated that he had accidentally shot himself while skylarking with his pistol.
  • 25 April – A small earthquake causes a rock fall in a gold mine in Beaconsfield, Tasmania. Eleven miners come out, but three are left inside. One of them is found dead on 28 April. The other two are freed on 9 May.
  • 26 April – The body of Bosnian civilian contractor Juso Sinanovic is taken to Australia instead of the body of Private Kovco. Private Kovco's body later arrived in Australia on 29 April.

May

June

July
  • 9 July – Revelations are published in News Limited newspapers that, in 1994, John Howard made a secret deal with Peter Costello to hand over the leadership of the Liberal Party to him after having served two terms in office as Prime Minister.
  • 17 July - Australia's largest recorded inundation caused by a tsunami hits the Western Australian coast at Steep Point.[1]
  • 29 July – In the face of a worsening water supply crisis, a referendum is held in Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia's second largest inland city, on the issue of using water recycled from the city's sewerage as a source of drinking water. The acrimonious campaign and emotional debate were watched closely nationwide as most other Australian cities raise water restrictions in the face of record low dam and river levels.

August
  • 8 August – 2006 census night.
  • 18 August – US private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. launches a $16 billion takeover bid for Coles Group. KKR later withdraw their offer.

September
  • 4 September – Steve Irwin dies in an accident when he is struck in the heart by a stingray barb off Queensland's coast.
  • 8 September – Peter Brock is killed in a smash when his rally car skids off a bend and hits a tree.
  • 9 September – Peter Beattie is re-elected Queensland premier at an early state election.
  • 26 September – Seven people are killed in a horror road smash outside the Victoria town of Donald.

October

November
  • 11 November – Belinda Emmett, a TV personality and wife of Rove McManus, dies, after a battle with breast cancer.
  • 22 November – Sydney is covered in smoke after raging fires in the Blue Mountains.
  • 25 November – Steve Bracks is re-elected Victorian premier at the state election.
  • 29 November – One SAS soldier and the helicopter captain are dead and eight more rescued when a Blackhawk helicopter hits the deck of HMAS Kanimbla and crashes into waters off the coast of Fiji.
  • 30 November – Greg Page, the founding member and lead singer of Australia's famous children's band The Wiggles, announced his retirement due to orthostatic intolerance. He handed his yellow skivvy to Sam Moran.

December

Non-specific dates
  • Investigation into AWB Limited's role in the Oil-for-Food Programme, sometimes referred to as Wheatgate or Oil for wheat. The official inquiry states that AWB directors did know about the kickback payments as early as 2001 and that government ministers did not know about the kickbacks, although this was not in their brief.

Arts and literature
Main article: 2006 in Australian literature

Film
  • Ten Canoes, the first full-length feature film made entirely in an Australian Aboriginal language, wins a special jury prize at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival.
  • Happy Feet becomes the country's biggest earning film

Television
Main article: 2006 in Australian television
  • 1 January – Mildura Digital Television, a joint venture between WIN Television Mildura & Prime Television, goes on air in the Mildura area of Victoria as a Network Ten digital-only affiliate.
  • 2 January – The Seven and Ten Networks outbid Channel Nine and win the rights to broadcast the AFL from 2007–2011 for a record $780 million. Also around this time, Seven announce that they have won the rights to broadcast the V8 Supercars from 2007 to 2014.
  • 30 January – Channel Nine launches a new logo, dropping the famous dots and replacing it with a stand-alone nine in a blue box.
  • February 2006 – Wheel of Fortune returns and starts in 2006. Larry Emdur & Laura Csortan will definitely host WOF in a partnership instead of one. On the very first episode in 2006, the car was won! The final edition of the version was screened on 28 July.
  • 9 February – It is announced that Eddie McGuire will become Channel Nine's new CEO.
  • 13 February – Network Ten's motto, Seriously... becomes Seriously Ten (this was Network Ten's 2001 motto), and has its new look Ten Watermark on the bottom right of the TV screens
  • 17 February – ABC premiered The Chaser's War on Everything
  • 20 February – Television Sydney formally launches after three months of testing, giving Sydney community television for the first time in almost two years.
  • 21 May – Brant Webb & Todd Russell speak to A Current Affair's new host Tracy Grimshaw about their time underground in Beaconsfield in a 2-hour special called The Great Escape. They are paid a reported $2.6 million by Channel Nine for the right to talk to them.
  • 4 June – After 12 years & a record-breaking 510 episodes, the last episode of the Seven Network show Blue Heelers goes to air.
  • 14 September – Today Tonight host Naomi Robson is deported from Indonesia after doing a story on a West Papuan boy called Wa Wa who, supposedly, was going to be eaten by cannibals. This sparks a war of words between Seven & Nine, who ran the original story on Wa Wa in May on 60 Minutes. Naomi presents her final edition of Today Tonight on 1 December.
  • 16 September – Television in Australia turns 50. The next day, this is commemorated with a live TV special from Star City, Sydney on the Seven Network.
  • 29 September – Backyard Blitz finishes its 6-year run on the Nine Network. Jamie Durie leaves Nine and signs up with the Seven Network, the next year, he dances his way on Dancing with the Stars.
  • 30 September – The Fox Footy Channel ceases broadcasting. It is replaced by Fox Sports 3 & Fox Sports News on 1 October.
  • 18 October – PBL announces the sale of 50% of the Nine Network, including its 50% stake in ninemsn & ACP to CVC Asia Pacific for $4.5 billion.
  • 26 November – Irishman Damien Leith defeats 17-year-old Jessica Mauboy to win the title of Australian Idol 2006 at the Sydney Opera House.
  • 27 November – The last ever episode of The Glass House goes to air on ABC TV.
  • 10 December – Network Ten broadcasts the V8 Supercars for the final-ever time, before handing the television right to the Seven Network. Ten later revived the V8 Supercars coverage 9 years later.

Sport

Births
  • 22 September - Luke Borusiewicz, murder victim (died 2009)

Deaths

See also

References
  1. "Australian tsunami database reveals threat to continent". Space Daily. Space Media Network. 2 May 2014. Retrieved 4 May 2014.
  2. "Lesbian murderers giggle at details".
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