2007 in Australia

• Monarch – Queen Elizabeth II
• Governor General – Michael Jeffery

The Australian Labor Party won the election on 24 November.

• Prime Minister – John Howard, then Kevin Rudd
• Deputy Prime Minister – Mark Vaile, to Julia Gillard
• Minister for Transport and Regional Services – Mark Vaille
• Treasurer – Peter Costello
• Minister for Trade – Mark Vaile
• Minister for Foreign Affairs – Alexander Downer
• Minister for Defence – Brendan Nelson
• Minister for Finance and Administration – Nick Minchin
• Minister for Health and Ageing – Tony Abbott
• Attorney General – Philip Ruddock
• Minister for the Environment and Heritage – Ian Campbell
• Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts – Helen Coonan
• Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry – Peter McGauran
• Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs – Amanda Vanstone
• Minister for Education, Science and Training – Julie Bishop
• Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs – Mal Brough
• Minister for Industry, Tourism and Resources – Ian Macfarlane
• Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations – Kevin Andrews

• Minister for Fisheries, Forestry and Conservation – Eric Abetz
• Minister for the Arts and Sport – Rod Kemp
• Minister for Human Services – Joe Hockey
• Minister for Revenue and Assistant Treasurer – Peter Dutton
• Special Minister of State – Gary Nairn
• Minister for Justice and Customs – Chris Ellison
• Minister for Veterans' Affairs – Bruce Billson
• Minister for Community Services – John Cobb, to Nigel Scullion
• Minister for Ageing – Christopher Pyne
• Minister for Small Business and Tourism – Fran Bailey
• Minister for Local Government, Territories and Roads – Jim Lloyd
• Minister for Vocational and Further Education – Gary Hardgrave, to Andrew Robb
• Minister for Workforce Participation – Peter Dutton

See: 41st Australian parliament

And: Members of the Australian Senate, 2005–2008

• Australian Labor Party – Kevin Rudd
• Australian Greens – Bob Brown
• Australian Democrats – Lyn Allison
• Family First – Steve Fielding

• Speaker of the House of Representatives – David Hawker
• President of the Senate – Paul Calvert, to Alan Ferguson

• Chief Justice – Murray Gleeson
• William Gummow
• Michael Kirby
• Kenneth Hayne
• Ian Callinan, then Susan Kiefel
• Dyson Heydon
• Susan Crennan

• Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia – Glenn Stevens
• Chief of the Australian Defence Force – Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, AO

• Premier of New South Wales – Morris Iemma
• Premier of South Australia – Mike Rann
• Premier of Queensland – Peter Beattie, to Anna Bligh
• Premier of Tasmania – Paul Lennon
• Premier of Western Australia – Alan Carpenter
• Premier of Victoria – Steve Bracks, to John Brumby
• Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory – Jon Stanhope
• Chief Minister of the Northern Territory – Clare Martin, to Paul Henderson

• Governor of New South Wales – Marie Bashir
• Governor of South Australia – Marjorie Jackson-Nelson, to Kevin Scarce
• Governor of Queensland – Quentin Bryce
• Governor of Tasmania – William Cox
• Governor of Western Australia – Ken Michael
• Governor of Victoria – David de Kretser
• Administrator of the Northern Territory – Ted Egan, to Tom Pauling

• Adelaide – Michael Harbison
• Brisbane – Campbell Newman
• Darwin – Peter Adamson, then Garry Lambert
• Hobart – Rob Valentine
• Melbourne – John So
• Perth – Peter Nattrass, then Lisa Scaffidi
• Sydney – Clover Moore

• Roman Catholic Church
  • Roman Catholic Bishop of Adelaide – Archbishop Philip Wilson
  • Roman Catholic Bishop of Brisbane – Archbishop John Bathersby
  • Roman Catholic Bishop of Hobart – Archbishop Adrian Leo Doyle
  • Roman Catholic Bishop of Melbourne – Archbishop Denis Hart
  • Roman Catholic Bishop of Perth – Archbishop Barry Hickey
  • Roman Catholic Bishop of Sydney – Cardinal Archbishop George Pell
• Uniting Church in Australia
  • President of the Uniting Church in Australia – Reverend Dean Drayton
• Anglican Church of Australia
  • Primate of the Anglican Church of Australia – Archbishop Phillip Aspinall
  • Anglican Bishop of Adelaide – Archbishop Jeffrey Driver
  • Anglican Bishop of Brisbane – Archbishop Phillip Aspinall
  • Anglican Bishop of Melbourne – Archbishop Peter Watson
  • Anglican Bishop of Perth – Archbishop Roger Herft
  • Anglican Bishop of Sydney – Archbishop Peter Jensen

• Year of the Surf Lifesaver[1]

• 1 January – An estimated five hundred rioters turn on police in Rye, Victoria.[2]
• 4 January – Storms lash the town of Esperance, Western Australia. A natural disaster area is declared.[3]
• 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.[4]
• 15 January – The first day of competition at the Australian Open is marred by clashes between Serbian and Croatian supporters and the Victorian police.[5]
• 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.[6]
• 23 January – John Howard reshuffles his federal cabinet. Such changes include the sacking of the Immigration Minister, Amanda Vanstone.[7]
• 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.[8]
• 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.[9]

• 5 February – The first inquest into the deaths of the Balibo Five begins.[10]
• 7 February – James Hardie announces it has approved long-term compensation arrangements for asbestos victims.[11]
• 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.[12]

• 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.[13]
• 31 March – Earth Hour, in which Sydneysiders were encouraged to turn off their lights between 7:30 pm and 8:30 pm, takes place.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.[14]
• 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.[15]
• 6 June – Fugitive Tony Mokbel is recaptured in Greece after being missing since March 2006.[16]
• 8–10 June – Major storms strike Newcastle, the Hunter Region and the Central Coast, 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.

[17][18][19]

• 18 June – Victoria Police cordon off a large part of the Melbourne city centre after a gunman shoots three people, killing one, and then escapes.[20]
• 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 (most of which are controversial) to deal with the crisis.
• 25 June – John Laws announces his retirement from radio after a career spanning 54 years.[21]

• 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.[22]
• 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.[23]
• 27 July – Steve Bracks resigns as Premier of Victoria.[24] Deputy Premier John Thwaites also resigns.[25]
• 27 July – The Director of Public Prosecutions drops the terrorism support charges against Dr. Mohamed Haneef.[26]
• 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.

• 14 August – The federal Cabinet approves uranium exports to India outside the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.[27]
• 15 August – Three journalists (Paul Daley and Michael Brissenden of the ABC, and Tony Wright of The Age and previously The Bulletin) give details of a dinner they attended in 2005 with Treasurer Peter Costello, at which Costello outlined his intention to challenge Prime Minister John Howard for the leadership of the Liberal Party.[28]
• 19 August – Leader of the Opposition Kevin Rudd admits that he once visited New York strip club Scores in 2003.[29]
• 21 August – The Federal Court of Australia reverses the decision of Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews to cancel the visa of former terrorism suspect Dr. Mohamed Haneef on character grounds, although the Australian Government announces it will appeal the decision.[30]
• 27 August – The Australian Government releases a draft booklet of Australian facts and values from which 20 questions of a citizenship test will be drawn. Applicants for citizenship will be required to score 12 out of 20 (60%) in the test to be eligible.[31]

• 2–9 September – The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation hosts its annual leaders meeting in Sydney. A public holiday was held in the Sydney Metropolitan area on 7 September.
• 10 September – Peter Beattie announces he will resign as Premier of Queensland
• 11 September – Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper became the first Canadian Prime Minister, since Canadian Confederation, to address the Parliament of Australia.
• 13 September – Anna Bligh is sworn in as Queensland's first female premier.
• 15 September – A three-year-old toddler, Qian Xun Xue (nicknamed "Pumpkin" by authorities), is found wandering alone at Melbourne's Southern Cross station. Police believe the child had arrived several days before from New Zealand, and that her father had fled to the United States.
• 22 September – The 171-year-old Myer building in Hobart is destroyed by fire.

• 4 October – The controversial Gunns Bell Bay Pulp Mill is given the go-ahead by federal Environment and Water Resources Minister Malcolm Turnbull, with some conditions imposed on its development and with the Shadow minister for Environment and Water's backing.[32]
• 8–11 October – Severe thunderstorms have pounded South-East Queensland and Northern New South Wales, with hailstones the size of tennis balls and destructive winds being recorded in Brisbane, Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast and Lismore.[33]

• 6 November – An Australian children's toy known as Bindeez is recalled and a safety warning is issued after several children who had swallowed the beads were hospitalised suffering the symptoms of ingestion of gamma-Hydroxybutyric acid or GHB. The toys are also recalled in the United States and United Kingdom after several U.S. children suffer the same effects.[34]
• 9 November – The Assistant Commissioner of Victoria Police, Noel Ashby, resigns, after a long service.
• 21 November – Three days before the federal election, members of the Liberal Party are caught letterboxing the electorate of Lindsay with pamphlets from a bogus Islamic organisation, praising Labor for its support of the Bali bombers. Jackie Kelly, the retiring member for Lindsay whose husband was involved in the scandal, dismissed the incident as a "Chaser-style prank."
• 24 November – A federal election is held. Kevin Rudd is elected as Prime Minister of Australia after the Australian Labor Party wins a majority in the House of Representatives.
• 25 November – Peter Costello indicates he will not run for either Leader or Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party following their electoral defeat.
• 26 November – Clare Martin announces her resignation as Chief Minister of the Northern Territory. Paul Henderson, the Territory's education minister is sworn in as her replacement on the same day.
• 29 November – Brendan Nelson is elected Liberal Leader by 45 votes to 42 over Malcolm Turnbull. Julie Bishop is elected Deputy Leader.

• 3 December – On his first day as Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd ratifies the Kyoto Protocol on climate change.
• 11 December – Julia Gillard becomes Acting Prime Minister as Kevin Rudd attends the 2007 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali, technically making her Australia's first female prime minister.
• 13 December – Zed Seselja becomes Opposition Leader of the ACT after the resignation of Bill Stefaniak. This follows the expulsion from the party of former Shadow Treasurer Richard Mulcahy on 10 December.
• 21 December – The Federal Court upholds the ruling of Justice Spender that former immigration minister Kevin Andrews was wrong to revoke the visa of Indian doctor and terrorism suspect Muhamed Haneef.[35]