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1999 in Australia

{{short description|none}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2020}}

{{Use Australian English|date=February 2012}}

{{More citations needed|date=July 2017}}

The following lists events that happened during 1999 in Australia.

{{Infobox Australian year

| monarch = Elizabeth II

| governor-general = Sir William Deane

| pm = John Howard

| population = 18,925,855

| australian =

| elections = NSW, VIC, Referendum

}}

{{Year in Australia|1999}}

Incumbents

File:William Deane official portrait.jpg]]

File:John howard.jpg]]

=State and territory leaders=

=Governors and administrators=

Events

=January=

  • 1 January - A memorial service is held at Constitution Dock in Hobart to remember the victims of the 1998 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race.{{cite news|last=Darby|first=Andrew|date=2 January 1999|title=Tears flow at the Yachties' Farwell|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sydney-morning-herald-tears-flow-at/124189384|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|location=|access-date=6 May 2023|archive-date=8 May 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230508231044/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sydney-morning-herald-tears-flow-at/124189384/|url-status=live}}
  • 2 January - For the first time, high school graduates in New South Wales can find out their results on the internet.{{cite news |last1=Jamal|first1=Nadia|last2=Raethel|first2=Stephanie|date=2 January 1999|title=Log on or phone for HSC results|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sydney-morning-herald-log-on-or-phon/124189368|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|page=8|location= |access-date=6 May 2023}}

=February=

  • 1 February - An unprecedented rush for Telstra shares helps vault Australian share prices to a record high, as investors focus on the continued strong performance of the local economy with the all ordinaries index surging 29.9 points.{{cite news |last=Mellish|first=Morgan|date=2 February 1999|title=Small spenders reap big share gains|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sydney-morning-herald-small-spenders/124189573|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|page=3|location= |access-date=6 May 2023}}{{cite news|last1=Morrison|first1=Kevin|last2=Johnston|first2=Lachlan|date=2 February 1999|title=Telstra, and market, fly|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sydney-morning-herald-telstra-and-m/124189583|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|page=21|location=|access-date=6 May 2023|archive-date=8 May 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230508055205/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sydney-morning-herald-telstra-and-m/124189583/|url-status=live}}
  • 3 February - An industry review into Queensland's diving industry is released and prompts the Queensland Government to announce its plans to impose jail time or hefty fines on operators falling short of safety requirements.{{cite news|author=|date=2 February 1999|title=Qld to regulate diving industry|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-age-qld-to-regulate-diving-industry/124189651|work=The Age|location=|access-date=6 May 2023|archive-date=12 May 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230512095518/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-age-qld-to-regulate-diving-industry/124189651/|url-status=live}}{{cite news|title=Sea dive industry in safety shake-up|work=The Australian|date=4 February 1999|ref=3}}

=March=

  • 19 March - John Brumby resigns as leader of the Victorian Labor Party.{{cite news|last=Hannan|first=Ewin|date=20 March 1999|title=Brumby calls it quits|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-age-brumby-calls-it-quits/116474153|work=The Age|pages=1, 8-9,33-34|location=|access-date=6 May 2023|archive-date=8 May 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230508060800/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-age-brumby-calls-it-quits/116474153/|url-status=live}}
  • 21 March - Channel Nine's 60 Minutes program airs a controversial report which claims that former Prime Minister Paul Keating lied to Parliament about when he divested himself of his joint share in a Darling Downs piggery, as well as accusing him of fleecing his business partner Al Constantinidis of the majority of the profits.{{cite news|last=Clark|first=Pilita|date=22 March 1999|title=Keating betrayed me and got $4m, says piggery partner|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sydney-morning-herald-keating-betray/116474657|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|page=1|location=|access-date=6 May 2023|archive-date=12 May 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230512104647/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sydney-morning-herald-keating-betray/116474657/|url-status=live}}
  • 22 March -
  • Victorian Shadow Treasurer Steve Bracks becomes leader of the Victorian Labor Party.{{cite news|last=Attwood|first=Alan|date=23 March 1999|title=At last, Bracks is ready for his close-up|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-age-at-last-bracks-is-ready-for-his/116475769|work=The Age|page=2|location=|access-date=6 May 2023|archive-date=8 May 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230508060800/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-age-at-last-bracks-is-ready-for-his/116475769/|url-status=live}}
  • Tropical Cyclone Vance hits the West Australian coast with winds of 230 km/h. The small coastal town of Exmouth is badly damaged.{{cite news|title=Vance Blasts West Coast|publisher=The Courier-Mail, p.1|date=23 March 1999}}{{cite news|last=Reardon|first=David|date=24 March 1999|title=Disease fears increase as Vance leaves trail of destructions|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-age-disease-fears-increase-as-vance/124189809|work=The Age|page=5|location=|access-date=6 May 2023|archive-date=7 May 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230507160758/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-age-disease-fears-increase-as-vance/124189809/|url-status=live}}
  • Dick Smith, chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority resigns, followed by board member Janine Shepherd the following day.{{cite news|last1=Rollins|first1=Adrian|last2=Ewing|first2=Tania|date=23 March 1999|title=Smith quits over air safety infighting|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-age-smith-quits-over-air-safety-infi/116475964|work=The Age|page=2|location=|access-date=6 May 2023|archive-date=8 May 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230508061501/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-age-smith-quits-over-air-safety-infi/116475964/|url-status=live}}{{cite news |author= |date=24 March 1999|title=New resignation from CASA board|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-age-new-resignation-from-casa-board/116476025|work=The Age|page=2|location= |access-date=6 May 2023}}
  • 23 March - Prime Minister John Howard is criticised by the Opposition and Democrats for his proposal that the concept of "mateship" be introduced into a preamble to the Australian Constitution.{{cite news|last=Greene|first=Gervase|date=24 March 1999|title=Outcry on preamble|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-age-outcry-on-preamble/116481424|work=The Age|page=1|location=|access-date=6 May 2023|archive-date=12 May 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230512103352/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-age-outcry-on-preamble/116481424/|url-status=live}} He also creates controversy by proposing that Indigenous Australians should be referred to in the preamble as having "inhabited" the land rather than being "custodians" of it.
  • 24 March - Media mogul Kerry Packer publicly endorses views that the Federal Government should deregulate the media and abolish cross-media ownership rules which stop Packer from taking over the Fairfax newspaper group, as well as calling for foreign ownership restrictions to be lifted.{{cite news|last1=Clark|first1=Pilita|last2=Martin|first2=Lauren|date=25 March 1999|title=Packer has whiff of looser media controls|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sydney-morning-herald-packer-has-whi/116482104|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|location=|access-date=6 May 2023|archive-date=7 May 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230507160759/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sydney-morning-herald-packer-has-whi/116482104/|url-status=live}}
  • 27 March – The ALP government of Bob Carr is re-elected in the 1999 New South Wales state election.{{cite news|last=Walker|first=Frank|date=28 March 1999|title=Carr-nage|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sydney-morning-herald-carr-nage/116482625|work=The Sun-Herald|page=1|location=|access-date=6 May 2023|archive-date=8 May 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230508061438/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sydney-morning-herald-carr-nage/116482625/|url-status=live}}

=April=

  • 2 April – A rescue mission is launched in an attempt to locate two missing aid workers Peter Wallace and Steve Pratt who were working in Yugoslavia for CARE Australia amid the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War.{{cite news|author=|date=3 April 1999|title=Aussies lost in war zone|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sydney-morning-herald-aussies-lost-i/170282473/|work=The Sun-Herald|pages=1,6-7|access-date=15 April 2025}} Foreign Minister Alexander Downer confirms the two men had not been seen for four days and says there is suspicion that that the two men have been detained.
  • 9 April - The Premiers' Conference results in the signing of a new agreement on Commonwealth-State financial relations which offers the states a guaranteed share of tax revenue in the event that the Senate votes for a GST, thereby negating the need for annual negotiations over how tax revenue should be shared.{{cite news|last=Burrell|first=Steve|date=10 April 1999|title=Premier's Conference: Egan to slash payroll tax|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sydney-morning-herald-premiers-conf/116483807|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|page=6|location=|access-date=9 May 2023|archive-date=12 May 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230512000838/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sydney-morning-herald-premiers-conf/116483807/|url-status=live}}
  • 12 April – Australia accuses Serbia of coercing aid worker Steve Pratt into confessing to spying on Yugoslav television.{{cite news|last1=Cole-Adams|first1=Peter|last2=Kitney|first2=Geoff|date=13 April 1999|title='For God's sake, he's no spy' - World outrage at confession; Downer calls in ambassador|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sydney-morning-herald-for-gods-sak/170282579/|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|page=1|access-date=15 April 2025}} Foreign minister Alexander Downer accuses Yugoslav authorities of putting words into Pratt's mouth and calls Yugoslavia's ambassador in Australia Dragan Dragojilovic to express outrage.
  • 13 April – Foreign minister Alexander Downer describes Australian aid workers Steve Pratt and Peter Wallace as being the innocent victims of "trumped up charged for propoganda purposes" after the two men are formally charged with spying for Australia against Yugoslavia.{{cite news|last1=Cole-Adams|first1=Peter|last2=Kitney|first2=Geoff|date=14 April 1999|title=Two charged as spies: Serbs boast Australian aid workers caught in espionage ring|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sydney-morning-herald-two-charged-as/170282605/|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|page=1|access-date=15 April 2025}} Prime minister John Howard said the two men were not combatants and Yugoslavia needed to release the men immediately as it was their moral and legal responsibility to do so.
  • 14 April – A massive hailstorm hits Sydney, with most of the damage being centred on the Eastern Suburbs.{{cite news|author=|date=15 April 1999|title=Hail shatters city|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sydney-morning-herald-hail-shatters/116483960|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|page=1|location=|access-date=9 May 2023|archive-date=12 May 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230512000837/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sydney-morning-herald-hail-shatters/116483960/|url-status=live}} It is the second-costliest natural disaster in Australian history, causing $1.7 billion in insured damages.{{cite news|author=|date=16 April 1999|title=The day after: a stunned city counts the cost|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sydney-morning-herald-the-day-after/116484218|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|page=9|location=|access-date=9 May 2023|archive-date=10 May 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230510051358/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sydney-morning-herald-the-day-after/116484218/|url-status=live}}

=May=

  • 11 May – The biotechnology industry receives a record $800 million in the federal budget.
  • 21 May – Eight decaying bodies are found in barrels in a disused bank vault north of Adelaide, marking the beginning of the Snowtown murders case, which were Australia's worst ever serial killings. More bodies were found underneath a house in Adelaide on 26 May.
  • 30 May – A Belgrade court convicts Australian aid workers Steve Pratt and Peter Wallace of espionage. Pratt is sentenced to 12 years in jail while Wallace is sentenced to four years. CARE Australia CEO Charles Tapp condemns the verdict and describing it as "a political verdict" with nothing to do with justice.{{cite news|author=|date=30 May 1999|title=Convicted: Spy case Aussies guilty|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sydney-morning-herald-convicted-spy/170282732/|work=The Sun-Herald|pages=1-2|access-date=15 April 2025}} The two men are ultimately released in September when Yugoslavian president Slobodan Milošević grants them clemency.{{cite news|last1=Cole-Adams|first1=Peter|last2=Kitney|first2=Geoff|last3=Connolly|first3=Ellen|date=2 September 1999|title=Aid pair coming home|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sydney-morning-herald-aid-pair-comin/117139168/|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|pages=1,7|access-date=15 April 2025}}

=June=

  • 21 June - Senator Mal Colston joins fellow Independent Brian Harradine in supporting the Federal Government's $17 billion sale of the second portion of Telstra (constituting another 16 per cent), allowing the proposed sale to pass through the Senate and become finalised. After the sale, the Government now owns only 50.1 per cent of Telstra.{{cite news|title=Telstra sale clears the Senate / Colston backs $16bn sell-off|publisher=The Australian|date=22 June 1999|ref=1}}{{cite news|title=COLSTON VOTE RINGS UP $16 BILLION TELSTRA SALE|publisher=The Courier-Mail|date=22 June 1999|ref=1}}
  • 28 June – The GST bill is passed through the Senate, with the help of most of the Australian Democrats, in exchange for exemptions on fresh food.
  • 30 June – Tim Fischer retires as federal leader of the National Party and is replaced by John Anderson the next day.

=July=

  • 2 July - Liberal for Forests, a breakaway single-issue political party, is established in response to the turmoil in the West Australian Liberal Party on the issue of stopping logging in old-growth forests.
  • 5 July - The Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions decides to drop the 28 fraud charges against former Senator Mal Colston after receiving two medical specialists' reports which both state that Mr Colston is too ill to face trial, either now or in the future. The decision draws criticism from the Federal Opposition for its timing, due to the fact that Mr Colston was well enough to vote in favour of the Telstra sale the week before.
  • 6 July -
  • Prime Minister John Howard meets Japan's Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi in Tokyo for trade talks and publicly expresses his disappointment over Indonesia's 4 July attack upon an international aid convoy which he says has placed Indonesia in the international spotlight.
  • The trial of Federal MP and former West Australian Premier Carmen Lawrence begins in the Perth District Court where she pleads not guilty to three charges of giving false testimony to the Marks Royal Commission.
  • 13 July - ABC-TV's Media Watch programme reveals that radio announcer John Laws had accepted a sponsorship worth $1.2 million from the Banker's Association in return for favourable comments, thereby igniting the cash for comment scandal.
  • 22 July - A landmark ruling by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission forces Telstra to make its telephone network available to competitors such as Optus.
  • 23 July - A Perth District Court jury finds former West Australian Premier Carmen Lawrence not guilty of each of the three charges of giving false testimony to the Marks Royal Commission in 1995.
  • 27 July –
  • A canyoning disaster at Saxetenbach Gorge near Interlaken in Switzerland. 21 tourists, 14 of them Australian, are killed.
  • The Sisters of Charity and St Vincent's Hospital reach agreement with the New South Wales Government to run an 18-month clinical trial of a medically supervised heroin injecting room to be established in Kings Cross, New South Wales.

=August=

  • 18 August - The Supreme Court of Queensland rules that One Nation (Australia) was improperly registered at the 1998 Queensland State Election because it did not have the 500 members needed to register as a political party and the Court also finds that the registration was obtained by fraud and deception.
  • 26 August – The Prime Minister creates controversy when he avoids the use of the word 'sorry' when a motion was tabled in Parliament expressing 'deep & sincere regret that indigenous Australians suffered injustices under the practises of past generations'.
  • 30 August – East Timor votes for independence from Indonesia. In the violence that follows, Australia is a major contributor of peacekeeping forces.

=September=

  • 1 September – Jailed CARE Australia workers Steve Pratt and Peter Wallace are freed from jail in Belgrade after being granted clemency by Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.{{cite news|title=Aussie care workers out of prison|publisher=The Courier-Mail|date=2 September 1999|ref=1}}{{cite news|title=Pratt and Wallace freed|publisher=The Australian|date=2 September 1999|ref=1}}
  • 2 September – Following their release after spending 154 days in jail, CARE Australia aid workers Steve Pratt and Peter Wallace insist they had not been involved in spying and maintain that they had done nothing wrong. Pratt expresses regret that their humanitation efforts had been disrupted due to a "wartime misunderstanding". He also thanks foreign minister Alexander Downer, prime minister John Howard and the Serbian community in Australia.{{cite news|last=Kitney|first=Geoff|date=3 September 1999|title=We're not spies: Aid workers embrace freedom and proclaim their innocence|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sydney-morning-herald-were-not-spie/170282806/|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|page=1.6-7|access-date=15 April 2025}}
  • 18 September – In a shock result, Steve Bracks and the Labor Party form a minority government with three rural independents to oust the ruling Liberal/National coalition government of Jeff Kennett in Victoria.

=November=

=Undated=

  • Wine Ark, wine storage provider is established.

Arts and literature

{{Main|1999 in Australian literature}}

Film

Television

  • 1 February – QSTV becomes an affiliate of the Seven Network, becoming known as Seven Central.
  • March – WIN Television WA commences broadcasting to regional & remote Western Australia, ending the long-time monopoly held by Golden West Network.
  • May – The Seven Network becomes the first Australian television network to introduce a watermark on its programs, which leads to complaints from viewers.{{cite news|last=Platt|first=Craig|date=3 June 1999|title=Always something there to remind me|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-age-always-something-there-to-remind/170566821/|work=The Age|page=70|access-date=18 April 2025|quote=For the past two weeks, the Seven logo has been sitting in the bottom right corner of your screen 24 hours a day, seven days a week (excluding ads).}}{{cite news|author=|date=10 June 1999|title=Letters: Seven misses the mark|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-age-seven-misses-the-mark/170566761/|work=The Age|page=59|access-date=18 April 2025}}
  • 11 April – Hosted by Andrew Denton, the 41st annual Logie Awards are held in Melbourne where Lisa McCune wins the Gold Logie and Mike Walsh is inducted into the Logie Hall of Fame.{{cite news|author=|date=12 April 1999|title=Three straight Logies for McCune|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sydney-morning-herald-three-straight/170565962/|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|page=4|access-date=18 April 2025}}
  • 27 October – It's announced the Nine Network's long-running variety program Hey Hey It's Saturday hosted by Daryl Somers has been axed, with the show set to conclude it's 28-year run in November.{{cite news|last1=Farrant|first1=Darrin|last2=Waldon|first2=Steve|date=28 October 1999|title=Hey Hey Daryl, it's over|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-age-hey-hey-daryl-its-over-somers/116485721/|work=The Age|page=1|access-date=18 April 2025}}{{cite news|last1=|first1=|date=28 October 1999|title=Variety no more the spice of TV life as Hey Hey goes|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-age-variety-no-more-the-spice-of-tv/116485846/|work=The Age|page=2|access-date=18 April 2025}}
  • 20 November – The last ever episode of Hey Hey It's Saturday goes to air.{{cite news|last=Marino|first=Melissa|date=21 November 1999|title=Hey hey, it's not all over|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-age-hey-hey-its-not-all-over/116484729/|work=The Sunday Age|page=5|access-date=18 April 2025}}

Sport

1999 was the year Australia won cricket, rugby, men's tennis and netball world cups in the same year.

=Unknown dates=

Births

Deaths

See also

References

{{reflist}}

{{Years in Australia}}

{{Oceania topic|1999 in|countries_only=yes}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:1999 in Australia}}

Australia

Category:Years of the 20th century in Australia