1993 in Australia

1993 in Australia
Monarchy	Elizabeth II
Governor-General	Bill Hayden
Prime minister	Paul Keating
Population	17,667,093
Elections	Federal, WA, SA

← 1992 1991 1990 1993 in Australia → 1994 1995 1996
Decades:	1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s
See also:	Other events of 1993 Federal election Timeline of Australian history

Incumbents

• Monarch – Elizabeth II
• Governor-General – Bill Hayden
• Prime Minister – Paul Keating

Premiers and Chief Ministers

• Premier of New South Wales – John Fahey
• Premier of Queensland – Wayne Goss
• Premier of South Australia – Lynn Arnold (until 14 December), then Dean Brown
• Premier of Tasmania – Ray Groom
• Premier of Western Australia – Carmen Lawrence (until 16 February), then Richard Court
• Premier of Victoria – Jeff Kennett
• Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory – Rosemary Follett
• Chief Minister of the Northern Territory – Marshall Perron

Governors and administrators

• Governor of New South Wales – Peter Sinclair
• Governor of Queensland – Leneen Forde
• Governor of South Australia – Dame Roma Mitchell
• Governor of Tasmania – Sir Phillip Bennett
• Governor of Western Australia – Sir Francis Burt (until 31 October), then Michael Jeffery
• Governor of Victoria – Richard McGarvie
• Administrator of the Northern Territory – James Muirhead (until 1 March), then Austin Asche

Events

• 1 January – 1962 Cabinet papers are released to the public.
• 7 January – West Australian Premier Carmen Lawrence announces a February 6 election date.^[1]
• 9 January – Prime Minister Paul Keating denies any involvement in a multimillion-dollar salami venture with a Hungarian company in the NSW Hunter Valley, as had been alleged by Senator Michael Baume.
• 13 January – National Party Leader Tim Fischer calls on Japan to apologise for Japanese atrocities committed during World War II.
• 20 January – A funeral is held for former Governor-General, Sir Paul Hasluck in St. George's Cathedral, Perth.
• 21 January – The Australian dollar slumps to its lowest level since early 1987 (US 66.3c) prompting international investors to abandon the currency and a rescue intervention effort from the Reserve Bank of Australia.^[2]
• 22 January –
  • Prime Minister Paul Keating releases a statement revealing that he is suing Senator Michael Baume over comments he made in a 3AW radio interview about Mr. Keating's involvement in a Scone piggery, Danpork and tax concessions for which he applied.
  • Shell Australia announces plans to close more than half of the nation's oldest colliery, the South Bulli Mine, leading to 230 job losses for New South Wales coal miners.
• 25 January – The Remuneration Tribunal announces that MPs will have their pay boosted by 1.4 per cent from March 11.
• 28 January –
  • The Federal Government curtails MDS microwave delivery as a secondary pay TV system to satellite and calls off the auction for new MDS licences, a decision which Prime Minister Paul Keating claims is to stop "inferior technology" – the microwave system – from hijacking the pay-TV industry.^[3]
  • Federal Treasurer John Dawkins announces that the Federal Government is revising its Budget forecasts for growth in 1992–93 from 3 per cent to 2.5 per cent.^[4]
• 31 January – New South Wales Transport Minister, Mr. Baird, announces that 2,000 jobs will disappear from the State Rail Authority this year and stressed that all redundancies would be voluntary.
• 6 February – Elections in Western Australia see the ALP government of Carmen Lawrence voted out and the Liberal Party voted in. Richard Court becomes the new premier.
• 7 March – Two prisoners, Peter Gibb and Archie Butterley, escape from the Melbourne Remand Centre with the help of prison officer Heather Parker.^[5]
• 13 March – Paul Keating and the ALP win the federal 'unwinnable election' and are re-elected for a fifth term in power.
• 4 August – Coles Myer announces a $4 billion expansion plan creating 100,000 new jobs & spanning five years.
• 28 August – HMAS Collins (SSG 73), the first of the Collins Class submarine, becomes the first Australian-built and designed submarine to launch
• 23 September – The IOC selects Sydney to be the site of the 2000 Summer Olympics
• 26 November – Construction begins on Brisbane’s new $250 million International Airport Terminal.
• 11 December – Dean Brown and the Liberal Party win the South Australian elections, winning government from Lynn Arnold and the ALP.

Arts and literature

• Alex Miller's novel The Ancestor Game wins the Miles Franklin Award

Film

• The Piano (1993) – New Zealand co-production, won 3 Oscars and received a further 5 nominations. AFI winner for Best Film
• The Heartbreak Kid
• Reckless Kelly

Television

• 3 March – The "birthday cake interview" with John Hewson takes place on A Current Affair. Hewson's confused explanation of the effect of a consumption tax in the Coalition's Fightback! package is seen as a crucial factor in the surprise re-election of the ALP at the federal election.
• 30 July – A Country Practice is axed after 1,058 episodes by the Seven Network. The final episode aired on 22 November, Network Ten pick up the series the following year, but it is nowhere near as successful as the Channel Seven version and is axed soon after.
• 25 November – Ray Martin presents his final episode of Midday. He moves on to A Current Affair in 1994 and is replaced in the Midday role by Derryn Hinch.

Sport

• 5 March – First day of the Australian Track & Field Championships for the 1992–1993 season, which are held at the QEII Stadium in Brisbane, Queensland.
• 10 April – Jason A Richardson won the Stawell Gift in 11.94secs
• 16 May – Marconi Fairfield equal the record of 4 national titles by beating Adelaide City in the NSL Final.
• 4 June – Shane Warne, in his first delivery of Ashes cricket, delivers what has been described as the "Ball of the Century" to Mike Gatting, bowling the Englishman.
• 18 July – Sean Quilty wins his second men's national marathon title, clocking 2:15:31 in Brisbane, while Karen McCann claims her second women's title in 2:40:10.
• 25 September – Essendon (20.13.133) defeat Carlton (13.11.89) to win the 97th VFL/AFL premiership.
• 26 September – Brisbane Broncos (14) defeat the St. George Dragons (6) for the second consecutive year to win the 86th NSWRL premiership.
• 17 November – The Socceroos lose to Argentina 0–1 in Buenos Aires in the CONMEBOL/CONCACAF-OFC playoff, thereby failing to qualify for the 1994 FIFA World Cup on aggregate.

Births

• 4 February – Jack Wighton, Australian rugby player
• 3 March – Nicola Bolger, football (soccer) player
• 11 March – Demi Harman, actress
• 8 May – Pat Cummins, cricketer
• 16 May – Steven Solomon, sprinter
• 9 June – Jack Debreczeni, Australian rugby player
• 16 July – Billy Ward, Olympic boxer (died 2013)
• 31 July – Christian Byers, actor
• 11 August – Luke Erceg, actor
• 4 September – Mark Vincent, pop opera singer
• 9 September – Tessa Wallace, swimmer
• 13 September – Aisha Dee, actress
• 11 December – Tyrone Gilks, motorbike stunt rider (died 2013)
• 13 December – Shaun Edwards, rules footballer (Greater Western Sydney)

Deaths

• 10 February – Fred Hollows, 63, ophthalmologist
• 2 July – Sir Edward "Weary" Dunlop, 85, surgeon
• 21 July – E. J. G. Pitman, 95, statistician
• 6 November – Michael Vernon, 61, consumer activist
• 20 November – Eve van Grafhorst, 11, first Australian child to be infected with HIV via a blood transfusion (born 1982)

References

1. "After WA, a March Election". Sydney Morning Herald. 8 January 1993.
2. "$A Slide Ominous for Government". Sydney Morning Herald, p.1. 22 January 1993.
3. "Govt Denies Pay-TV Bias". Sydney Morning Herald, p3. 30 January 1993.
4. "Inflation and the Main Game". Sydney Morning Herald, p.10. 29 January 1993.
5. Encel, Vivien (2003). "The Lovestruck Prison Officer". Murder! 25 true Australian crimes. Kingsclear Books. ISBN 0-908272-47-2.