1988 in Australia

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The following lists events that happened during the year 1988 in Australia.

← 1987 1986 1985 1988 in Australia → 1989 1990 1991
Decades:	1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s
See also:	Other events of 1988 Timeline of Australian history

Incumbents

• Monarch – Elizabeth II
• Governor-General – Sir Ninian Stephen
• Prime Minister – Bob Hawke
  • Deputy Prime Minister – Lionel Bowen
  • Opposition Leader – John Howard
• Chief Justice – Sir Anthony Mason

State and territory leaders

• Premier of New South Wales – Barrie Unsworth (until 25 March), then Nick Greiner
  • Opposition Leader – Nick Greiner (until 25 March), then Bob Carr
• Premier of Queensland – Mike Ahern
  • Opposition Leader – Nev Warburton (until 2 March), then Wayne Goss
• Premier of South Australia – John Bannon
  • Opposition Leader – John Olsen
• Premier of Tasmania – Robin Gray
  • Opposition Leader – Neil Batt (until 14 December), then Michael Field
• John Cain Jr.
  • Opposition Leader – Jeff Kennett
• Premier of Western Australia – Brian Burke (until 25 February), then Peter Dowding
  • Opposition Leader – Barry MacKinnon
• Chief Minister of the Northern Territory – Stephen Hatton (until 13 July), then Marshall Perron
  • Opposition Leader – Terry Smith
• President of the Legislative Assembly of Norfolk Island – John Brown

Governors and administrators

• Governor of New South Wales – Sir James Rowland
• Governor of Queensland – Sir Walter Campbell
• Governor of South Australia – Sir Donald Dunstan
• Governor of Tasmania – Sir Phillip Bennett
• Governor of Victoria – Davis McCaughey
• Governor of Western Australia – Gordon Reid
• Administrator of Norfolk Island – John Matthew (until 31 December), then William Campbell
• Administrator of the Northern Territory – Eric Johnston

Events

• Australia's Bicentenary year, celebrations lasting throughout year.

January

• 17 January – The TV soap Home and Away is launched by Seven Network
  .
• 19 January – Federal Sport and Tourism Minister John Brown
  steps down for apparently misleading Parliament over his role in the tendering process for Brisbane's Expo contracts on 10 December 1987.
• Sydney Harbour
  .

• 5 February
  – New Liberal Party President, entrepreneur John Elliott, states publicly that the Liberals lack strong leadership and had not deserved to win at the previous election.
• 6 February – The 1988 Adelaide by-election is held for the Australian House of Representatives seat of Adelaide following Chris Hurford's retirement. Liberal candidate Michael Pratt
  wins the seat with a 9% swing, largely because Labor refused to rule out a proposal for timed local telephone calls.
• 9 February – Australian Labor Party President Mick Young is forced to resign from Parliament over allegations (later disproved) of concealing a large donation from Harris-Daishowa. In the ensuing reshuffle, Graham Richardson and Michael Duffy
  enter Cabinet.

• 19 March – Nick Greiner and the Liberal Party win the 1988 New South Wales state election in a landside, removing the ALP government of Barrie Unsworth. Greiner's Coalition of 39 Liberals and 20 Nationals wins 49.5% of the vote in the enlarged 109-seat House, leading comfortably over Labor with 43 seats and 7 others. Labor suffers a further fall of 10% in its vote. National Party leader Wal Murray
  becomes Deputy Premier of New South Wales.
• 26 March – The 1988 Port Adelaide by-election is held for the Australian House of Representatives seat of Port Adelaide following Mick Young's resignation. The election is won by Labor candidate Rod Sawford
  , despite an 11.1% swing to the Liberal Party.

• 9 April – At the Liberals' Federal Council meeting in Melbourne, Liberal leaders Jeff Kennett, John Olsen and Barry MacKinnon are reserved about a consumption tax. John Elliott
  's motion to broaden the tax is passed.
• 30 April – World Expo 88 opens in Brisbane, Queensland
  . The exhibition runs for 6 months hosting pavilions from over 70 countries and thrusts Brisbane into the international spotlight.

• 9 May – Elizabeth II opens the New Parliament House in Canberra

• 1 June – the British Government fail to stop the publication of Spycatcher by the ex-MI5 agent Peter Wright
  .
• 10 June – The Australian Labor Party's biennial conference in Hobart
  sees the left faction defeated on the divisive issues of uranium mining, privatisation and tertiary education fees.

• One Australia policy
  taps latent concerns over Asian immigration and sparks damaging debate on this issue within the Coalition.
• 17 August – Foreign Minister Bill Hayden is announced as the next Governor-General. In the subsequent ministerial reshuffle, Gareth Evans receives the Foreign Affairs and Trade portfolio, Ralph Willis receives Industrial Relations, and Robert Ray
  receives Immigration, Local Government and Ethnic Affairs.
• 22 August – Federal Parliament reassembles for the Budget session in the new Parliament House, Canberra
  .
• 24 August – In the vote on a Labor motion repudiating race as a criterion for immigration, Liberals Ian Macphee, Philip Ruddock and Peter Baume cross the floor, while Wilson and Michael MacKellar
  abstain.

• 1 September – Acacia pycnantha
  proclaimed Australia's national floral emblem.
• 3 September – The 1988 Australian referendum
  is held and propositions on 4-year parliamentary terms, recognition of local government, religious liberty and other issues are defeated with 60% of the electorate voting against them.
• 26 September – Federal Opposition Leader John Howard sacks the National Party of Australia's John Stone
  from the Shadow Cabinet over a series of remarks about immigration and for not being a "team player".

• Victoria
  .
• 8 October – The 1988 Oxley by-election is held for the Australian House of Representatives seat of Oxley vacated by Bill Hayden. Labor candidate Les Scott only narrowly wins the seat, suffering a 12% swing. Bill Hayden
  's world trip before taking up his appointment as the new Governor-General is criticised by the Federal Opposition and others.
• 12 October – Two officers of the Victoria Police are gunned down execution-style in the Walsh Street police shootings
  .
• Melbourne, Victoria
• 30 October – World Expo 88
  draws to a close after a 6-month spectacular.

• 4 December – In Sydney, Federal Opposition Leader John Howard launches a statement of principle and general policy entitled Future Directions which reveals that a Liberal government would encourage the introduction of external school examinations, establish a National Standards Monitoring Program for schools and did not rule out the introduction of a consumption tax after the first term of a Coalition government. Based on intensive research in 20 marginal seats, the statement also speaks nostalgically of traditional values.^[1]
• 24 December – Arbitration Commission President Barry Maddern
  finds that the Remuneration Tribunal's November recommendations for a 29% increase in MP's salaries and allowances are justified.

• No Miles Franklin Award winner is announced as date changed from year of publication to year of announcement
• The Aboriginal Memorial was created to honour all Aboriginals that had died defending their land since 1788

Film

• Celia
• Crocodile Dundee II
• Evil Angels
• The Man from Snowy River II
• Young Einstein

Television

• 1 January –
  European settlement airs on the ABC, SBS, the Nine Network and regional
  solus stations.
• 2 January –
  Imparja starts broadcasting to remote Central Australia via satellite
  It will have its official launch on 15 January.
• 17 January – The first episode of Home and Away goes to air.
• 17 January –
  A Current Affair debuts on Channel Nine, hosted by Jana Wendt
  .
• 24 January –
  Network Ten
  unveils its new logo, the "X" logo.
• 16 February – The Comedy Company debuts on Network 10 (1988–1990)
• 29 April – QSTV (now
  remote
  Eastern Australia via satellite.
• 20 May –
  NEW-10
  opens, giving Perth the same number of stations as the eastern states.
• 10 September – Brisbane's TVQ-0 becomes
  Toowoomba's DDQ-10 becomes DDQ-0
  .
• $130 million, meaning that all stations in the Seven Network
  are owned by the one company for the first time.