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The following lists events that happened during the year1988 in Australia.

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

• 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

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

• 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

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

• 17 January – The TV soapHome and Away is launched bySeven Network.
• 19 January – Federal Sport and Tourism MinisterJohn Brown steps down for apparently misleading Parliament over his role in the tendering process for Brisbane's Expo contracts on 10 December 1987.
• 26 January –Australia Day, Australia celebrates itsbicentennial day with the arrival of theFirst Fleet Re-enactment Voyage and a tall ships parade inSydney 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 – The1988 Adelaide by-election is held for theAustralian House of Representatives seat ofAdelaide followingChris Hurford's retirement. Liberal candidateMichael 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 PresidentMick 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 andMichael Duffy enter Cabinet.

• 19 March –Nick Greiner and theLiberal Party win the1988 New South Wales state election in a landside, removing theALP government ofBarrie 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 leaderWal Murray becomes Deputy Premier of New South Wales.
• 26 March – The1988 Port Adelaide by-election is held for theAustralian House of Representatives seat ofPort Adelaide followingMick Young's resignation. The election is won by Labor candidateRod Sawford, despite an 11.1% swing to the Liberal Party.

• 9 April – At the Liberals' Federal Council meeting in Melbourne, Liberal leadersJeff Kennett,John Olsen andBarry MacKinnon are reserved about a consumption tax.John Elliott's motion to broaden the tax is passed.
• 30 April –World Expo 88 opens inBrisbane,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 theNew Parliament House inCanberra

• 1 June – the British Government fail to stop the publication ofSpycatcher by the ex-MI5 agentPeter Wright.
• 6 June –10 June – TheAustralian Labor Party's biennial conference inHobart sees the left faction defeated on the divisive issues of uranium mining, privatisation and tertiary education fees.

• 3 August – Federal Opposition LeaderJohn Howard's draftOne Australia policy taps latent concerns over Asian immigration and sparks damaging debate on this issue within the Coalition.
• 17 August – Foreign MinisterBill 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, andRobert Ray receives Immigration, Local Government and Ethnic Affairs.
• 22 August – Federal Parliament reassembles for the Budget session in the newParliament House, Canberra.
• 24 August – In the vote on a Labor motion repudiating race as a criterion for immigration, LiberalsIan Macphee,Philip Ruddock andPeter Baume cross the floor, while Wilson andMichael MacKellar abstain.

• 1 September –Acacia pycnantha proclaimed Australia's national floral emblem.
• 3 September – The1988 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 LeaderJohn Howard sacks theNational Party of Australia'sJohn Stone from the Shadow Cabinet over a series of remarks about immigration and for not being a "team player".

• 1 October – The1988 Victorian state election is held and theALP government ofJohn Cain is narrowly re-elected for a third term inVictoria.
• 8 October – The1988 Oxley by-election is held for theAustralian House of Representatives seat ofOxley vacated byBill Hayden. Labor candidateLes 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 theVictoria Police are gunned down execution-style in theWalsh Street police shootings.
• 15 October –Aus Steam '88 commences inMelbourne, Victoria
• 30 October –World Expo 88 draws to a close after a 6-month spectacular.

• 29 November – The four acts granting theACT self-government are givenRoyal Assent.
• Olympic Dam, the world's largest uranium deposit and the largest underground mine in Australian opens

• 4 December – In Sydney, Federal Opposition LeaderJohn Howard launches a statement of principle and general policy entitledFuture 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 PresidentBarry Maddern finds that the Remuneration Tribunal's November recommendations for a 29% increase in MP's salaries and allowances are justified.

• NoMiles Franklin Award winner is announced as date changed from year of publication to year of announcement
• TheAboriginal Memorial was created to honour all Aboriginals that had died defending their land since 1788

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

• 1 January –Australia Live, a four-hour celebration for Australia's bicentennial ofEuropean settlement airs on theABC,SBS, theNine Network andregional solus stations.
• 2 January –Imparja starts broadcasting to remote Central Australia viasatellite It will have its official launch on 15 January.
• 17 January – The first episode ofHome and Away goes to air.
• 17 January –A Current Affair debuts onChannel Nine, hosted byJana 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 (nowSeven Central) startsbroadcasting toremote Eastern Australia via satellite.
• 20 May –Perth's third commercialtelevision stationNEW-10 opens, giving Perth the same number of stations as the eastern states.
• 10 September – Brisbane's TVQ-0 becomesTVQ-10. On the same day,Toowoomba's DDQ-10 becomesDDQ-0.
• Christopher Skase buys Perth'sTVW-7 andSAS-7 fromAlan Bond's Bell Group for$130 million, meaning that all stations in theSeven Network are owned by the one company for the first time.

• 50m penalty introduced in theVFL.
• 4 March – First game ofrugby league played at the newly builtSydney Football Stadium.St. George defeatEastern Suburbs 24-14.
• 5 March –Newcastle Knights play their first game in theNSWRL. At Newcastle International Sports Centre (laterEnergyAustralia Stadium),Parramatta win 28–4. On the same day, theGold Coast Giants (later Seagulls & finally Chargers) play their first game in the same competition. At Seagulls Stadium,Canterbury win 21–10.
• 6 March –Brisbane Broncos play their first match, defeating defending premiersManly 44–10 at Lang Park.
• 11 June – In the 100th rugby league test between the two nations,Australia defeatGreat Britain 17-6.
• 28 June - Australia retain the Ashes by defeating Great Britain in the 2nd Test of the1988 Great Britain Lions tour.
• 17 July – Australia thrash reigning World Champions Argentina 4–1 in the Bicentennial Gold Cup, atSydney Football Stadium.
• 24 July –Patrick Carroll wins the men's national marathon title, clocking 2:10:44 inBrisbane, whileKaren McCann claims the women's title in 2:44:05.
• 11 September –Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs defeatBalmain 24–12 to win the 81st NSWRL premiership. It is the first Grand Final played at the S.F.S. & the last game forSteve Mortimer. The Grand Final was played early so that Channel Ten could broadcast the1988 Seoul Olympics. Bulldogs propPaul Dunn is awarded theClive Churchill medal for man of the match.Western Suburbs Magpies finish in last position, claiming their second straight wooden spoon.
• 24 September –Hawthorn Hawks (22.20.152) defeatMelbourne Demons (6.20.56) to win the 92nd VFL premiership.
• 9 October – Australia defeatNew Zealand 25–12 in the final of theRugby League World Cup, played atEden Park inAuckland.
• Debbie Flintoff-King wins gold in the women's 400m over Tatyana Ledovskaya (Soviet Union) in aphoto finish by 0.01s.
• Duncan Armstrong wins gold in the men's 200m freestyle overAnders Holmertz ofSweden & race favouriteMatt Biondi of the United States.
• Brownlow Medal awarded toGerard Healy (Sydney.)

• 7 January –Scott Pendlebury, footballer
• 17 January –Will Genia, rugby union player^[2]
• 20 January –Nathan Jones, footballer
• 22 January –Steve Constanzo, basketball player
• 27 January –Alice Burdeu, fashion model
• 15 February
  • Jessica De Gouw, actress
  • Jarryd Hayne, rugby league player and football player
  • Tim Mannah, rugby league player
• 22 February –Dane Searls, BMX rider (d.2011)
• 2 March –Matthew Mitcham, diver^[3]
• 8 March –Johnny Ruffo, singer-songwriter and dancer (d.2023)
• 31 March –Conrad Sewell, singer-songwriter
• 3 April –Daniel Johnson, basketball player
• 12 April –April Rose Pengilly, model and actress
• 20 April –Michael Jennings, Australian-Tongan rugby league player
• 26 April –Daniel Jackson, basketball player
• 2 May
  • Laura Brent, actress
  • Anna McGahan, actress
• 13 May –Casey Donovan, singer, Indigenous television host
• 26 May
  • Will Chambers, rugby league player
  • Dani Samuels, discus thrower^[4]
  • Joel Selwood, Australian rules footballer
• 11 June –Claire Holt, actress
• 16 June –Nathan Parsons, actor
• 17 June
  • Stephanie Rice, swimmer.
  • Andrew Ogilvy, basketball player
• 3 July –Tyson Demos, basketball player
• 6 July –Cody Fern, actor and filmmaker
• 8 July
  • Rachael Finch, beauty pageant titleholder and television reporter
  • Dave Taylor, rugby league player
• 4 August –Liam Zamel-Paez, high jumper
• 12 August –Oliver Atkins, rugby union footballer
• 22 August –Mitchell Langerak, soccer goalkeeper
• 24 August –Joel Thompson, rugby league player
• 1 September –Taryn Marler, actress
• 14 September –Nick Percat, racing driver
• 1 October –Cariba Heine, actress
• 15 October –Trent Dalzell, actor
• 17 October –
  • Harriet Dyer, actress
  • Dami Im, singer
• 18 October –Chris Cedar, basketball player
• 24 October –Chris Goulding, basketball player
• 3 November –Angus McLaren, actor
• 9 November
  • Cadeyrn Neville, rugby player
• 20 November –Rhys Wakefield, actor
• 30 November –Phillip Hughes, cricketer (d.2014)
• 7 December –Emily Browning, actress
• 19 December –Casey Burgess, TV personality known forHi-5

• 21 January –Vincent Lingiari, Aboriginal rights activist (b.1908)^[5]
• 31 January –David Ahern, composer.
• 28 February –Kylie Tennant, author.
• 23 March –Reg Lye, actor (b.1912)
• 31 March –William McMahon, twentieth Prime Minister of Australia.^[6]
• 31 May –Arthur Olliver, footballer (b.1916)
• 2 July –Bede Morris, immunologist (b.1927)^[7]
• 2 December –Lloyd Rees, artist.

• 1988 in Australian television
• List of Australian films of 1988

• 1988 in Australia
• 1988 by country
• Years of the 20th century in Australia

• CS1: unfit URL
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from March 2020
• Use Australian English from February 2012
• All Wikipedia articles written in Australian English
• Articles needing additional references from February 2017
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