3 January – The Clean Ocean Foundation bans Victorian PremierSteve Bracks from Gunnamatta Beach over delays to upgrade a treatment plant that is allowing effluent to be dumped at sea.
17 January – West Australian PremierGeoff Gallop and the State Government decide to support a yes-yes vote in a referendum favouring extended late night and Sunday trading.
18 January –Mark Latham quits as Federal Opposition Leader, resigns his seat in Parliament.
Immigration MinisterAmanda Vanstone announces a closed inquiry to be headed by former AFP commissionerMick Palmer, to investigate howCornelia Rau came to be held in solitary confinement at Baxter Detention Centre and why she did not receive treatment despite having schizophrenia.
Queensland SenatorSanto Santoro raises the issue of abortion at the Coalition Party Room meeting in Canberra by circulating a policy paper with recommendations aimed at reducing the number of abortions, such as a Medicare-funded ultrasound for women contemplating an abortion, along with some Medicare-funded counselling.
9 February – Queensland PremierPeter Beattie releases an edited transcript of an interview between Cornelia Rau and officers at the Brisbane Women's Correctional Centre on 5 July 2003.
10 February –
Queensland PremierPeter Beattie apologises for the failure of his agencies to properly care for Cornelia Rau.
Local Government MinisterJim Lloyd denies allegations that his office was involved in a conspiracy to defraud the Commonwealth over a one-and-a-half million dollar grant to dredge the Tumbi Creek on the New South Wales central coast.
11 February – Immigration MinisterAmanda Vanstone admits that criminals who have finished their prison sentences and are awaiting deportation are being held among asylum seekers at the Baxter Detention Centre.
13 February – Federal TreasurerPeter Costello breaks ranks with Prime MinisterJohn Howard and says he and the government are sorry for the way Cornelia Rau was treated.
19 February – Prime MinisterJohn Howard and New Zealand Prime MinisterHelen Clark meet for talks.
21 February – Health MinisterTony Abbott is reunited with what he believes to be his son, who was given up for adoption as a baby.
24 February - theNintendo DS is released in Australia.
26 February – TheALP government ofGeoff Gallop is re-elected in Western Australia for a second term.
27 February – Immigration MinisterAmanda Vanstone announces an extension of the Rau inquiry from original date of 24 March. Neil Comrie, the former Victorian Police Commissioner, is recruited to help Mick Palmer in the inquiry investigations.
17 March – News Limited newspapers report that Liberal SenatorRoss Lightfoot, while on a parliamentary tour to Iraq, smuggled US$20,000 into the country on behalf ofWoodside Petroleum as a donation for the Kurdish government, having been issued with a pistol for personal security. The newspapers published photographs of Mr. Lightfoot appearing with Kurdish militants wielding anAK-47. Mr. Lightfoot strenuously denies the allegations and threatens legal action against the newspapers carrying the story.
18 March – Prime MinisterJohn Howard admits that Liberal SenatorRoss Lightfoot has changed his story regarding the Cash for Kurds affair.
20 March –
Prime MinisterJohn Howard confirms that some aspects of the Federal Government's immigration detention policies are under review.
Labor wins the seat of Werriwa.
21 March – Federal Government backbenchers, churches and theFamily First Party lobby for the Federal Government to relax its refugee policy for Christian converts, but Prime MinisterJohn Howard announces that no special treatment will be given.
22 March –
Stuart Copeland, the Queensland Shadow Minister for Health, raises the issue of DoctorJayant Patel's clinical practice during Question Time in the Queensland Parliament. Copeland had been alerted to Patel's inadequacies by Toni Hoffman, a nurse at the Bundaberg Base Hospital.
Federal Health MinisterTony Abbott announces that his alleged long lost son is actually the son of another man, according to DNA testing.
24 March – Prime MinisterJohn Howard puts state Labor governments on notice to cut taxes or else, giving them four weeks to comply.
25 March – Rob Messenger, the National Party Member of Parliament for Burnett, raises the matter of DoctorJayant Patel in a speech to the Queensland Legislative Assembly. He calls for Patel's suspension.
9 April – Queensland Health MinisterGordon Nuttall announces an inquiry into patient safety at Bundaberg Base Hospital in the wake of the "Dr Death" controversy at the hospital.
11 April – Victorian PremierSteve Bracks unveils a plan to increase Melbourne's migration intake.
14 April – Queensland PremierPeter Beattie unveils plans to build a rail tunnel under the Brisbane River.
15 April – Prime MinisterJohn Howard apologises for breaking his Medicare safety net election promise.
18 April - A fifteen-year-old known as "Tram Boy" allegedly stole a tram in Melbourne. Tram boy drove around on the network for 40 minutes before being stopped by police
27 May –Schapelle Corby convicted of drug smuggling by anIndonesian court, and sentenced to 20 years in prison (later reduced to 15 and then reverted to 20 years).
Prime MinisterJohn Howard stands by the Special Air Service Regiment against allegations inTime Magazine that Australian SAS soldiers killed innocent tribesmen in Afghanistan.
The Federal Government announces an independent audit of airport security.
3 June – TheCouncil of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting between the State Premiers and the Prime Minister is held. The Premiers agree to disagree with the Prime Minister on industrial relations, but make a commitment to the establishment of a national system of apprenticeships to address the skills shortage.
8 June – Queensland PremierPeter Beattie announces approval for $60,000 in retrospective travel expenses for former SpeakerRay Hollis.
28 June – Three suspects in a 2002 gang rape in Hurstville finally arrested in dawn raids in New South Wales.
29 June – Rain brings drought relief and flooding across New South Wales.
New South Wales Supreme Court finds no evidence of neglect against Westmead Hospital in the Rhiannon Richards brain damage suit, leaving her family to pay both sides' legal costs.
New South Wales health authorities warn parents of an outbreak of whooping cough across the state, urging parents to immunise their children.
Controversial tax cuts, intended to boost family budgets, come into effect as the Federal Government officially takes control of the Senate.
A statewide two-hour teachers' strike takes place in New South Wales to protest proposed changes to Federal industrial relations laws.
14 July – Following the release of the Palmer Inquiry report, Prime MinisterJohn Howard and Immigration MinisterAmanda Vanstone apologise to Cornelia Rau, who was mistakenly held in detention for 10 months, and toVivian Solon, who was deported to the Philippines. The 200-page report identified systemic weaknesses in the Department of Immigration which contributed to Ms Rau's detention, the failure to establish her identity, and to meet her mental health needs. The report says that those same mistakes were made in Vivian Solon's case.
23 July – Victorian PremierSteve Bracks outlines plans for a summit involving every regional mayor in Victoria, as well as announcing a new deal for a sustainable abalone industry.
26 July – Prime MinisterJohn Howard meets with Iraqi Prime MinisterIbrahim Jaafari and was told that the Iraqi military no longer needs help from Australian troops as they begin to take over.
21 August –Michelle Leslie is arrested inBali after being found with twoecstasy pills in her handbag at an open-air dance party just outsideKuta. She is found guilty, and sentenced to three months in prison on 18 November, but is released on 20 November as she had already served her sentence.
5 September – Prime MinisterJohn Howard rejects calls to sack Health MinisterTony Abbott over his insensitive remarks in relation to the suicide attempt byJohn Brogden.
14 September – InNew York City, at the biggest gathering of world leaders at the United Nations2005 World Summit, Prime MinisterJohn Howard announces that Australia will double its overseas aid donations to $4 billion per year, within five years.
17 September – Prime MinisterJohn Howard delivers a rebuke to the United Nations during an address to world leaders.
28 September – Prime MinisterJohn Howard meets oil company leaders over the use of biofuels.
5 October – The Opposition accused Queensland PremierPeter Beattie of covering up a letter from the Health Commissioner asking for a new inquiry into the health crisis.
The Federal Opposition accuses Federal Health MinisterTony Abbott of failing to act on a report urging the wider use of a class of drugs which lower cholesterol and reduce the risk of strokes and heart attacks.
The Federal Government decides not to list theAboriginal Tent Embassy on the Commonwealth Heritage Register despite a recommendation from the Australian Heritage Council to do so.
12 November – Prime MinisterJohn Howard tells Australia's Islamic community that it is their duty to turn in anyone it believes to be an extremist.
17 November – Prime MinisterJohn Howard is named in a video tape of the latest threat by Asia's most wanted terrorist.
27 November – At theCommonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) inMalta, Prime MinisterJohn Howard makes a final plea to Singapore to spare the life of heroin trafficker, Van Nguyen, and makes it clear that Australians may resent Singapore if the hanging proceeds.
29 November – Prime MinisterJohn Howard confirms that he will allow Coalition MPs to take part in conscience vote on whether to legalise the use of controversial abortion pillRU-486.
The Federal Government's sweeping industrial relations changes are endorsed by the Senate, along party lines, after a marathon sitting.
11–12 December – The2005 Cronulla riots take place, with the rioting centred onCronulla and other beachside suburbs. There is also rioting in theGreater Western Suburbs area of Sydney. Attacks on people of Middle Eastern appearance are also reported inPerth andAdelaide.
15 December – A Senate inquiry into the abortion drugRU-486 begins and the inquiry is told thatViagra is more dangerous thanRU-486.
25 May – Graham Kennedy dies at age 71. The network on which most of his shows aired, theNine Network, passes up the offer to broadcast his funeral & theSeven Network arrives, axes Nine's coverage and Seven picks it up and wins it. Nine does eventually show parts of the funeral live.
26 June – Douglas Wood is interviewed bySandra Sully about his time as a captive afterNetwork Ten pays a reported $400,000 for an exclusive interview.
15 August:Big Brother:Greg Mathew, along with twin brother David Mathew, also known as "The Logan Twins" is announced the winner of the fifth series.
20 November –Madonna'sWarner Bros. single "Hung Up" defeatsGold Digger byKanye West andJamie Foxx to be crowned the title of the ARIA single debuting at No. 1. This was the last Top 50 ARIA charts on ABC TV'sRage to be shown on theSeven Network. Only Seven Local TV and ABC TV will continue theRage's Top 50 Charts until the end of July 2006, when it launchesjtv.
4 March – First day of the Australian Track & Field Championships for the 2004–2005 season, which are held at theSydney Olympic Park inHomebush Bay. The 10,000 metres (men and women) were conducted at the Zatopek Meet inMelbourne, Victoria on Saturday 4 December 2004. The relays were conducted atCanberra on Sunday 6 February 2005.
19 March –Sydney Kings defeatWollongong Hawks 112–85 in Game 3 of a series sweep in theNBL Grand Final series. The win completed the only three-peat in league history.
24 September – TheSydney Swans (8.10.58) defeat theWest Coast Eagles (7.12.54) to win the 109thVFL/AFL premiership. It is the first flag for the Swans in 72 years.
