In the aftermath of Cyclone Tracy, Northern Territory administrator Jock Nelson criticises Major General Alan Stretton's plan to recommend that emergency directors be given absolute authority in areas affected by disasters.[1] Nelsen is supported by NT police commissioner William McLaren and Darwin mayor Harold Brennan.[1]
2 January – As Darwin begins to be rebuilt following Cyclone Tracy, Anglican bishop Ian Shevill writes an opinion piece for The Sydney Morning Herald in which he questions the viability of rebuilding the city in an area which is likely to experience future natural disasters.[3]
7 January – An Executive Council Minute authorising the raising of a "temporary loan" of US$4,000 million for 20 years is reversed before it becomes public knowledge. The move to bypass the Loans Council – to become known as the "Loans Affair" – had been initiated a month earlier by several Labor Ministers without consulting Cabinet.
14 January – A major fire occurs in the Sydney CBD.[10] For over five hours, fire brigades battle to control the blaze at Cost Less Imports in the four-storey Angus & Robertson building at 89 Castleagh Street.[10] Thousands of people are evacuated and nearby shops are closed as the fire engulfs the building. Approximately 20 fire fighters are treated by ambulance officers after being overcome by smoke.[10]
19 January – Sydney's 2JJ, the ABC's new youth station and the predecessor of Triple J, commences broadcasting.[11][12]
26 January – The Workers Party is launched at a banquet at the Sydney Opera House where Lang Hancock is the guest of honour.[13] The party is libertarian in principle, demanding less government intervention, as well as being virulently anti-Socialist.[13] The name is subsequently changed to the Progress Party in 1977.
1 February – Having commenced broadcasting in December 1974, Australia's first FM radio station 2MBS is officially launched in Sydney by prime minister Gough Whitlam and premier Tom Lewis.[14]
9 February – Lionel Murphy resigns to become a High Court judge (a move for which Garfield Barwick's appointment had set a precedent).[15]
11 February – New South Wales Premier Tom Lewis decides to replace Lionel Murphy in the Senate with a non-Labor nominee.[16] Cabinet unanimously endorses his decision with Albury's 77-year-old mayor, Cleaver Bunton selected, thus reducing Labor to 28 in the Senate.[17] The move is seen as breaking constitutional convention and was against the advice of senior Liberals and most Premiers.[17]
27 February – Prime Minister Gough Whitlam's failure to support Speaker Jim Cope in a ruling involving Clyde Cameron led to the Speaker's resignation and his replacement by Gordon Scholes.[18] Cope had been having difficulty with the Opposition's increasing larrikinism.
8 April – After 21 hours of bitter debate in the Victorian Legislative Assembly, a Bill to abolish the death penalty is passed 36:30, with 5 abstentions.[21] To this end, Labor Council leader John Galbally had brought in 21 private members Bills in some 15 years. The abolition Bill must now pass the Legislative Council where lengthy debate and an even closer vote is expected.
23 April – The Victorian Legislative Council votes to abolish the Death penalty in a 20-13 vote.[22] All 9 labor members in the legislative council, 11 liberal members voted in favor. 7 liberals and all 6 Country voted against.[23]
20 May – The loans affair continues with the Executive Council revoking the approval it had given on 28 January for a US$2,000 million overseas loan.[25][26] Henceforth, all negotiations are to be conducted through the Treasury.[27]
5 June – Lance Barnard's resignation to become Ambassador to Sweden leads to a reorganisation of the Federal Ministry.[28] Social Security Minister Bill Hayden (Ipswich) replaces Jim Cairns as Treasurer, and Cameron is demoted from the Labour and Immigration Ministry to Science and Consumer Affairs (amid his own and union protests).[28]
30 June – Queensland Senator Bert Milliner dies, leaving a Senate vacancy.[33] The filling of this vacancy and the controversy surrounding it becomes one of the key events of the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis.
2 July – Prime Minister Gough Whitlam has Jim Cairns' commission as Environment Minister terminated for misleading Parliament.[37] Cairns had denied having written a secret letter to a loans broker in March, but a signed letter was produced in June.[37]
4 July – Sydney newspaper publisher Juanita Nielsen disappears from her Kings Cross home where she published attacks on inner-city development.[38] Edward Trigg and Shayne Martin-Simmonds are later found guilty of conspiring to abduct her.[39][40] In 2021, New South Police announce a $1 million reward for anyone who provides information relating to Neilsen's suspected murder.[41]
3 September – Convention is breached when the Queensland Parliament rejects Australian Labor Party nominee Mal Colston to replace the deceased Senator Bert Milliner, choosing instead Pat Field (automatically expelled for having nominated against the endorsed candidate.[42]
1 October – Senator Albert Field (now an Independent) is granted a month's leave of absence while his eligibility to take his seat is tested in the High Court of Australia, sitting as a Court of Disputed Returns.[46] There has been doubting as to whether he resigned in the correct way from the Public Service at the time he was appointed.[46]
8 October – Prime Minister Gough Whitlam denies in Parliament that any of his senior ministers were still involved in trying to raise overseas loans in defiance of the 20 May revocation.[47] Press reports based on information from the loan intermediary, Tirath Khemlani, suggest that Rex Connor is still involved.
10 October – The High Court of Australia upholds the validity of the territorial Senators legislation.[48] In any half-Senate election, four senators, plus replacements for Bunton and Field, would take their places in the Senate at once, thus giving Labor the chance to win back control there.[48]
15 October – At a Brisbane Chamber of Commerce annual luncheon, Queensland Governor Sir Colin Hannah associates himself with the criticism of the Federal Government.[49] In the ensuing row, Prime Minister Gough Whitlam persuades Queen Elizabeth II to revoke Hannah's dormant commission to act as Governor-General.[50]
1 to 31 October – Averaged over Victoria, this stands as the wettest month since at least 1900 with a statewide average rainfall of 154.53 millimetres or 6.08 inches.[53]
The 1975 Australian federal election is held. After a bitter campaign in which Labor tried to keep constitutional matters to the fore and the Coalition concentrated on inflation, unemployment and Labor's errors in office, the Fraser Government is confirmed in power, securing 54% of the vote, 91 of the 127 House seats, and 35 Senate seats.[59]
The Victorian Government forms a committee to examine some of the recommendations from the Beach Board of Inquiry.
23 January 1976 – John Bloomfield is announced as the winner of the 1975 Archibald Prize for his portrait of Tim Burstall.[66] However, the validity of Bloomfield's entry is questioned with Bloomfield admitting he had never met Burstall despite the conditions of the competition specifying subjects are required to have been painted from life.[67]
3 March – During a live Cedal hair products commercial on The Graham Kennedy Show, Kennedy interrupts to make "a sound like a crow", prompting criticism by the Broadcasting Control Board about the "general vulgarity and poor taste" of the show.[72]
19 March – The Broadcasting Control Board rules that Graham Kennedy be restricted to pre-recorded television appearances only, and only those that are approved by a station executive, prompting Kennedy to threaten legal action.[74]
17 April – After remarks in which he was critical of federal minister for the media Doug McClelland were edited out of his pre-recorded program, Graham Kennedy resigns from Channel 9.[75]
20 September – Minor premiers Eastern Suburbs set a record NSWRL Grand Final winning margin, beating St. George 38 points to nil.[78]South Sydney finish in last position, claiming the wooden spoon.[78]
^"Australia has 11 new knights". Papua New Guinea Post-Courier. 2 January 1975. p. 8. Archived from the original on 12 September 2024. Retrieved 18 August 2024.
^"Askin's reign ends today". The Sydney Morning Herald. 3 January 1975. p. 1. Archived from the original on 12 September 2024. Retrieved 18 August 2024.
^Plummer, Dale (19 January 1975). "Banned record debut". The Sydney Morning Herald. p. 77. Archived from the original on 12 September 2024. Retrieved 26 August 2024.
^Bowers, Peter (28 February 1975). "Cope: debacle for Labor". The Sydney Morning Herald. pp. 1–2. Archived from the original on 12 September 2024. Retrieved 25 August 2024.
^ abBowers, Peter (22 March 1975). "Fraser ends election talk". The Sydney Morning Herald. p. 1. Archived from the original on 12 September 2024. Retrieved 25 August 2024.
^English, David (9 April 1975). "Assembly abolishes hanging". The Age. p. 1. Archived from the original on 12 September 2024. Retrieved 25 August 2024.
^Jost, John; Davidson, Kenneth (22 May 1975). "Connor's $2000m 'vanishes'". The Age. p. 1. Archived from the original on 12 September 2024. Retrieved 11 September 2024.
^Clarke, Anthony; Cole-Adams, Peter; Jost, John; Thomas, Tony (23 May 1975). "I gave loan letter: Connor". The Age. p. 1. Archived from the original on 12 September 2024. Retrieved 11 September 2024.
^Frykberg, Ian (29 May 1975). "PM rebukes Treasury". The Sydney Morning Herald. p. 1. Archived from the original on 12 September 2024. Retrieved 11 September 2024.
^ abBowers, Peter (6 June 1975). "13 in Cabinet shake-up". The Sydney Morning Herald. p. 1. Archived from the original on 12 September 2024. Retrieved 11 September 2024.
^Frykberg, Ian (16 June 1975). "PM's new bid for trains and hospitals". The Sydney Morning Herald. p. 1. Archived from the original on 12 September 2024. Retrieved 11 September 2024. Half a dozen members of the South Australian branch of the Australian Workers' Union boycotted his speech...
^ abAnderson, Chris; Bowers, Peter (29 June 1975). "Bass debacle: Labor rout". The Sun-Herald. pp. 1, 24. Archived from the original on 12 September 2024. Retrieved 11 September 2024.
^Dunn, Alan; Gratton, Michelle (30 June 1975). "Bass diaster stuns Labor". The Age. p. 1. Archived from the original on 12 September 2024. Retrieved 11 September 2024.
^ abJost, John; Hills, Ben (3 July 2024). "Whitlam sacks Cairns". The Age. pp. 1, 3–5. Archived from the original on 12 September 2024. Retrieved 11 September 2024.
^"Neilsen case: call for report". The Sydney Morning Herald. 15 February 1981. p. 27. Archived from the original on 12 September 2024. Retrieved 11 September 2024. Last week, a former Kings Cross barman Shayne Martin-Simmons, 34, was jailed for two years for conspiring to abduct Mrs Neilsen in mid-1975.
^Boyce, Patrick (17 September 1975). "PM makes aid pledge to PNG". The Sydney Morning Herald. p. 1. Archived from the original on 12 September 2024. Retrieved 11 September 2024.
^Bowers, Peter (9 October 1975). "Connor denies new loan claim". The Sydney Morning Herald. pp. 1–2. Archived from the original on 12 September 2024. Retrieved 11 September 2024.
^ abGratton, Michelle (11 October 1975). "Victory for Government". The Age. pp. 1–2. Archived from the original on 12 September 2024. Retrieved 11 September 2024.
^ abJost, John; Mitchell, Neil (12 November 1975). "Kerr sacks PM". The Age. pp. 1–9. Archived from the original on 12 September 2024. Retrieved 11 September 2024.
^Sinnamon, Myles (5 December 2015). "Brisbane radio station 4ZZZ's 40th anniversary". Anzac Square. Archived from the original on 12 September 2024. Retrieved 11 September 2024. On December 8, 1975, Brisbane community FM radio station 4ZZZ first went to air (under their original callsign 4ZZ-FM).
^"14 die in hotel holocaust". The Sydney Morning Herald. 26 December 2024. p. 1. Archived from the original on 12 September 2024. Retrieved 11 September 2024.
^Sykes, Jill (24 January 1976). "Big day at the Art Gallery". The Sydney Morning Herald. p. 1. Archived from the original on 12 September 2024. Retrieved 12 September 2024.
^ abSykes, Jill (28 February 1976). "Art prize switched". The Sydney Morning Herald. p. 1. Archived from the original on 12 September 2024. Retrieved 12 September 2024.