2003 in Australia
overview of Australia-related events during the year of 2003
The following lists events that happened during 2003 in Australia.
Incumbents
Monarch – Elizabeth II
Governor-General – Peter Hollingworth (until 28 May), then Michael Jeffery (from 11 August)
Administrator of the Commonwealth – Sir Guy Green (from 28 May to 11 August)
Prime Minister – John Howard
Deputy Prime Minister – John Anderson
Opposition Leader – Simon Crean (until 2 December), then Mark Latham
Chief Justice – Murray Gleeson
State and territory leaders
Premier of New South Wales – Bob Carr
Opposition Leader – John Brogden
Premier of Queensland – Peter Beattie
Opposition Leader – Mike Horan (until 4 February), then Lawrence Springborg
Premier of South Australia – Mike Rann
Opposition Leader – Rob Kerin
Premier of Tasmania – Jim Bacon
Opposition Leader – Rene Hidding
Premier of Victoria – Steve Bracks
Opposition Leader – Robert Doyle
Premier of Western Australia – Geoff Gallop
Opposition Leader – Colin Barnett
Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory – Jon Stanhope
Opposition Leader – Brendan Smyth
Chief Minister of the Northern Territory – Clare Martin
Opposition Leader – Denis Burke (until 14 November), then Terry Mills
Chief Minister of Norfolk Island – Geoffrey Gardner
Governors and administrators
Governor of New South Wales – Marie Bashir
Governor of Queensland – Peter Arnison (until 29 July), then Quentin Bryce
Governor of South Australia – Marjorie Jackson-Nelson
Governor of Tasmania – Sir Guy Green (until 3 October), then Richard Butler
Governor of Victoria – John Landy
Governor of Western Australia – John Sanderson
Administrator of the Australian Indian Ocean Territories – Bill Taylor (until 30 July), then Evan Williams (from 1 November)
Administrator of Norfolk Island – Tony Messner (until 30 July), then Michael Stephens (until 1 November), then Grant Tambling
Administrator of the Northern Territory – John Anictomatis (until 30 October), then Ted Egan
Events
January
9 January - Convicted child sex offender Dennis Ferguson is released from jail amid public outcry in Queensland after serving a 14-year sentence.
17 January - Batsman Darren Lehmann made a racist outburst during Australia's four-wicket victory at the Gabba. Lehmann shouted "black c-" while entering the dressing room after being run out.
18 January – Four people die in the Canberra bushfires of 2003.
31 January – Seven people die in the Waterfall train disaster, which happened due to the driver having a heart attack at the controls of the train & losing control of the train.
February
2–6 February - Cyclone Beni causes widespread flooding and damage in south-east Queensland, but also easing the drought in rural areas. Floodwaters claimed the life of a 67-year-old man on 5 February as he attempted to rescue a horse trapped in floodwaters near Rockhampton.
4 February - Mike Horan is voted out by the National Party as Leader of the Opposition in Queensland and is replaced by Lawrence Springborg.
11 February - Justice John Dyson Heydon is sworn in as judge of the High Court of Australia, replacing Justice Mary Gaudron.
The public source identifies “2003 in Australia” as overview of Australia-related events during the year of 2003. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Australia, overview and Australia-related.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4602077. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2003.
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This entry incorporates text from “2003 in Australia” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.