X-Nico

15 unusual facts about Prime Minister of Australia


Acacia pycnantha

The date of gazettal was 1 September which was marked by a ceremony at the Australian National Botanic Gardens which included the planting of a Golden Wattle by Hazel Hawke, the Prime Minister’s wife.

Australian Capital Territory House of Assembly

The federal Labor government of Prime Minister Bob Hawke set up a Self-Government Task Force in 1986 to report on the government of the ACT.

Australian Federation of Air Pilots

They argued that if they were to be treated in exactly the same way as employees in other industries, their work conditions should also be the same, the position adopted by the government of Prime Minister Bob Hawke.

Australian War Memorial, London

In attendance was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Tony Blair and the Australian Prime Minister John Howard.

Barry Hickey

As an example, in 2010 he publicly questioned the lack of religious orientation of Julia Gillard, not long after her appointment as Prime Minister of Australia.

Barton Government

It was led by Prime Minister Sir Edmund Barton, from 1 January 1901 until 24 September 1903, when Barton resigned to become one of the three founding judges of the High Court of Australia.

Cook Ice Shelf

This indentation was called Cook Bay by the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911–14, under Douglas Mawson, who named it for Joseph Cook, Prime Minister of Australia in 1914.

Duumvirate

The First Whitlam Ministry in Australia is sometimes called the "Duumvirate" because it consisted entirely of the Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam, and his deputy, Lance Barnard, who between them split up all ministerial and quasi-ministerial positions for two weeks in December 1972.

George Witton

After former and future Prime Minister Andrew Fisher pledged during the 1914 general election that Australia would defend Britain "to the last man and last shilling," Witton intimated that he would be that last man.

Hong Kong Special Administrative Region passport

On 10 April 2013, the Prime Minister of Australia, Julia Gillard, announced that, starting from 2015, holders of Hong Kong SAR e-passports would be able to use SmartGates in Australia on a trial basis.

Hopetoun Blunder

Federation was scheduled to occur on 1 January 1901, but since the general election for the first Parliament of Australia was not to be held until March of that year, it was not possible to follow the conventions of the Westminster system and appoint the leader of the majority in the House of Representatives as Prime Minister.

Occupy protests in New Zealand

Following the brutal repression of the Occupation of City Square in Melbourne, the GA approved an Open Letter to the Prime Minister of Australia, denouncing the actions of the Victoria Police and calling for an end to the suppression of the Occupation Movement in Australia.

The Howard Years

It was divided into four one-hour episodes - one episode for each term Howard served as Prime Minister of Australia - and originally broadcast on ABC1 from 17 November to 8 December 2008.

University House, Australian National University

The University House has been the residence of notable people, including Gough Whitlam, who moved in for a brief period in 1975 after his removal from the office of Prime Minister of Australia.

Woden Valley Youth Choir

at the invitation of the Prime Minister of Australia, to sing to visiting Heads of Government at international conferences in 1981 and 1983;


1977 FESPIC Games

The Games were opened on November 20 by Right Honourable Malcolm Fraser, Prime Minister of Australia and closed on November 26, 1977 by Honourable Neville Wran, Premier of New South Wales.

1983 America's Cup

Prime Minister Bob Hawke was interviewed at the dawn celebration in Claremont, Western Australia, and said, "Any boss who sacks anyone for not turning up today is a bum".

2005 Sumatra earthquake

The crash occurred one day before a state visit by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to Australia, where he and Prime Minister of Australia John Howard expressed mutual sorrow for their countries' losses.

5th/7th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment

On 24 August 2006 Prime Minister John Howard announced that two new battalions would be established in two stages, with one eventually to be based in Adelaide and the other—8th/9th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment—in south-east Queensland.

Anne Kerr, Lady Kerr

She was privy to her husband's thoughts and anxieties as the 1975 constitutional crisis developed, but in his autobiography Matters for Judgement (1978) Sir John Kerr strongly denied she had either dissuaded him from warning the Prime Minister Gough Whitlam that he was going to dismiss him, or that she herself had a political axe to grind.

Arthur Coles

Coles was one of the two independents (the other was Alexander Wilson) who held the balance of power through the early years of the Second World War, and crossed the floor in 1941 to remove the hapless UAP-Country Party government of Arthur Fadden and install John Curtin of the Australian Labor Party as Prime Minister of Australia.

At Home With Julia

The series depicts a fictional representation of the relationship between Julia Gillard, the actual Prime Minister of Australia (played by Amanda Bishop), and Gillard's real-life partner, Tim Mathieson (played by Phil Lloyd).

Barrie Dexter

Following the referendum in 1967 which removed provisions in the Australian Constitution which discriminated against Indigenous Australians, the Prime Minister Harold Holt invited Dexter to join the anthropologist W. E. H. Stanner and H. C. Coombs to form the Council for Aboriginal Affairs (CAA) and advise on national policy.

Carty Salmon

His eulogy was delivered by the Archbishop of Melbourne, and both Prime Minister Billy Hughes and Leader of the Opposition Matthew Charlton attended his funeral.

David Orme Masson

In 1915 he was asked by the Prime Minister of Australia W. M. Hughes to act as Chairman of a Committee to draw up a scheme for a Commonwealth Institute of Science and Industry, but difficulties arose and it was not until 1920 that the Institute was established.

Donald Hardman

The decision by Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies to appoint an RAF officer caused resentment in the Air Force, compounded when he stated his reason as being that there was "no RAAF officer of sufficient age, or operation experience, to take the post of Chief of the Air Staff", ignoring the wartime records of such figures as John McCauley and Frederick Scherger.

First Lady

Following the leadership spill which installed Julia Gillard as the first female Prime Minister of Australia on 24 June 2010, some news media referred to her de facto partner, Tim Mathieson, as the "First Bloke".

Fred Whitlam

He was the father of Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, and had a great influence on his son's values and interests.

George Coulthard

Independent witnesses said the decision was "close but fair", and was supported by the other umpire Edmund Barton, later to become Australia's first Prime Minister.

Gilbert Kaplan

At the post-performance dinner in the Great Hall of the National Gallery of Victoria, the keynote speaker was the then Prime Minister of Australia, Paul Keating, a noted aficionado of Mahler.

Josh Frydenberg

From 2003 to 2005 he was a policy adviser to Prime Minister John Howard, specialising in domestic security issues, border protection, justice and industrial relations.

Kenneth Eather

Ken was educated at Abbotsholme College in Wahroonga, New South Wales, am elite boarding school that also attended by future prime ministers Harold Holt and William McMahon.

King–Byng Affair

The King–Byng Affair was the most controversial use of a governor general's reserve powers until the Australian constitutional crisis of 1975, in which the Governor-General of Australia, John Kerr, dismissed Prime Minister Gough Whitlam.

Kingsley's Chicken

The Government claimed the advertisements - which also showed images of Prime Minister John Howard and Australian Democrats leader Meg Lees - breached regulations restricting political advertising.

Machinery of government

At the Commonwealth Government level, Administrative Arrangements Orders (AAOs) are made by the Governor-General on the advice of the Prime Minister formally allocating executive responsibility among ministers.

Martinho da Costa Lopes

Former Australian Prime Minister Whitlam, called the bishop "a liar, who was simply stirring up trouble".

Mike Willesee

Willesee figured prominently in the controversy that erupted over the decision in early 1967 by the Liberal government, led by Prime Minister Harold Holt, not to reappoint the ABC Chairman Dr James Darling.

Newsfront

Events recreated in the film include Robert Menzies' return as Prime Minister of Australia, the 1951 referendum to ban the communist party, Post-war immigration to Australia, the combatting of the rabbit plague, the 1955 Hunter Valley floods and the 1956 introduction of television in Australia.

Ord River

Work started on the main Ord River Dam in 1969 and was completed before the official opening on 30 June 1972 by Prime Minister William McMahon, when he said.

The construction of the Ord River Diversion Dam started in late 1960 and was officially opened in July 1963 by then Prime Minister, Robert Menzies.

Pecan Summer

With his agreement, Cheetham used a recording of then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's February 2008 parliamentary apology to the "Stolen Generations" as part of the work.

Redbank Plains State High School

On 10 July 2012, the school was the venue for a community cabinet meeting which was attended by the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, Cabinet ministers and roughly 400 community members.

Richard Cecil Cook

Always known by his second given name, Cecil Cook was born in Marrickville, New South Wales, one of nine children of Sir Joseph Cook PC, GCMG, Prime Minister of Australia (1913-1914) and Dame Mary Cook.

Scores New York – Gentlemen's club

On August 19, 2007, it was widely reported that the former Prime Minister of Australia, Kevin Rudd, had visited Scores in September 2003 with New York Post editor Col Allan and Labor backbencher Warren Snowdon.

The Australiana Fund

The Australiana Fund is an independent fundraising organisation responsible for the purchase and maintenance of artworks in the four Official Residences of the Governor-General of Australia and the Prime Minister of Australia.

William Heseltine

He was Private Secretary to Sir Robert Menzies, Prime Minister, 1955–1959, and Acting Official Secretary to Viscount De L'Isle, Governor-General, May to August 1962.