Australian History?

Question: Australian History!?

Does anyone know any significant events in the 1990s!?Www@QuestionHome@Com

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In 1999, Australian voters rejected by a majority of 54% a move to become a republic with a president appointed by two-thirds vote of both houses of the Australian Parliament!. To alter the Australian constitution an Act of the Australian Parliament must occur as well as a referendum receiving not only a majority of votes across the country, but also a majority of votes in a majority of the six Australian states!. The referendum of 1999 not only did not receive a majority of votes across the country, it also did not win one of the six Australian states!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

http://en!.wikipedia!.org/wiki/History_of_!.!.!.

In 1983 Australia won the America's Cup yacht race, ending the Americans 132-year winning streak!.

During much of the twentieth century, Australian governments had removed many aboriginal children from their families!. This practice, while beneficial to some individuals, did great damage to the Aboriginal people, culturally and emotionally, giving rise to the term stolen generation to describe these families!. Since the publication in 1997 of a federal government report, Bringing Them Home all state governments have followed the recommendation of the report in issuing formal apologies for their past practices to the Aboriginal people, as have many local governments!. The Howard government refused to make such an apology on behalf of the federal government, despite pleas from the Aboriginal people and from many sections of the wider community, claiming it would constitute a legal admission of guilt and give rise to widespread claims for compensation!. However, the new government under Kevin Rudd made a formal apology on the 13th of February 2008!.

Australian republicanism which had been a feature of the 1890s faded away during the First World War!. Monarchist sentiment in Australia peaked during the Menzies years with the wildly successful 1954 tour by Queen Elizabeth II!. The issue of a republic did not arise again until the 1970s!. In the 1990s it was bought to the forefront of national debate by Prime Minister Paul Keating, who promised in 1993 to introduce an "Australian federal republic" by the centenary of Federation in 2001!. Polls have consistently shown a majority of Australian support an Australian republic, but a referendum on the issue failed on November 6, 1999!.

After the Vietnam experience, Australian military forces were largely kept at home through the rest of the 1970s and 1980s, and were restricted to the low-risk and largely symbolic deployment of two warships to the Gulf War in 1991!. However, the last decade has seen a number of high-profile military deployments!. The first occurred in East Timor in 1999, with the majority of forces in the INTERFET peacekeeping force made up by ADF personnel, particularly in its early stages!. SAS troops formed the most high-profile part of Operation Slipper, Australia's contribution to the invading force in the 2001 United States war in Afghanistan!. These military deployments had high public support!. The Australian contribution to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and Australia's continued presence there, are highly controversial!. There have been a number of other peacekeeping and stablization operations, notably in the Solomon Islands and, again, in East Timor in 2006!. As of early December 2007 four Australian soldiers had been killed in Afghanistan!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

There were a number of significant events that shaped Australia’s sociopolitical landscape duringthe 1990’s!. Prime among those events is the case of Mabo v Queensland!. Changing attitudes towards Aboriginal land rights brought about this landmark decision that led to the 1993 Native Title Act being passed!. Previously, the land rights of Aboriginals were not recognised, and the rule of “Terra Nullus” or empty land was deemed to apply!. Prime Minister Keating launches Australian celebration of International Year of the World's Indigenous Peoples (1993), with a speech accepting responsibility for past mistreatment of Aboriginal people by non-Aboriginal Australians and calling for reconciliation!. The speech becomes known as the 'Redfern Park speech'!. In other events regarding Aboriginal rights the Aboriginal Lands Act 1995 was passed in Tasmania!. The aim of this was to An Act to promote reconciliation with the Tasmanian Aboriginal community by granting to Aboriginal people certain parcels of land of historic or cultural significance!. This act was to go some way to achieving reconciliation!. In 1997, The Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission released the report of its Inquiry Into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from their Families!. In 1999, both Houses of the Commonwealth Parliament pass a motion signalling an acknowledgement of, and regret at, the hurt that past policies of the Australian government have caused to indigenous Australians!.

In other events, the ACT Proportional Representation (Hare-Clark) Entrenchment Act 1994 (ACT) was passed entrenching certain values into the electoral system!. For example, voting in elections was made compulsory, changeable only be referendum and 2/3 of the popular vote!. In 1998, ongoing debate on whether Australia should become a republic led to the Constitutional Convention in Canberra recommending Australia become a republic and the subsequent 1999 referendum!. The 'No' vote wins in referendum on Australian Republic; Australia remains a constitutional monarchy!. National Gun Control was agreed on at federal, state and local level following the events of 28 April 1996!. Martin Bryant went on a killing spree at Port Arthur, murdering 35 people and wounding 37 more before being captured by Special Operatives Police!. This ban was on semi-automatic shotguns and rifles!.

In 1990, then Treasurer Paul Keating admits Australia is in recession and makes reference to Australia becoming a “banana republic”!. Rising interest rates peaking at 17!.5% leads to voter dissatisfaction with the ruling Labor party!. However, as Labor power was transferred from Bob Hawke to Keating, the Coalition parties were unable to set themselves up as a viable alternative!. This was perhaps due to the promise of the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax!. The 1993 election was “unwinnable” for Labor yet they defeated Dr!. John Hewson and the Coalition on the platform of the GST!. After Labor was in power for 5 terms, the Prime Minister Paul Keating was ousted by Liberal leader John Howard in the 1996 elections!. There had been a general mood for change in the electorate and Howard was able to position himself as he man to change Australia!. Pauline Hanson was dumped from the Liberal party during the election campaign in 1996!. She subsequently formed the One Nation party and became prominent with the belief by many that she dared to say what everyone else was thinking!. The rapid rise disturbed many social commentators, who believed her insular and xenophobic policy ideas and principles would lead to regression back to the values of the White Australia Policy!. Their rise continued in the 1998 election as the One Nation party won 11 Queensland state seats!.

I think that's about it!. THere were other events that occurred, but these were the changes that shaped the nation!.Www@QuestionHome@Com