This article appears to be slanted towards recent events. Please try to keep recent events in historical perspective and add more content related to non-recent events.(January 2023)
The ALP split over the issue of overseas conscription and the conscription referendum. Hughes and his supporters were expelled from the ALP and formed a separate National Labor Party.
A 1918 royal commission found that Long had accepted a bribe from Shaw in 1916 and that Jensen had not secured proper approvals for the purchase of assets from Shaw's company. Long resigned from the Senate and Jensen was dismissed from the ministry.
The government unsuccessfully sought to deport Walsh and Johnson, foreign-born leaders of the militant Seamen's Union. Groom resigned as Attorney-General.
A 1928 royal commission concluded Mahony had taken a bribe to resign his seat in parliament, allowing Theodore to enter the House of Representatives at the subsequent by-election.
The ALP split three ways over the Scullin government's response to the Great Depression, with Lyons and his followers joining the opposition and Lang's supporters joining the crossbench. Both eventually voted down the government forcing the 1931 federal election.
The government refused entry to Freer on the grounds of immoral conduct. Paterson's perceived bungling of the case effectively ended his ministerial career.
A royal commission found Ward had made unsubstantiated claims about the previous government's war strategy. He remained in the ministry but was demoted to lesser portfolios.
Members of the far-right Australia First Movement were interned without trial for national security reasons. A post-war inquiry found they had been illegally detained and recommended compensation be awarded.
Garden was convicted of forging Ward's signature on documents to defraud investors in timber plantations. Ward was cleared of involvement by a subsequent royal commission, during which time he stood down as a minister.
Calwell as immigration minister refused entry to Gamboa, a Filipino-American, under the White Australia policy, despite Gamboa having an Australian wife and children.
Petrov and his wife defected from the USSR to Australia in dramatic circumstances, which the Menzies Government exploited for political gain in the lead-up to the 1954 election.
ALP members opposed to Evatt's leadership, predominantly associated with the anti-communist Industrial Groups and Santamaria's Catholic Social Studies Movement, either left the party or were expelled, forming what eventually became the Democratic Labor Party.
Garland resigned as Minister for Post and Telecommunications after being charged with electoral offences. They were dismissed and he returned to the ministry in 1977.
Lynch resigned as Treasurer following allegations of a conflict of interest relating to his land dealings. Two reports found he had not acted illegally and he returned to the ministry one month later in a different portfolio.
Withers was sacked as Minister for Administrative Services after a Queensland royal commission found he had attempted to interfere with an electoral redistribution.
Sinclair resigned as Minister for Primary Industry after a report to the New South Wales parliament accused him of inappropriate business dealings. He was charged with fraud but acquitted, and returned to the ministry in 1980.
MacKellar submitted an incorrect customs declaration relating to his importation of a colour television, which Moore attempted to cover up. Both resigned from the ministry.
Young resigned from parliament and the ministry after allegations he had mishandled campaign donations. Loosley later accepted responsibility for the errors.
Richardson was censured by the Senate and resigned from the ministry due to controversy over his dealings with Symons, a businessman charged with forgery in relation to a migration scheme based in the Marshall Islands.
Griffiths resigned from the ministry after allegations he had misused party and government resources for personal gain. He was later cleared of wrongdoing by an Australian Federal Police investigation.
Sharp and McGauran resigned from the ministry over false travel expense claims, while Jull resigned due after allowing Sharp to make secret payments and tabling an inaccurate report.
The government refused to allow asylum-seekers to enter Australia, using Special Air Service Regiment soldiers to board the MV Tampa, a Norwegian freighter that had rescued them from a sinking vessel.
A royal commission found that AWB Limited had paid kickbacks to Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq in exchange for lucrative wheat contracts, contravening UN sanctions.
Grech claimed Prime Minister Rudd intervened in a grants claim for a Car Dealership, Turnbull as Opposition Leader then seized upon the claims. It was later determined Grech fabricated the entire thing.
In a protest against the Gillard government's carbon tax a number of MPs from the Liberal party were pictured in front of signs saying "Ditch the Witch" and "JuLiar... Bob Brown's Bitch"
The first budget delivered by the government was seen as being based on severe cuts to welfare and other social programs. It triggered a polling slump that Abbott struggled to recover from
Bishop was found to have chartered a helicopter to a Liberal Party fundraiser. This was charged at over $5,000 for what would have been a 1 hour drive.
Parliamentarians of various parties were found to be in breach of Section 44 of the Constitution which prohibits dual citizens from sitting in parliament
Joyce who was married at the time, was discovered having an affair with a staffer, who was pregnant with his baby. In response a code of conduct was introduced that prevented relationships between MPs and staffers
Publication of the allegations, based on leaked documents, by the ABC lead in 2019 to the Australian Federal Police raiding the ABC's Ultimo offices (as well as News Corp journalist Annika Smethurst's home, due to her reporting on another leaked plan to allow the ASD to spy on Australian citizens). Media organisations feared the raids posed a severe threat to investigative journalism, as well as to Australia's reputation as a free and open democracy. See also the Brereton Report.
Centrelink were issuing automated illegal debts that had not been incurred by the individuals concerned.
Scott Morrison was the lead figure in this scandal, he was the minister responsible for designing, funding, approving and continuing the project. The settlement cost the Australian taxpayers $112 million. Many people committed suicide after receiving the debt letters.
The governing coalition supported a motion in the senate declaring "it's ok to be white" and opposing the "deplorable rise of anti-white racism and attacks on Western civilisation"
The Liberal party put up signs in Mandarin in places with large Chinese populations that were deliberately made to look like they were produced by the AEC. The signs directed voters to vote for the Liberal Party.
Scott Morrison took a family holiday to Hawaii during one of the worst bushfire seasons on record. He returned only after significant public pressure.
When touring bushfire affected communities, many residents refused to engage with Morrison. On a number of occasions Morrison forced a handshake on residents.
The government released an ad praising their bushfire response. The ad was attacked as being a party political ad paid for by taxpayers.
The government were providing grants for sports projects for communities in marginal electorates. Many of these projects were considered low priority or previously rejected, and were seen as a way to defend the marginal electorates.
Scott Morrison's pastor, Houston, was invited by Morrison to attend an official White House dinner. Houston is under investigation for covering up his father's sex abuse. Morrison continually denied this as gossip until admitting it was true.
Two separate ongoing allegations including rape and sexual assault, both raised in February 2021, causing controversy for the Liberal-NationalMorrison government. These allegations have sparked further discussions over workplace culture, systemic misogyny and victim blaming within the Morrison government and Parliament as a whole, with the government heavily criticised for its response.
A Tamil family from Sri Lanka had applied for asylum. The government rejected their claims and wanted to send them back to Sri Lanka with their two Australian-born children. The family was sent to offshore detention for years while their case was taken to court.
The government handed out grants to build carparks near train stations a day before a federal election was called. The carparks had no tender process and were almost exclusively in Liberal party seats. Some were cancelled, or the site was not near train stations.
Scott Morrison had himself secretly sworn in as Health Minister, Finance Minister, Treasurer, Home Affairs Minister, and Industry, Science, Energy, and Resources Minister at various times between 2020 and 2021, without announcement to the public, to Parliament, to the Ministerial staff, or in most cases to the existing relevant Ministers.
Barilaro was appointed to a trade commissioner position in New York, questions raised about impropriety, Barilaro violently attacks cameraman, Ayres resigns as Trade Minister
It caused the resignation of premier John Bannon in 1992, and the crushing electoral defeat of the South Australian Labor government at the 1993 election.
These events were a key factor in the defeat of the Labor government of Joan Kirner and the election of the Liberal Party, led by Jeff Kennett, at the 1992 Victorian state election
High level and wide reaching cases of branch stacking (internal vote rigging) in the Victorian Labor party. Outcome was the federal party taking over the state branch for several years to fix the problem
^La Nauze, John (1957). The Hopetoun Blunder: The Appointment of the First Prime Minister of Australia, December 1900. Melbourne University Press.
^Foster, Leonie (2014). "Shipwrecks and the White Australia policy". The Great Circle. 36 (2). The Australian Association for Maritime History: 68–84. JSTOR24583070.
^King, Terry (1983). "The Tarring and Feathering of J. K. McDougall: 'Dirty Tricks' in the 1919 Federal Election". Labour History. 45 (45): 54–67. doi:10.2307/27508605. JSTOR27508605.