May 2006 in Oceania

This page deals with current events that take place in or are of interest to Australia, New Zealand, and/or the rest of Oceania, and/or current events that involve Oceanians.

[edit] May 1, 2006 (Monday)

• Troubles continue at TVNZ, with leaked emails from Craig Boyce to Ian Fraser, referring to the Parliamentary select committee as "the bastards are our enemy". (Radio NZ)
• Beaconsfield mine collapse: Rescuers at a mine in Beaconsfield, Tasmania have begun work after two miners were detected alive. The two had been trapped alive over 1 kilometre underground for the past five days. (BBC)

[edit] May 3, 2006 (Wednesday)

• The New Zealand Government announces that it will require Telecom to unbundle the local loop to provide "access to fast, competitively priced broadband internet". TVNZ
• The Reserve Bank of Australia raises interest rates by a quarter of a per cent to 5.75%, leading the Labor Opposition to accuse the Howard Government of reneging on an election pledge to keep interest rates low. (ABC)

[edit] May 7, 2006 (Sunday)

• 60 Minutes journalist Richard Carleton died of a heart attack while covering the Beaconsfield mine collapse.

[edit] May 9, 2006 (Tuesday)

• Two miners trapped underground in the Beaconsfield mine collapse in Tasmania are finally rescued after 14 days. [1]
• A factory explosion near Gladstone in regional South Australia kills two men and seriously injures another two. One man remains missing. (ABC)
• The Australian Government announces the biggest budget ever for the 2006-2007 period, with massive spending on infrastructure and security and more than AU$36 billion in income tax cuts. (ABC)

[edit] May 13, 2006 (Saturday)

• A trawler sinks in Foveaux Strait on the way back from muttonbirding. Of the nine people on board, including three generations of one family, only three survive. (Southland Times) (The Age)

[edit] May 16, 2006 (Saturday)

• A small group of Australian troops have landed in East Timor to protect Australians should the political situation deteriorate. Australian warships are on standby off East Timor's coast. New Zealand also has contingency plans in place should New Zealanders need to be evacuated.(The Age) (ABC) (TVNZ)
• Michael Ryan, a messenger for the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet is named as the government employee who leaked the information to Telecom that the government is planning to "unbundle the local loop". (NZPA)

[edit] May 17, 2006 (Wednesday)

• An attempt by the New Zealand Green Party to repeal part of a controversial dog microchipping law, was voted down 61-60. stuff

[edit] May 23, 2006 (Tuesday)

• Increasing violence in the Northern Territory's largest indigneous community at Wadeye provokes debate on intervention in the community.

[edit] May 25, 2006 (Thursday)

• The three men acquitted of rape in the Louise Nicholas trial now face a new trial for alleged sexual offences against another woman in the mid 1980s. (NZ Herald)

[edit] May 31, 2006 (Wednesday)

• May 31: A fire at Niue's only power station leaves the nation with no electricity. (NZ Herald)

[edit] News collections and sources

• Wikipedia:News collections and sources.
• Wikipedia:News sources - This has much of the same material organised in a hierarchical manner to help encourage NPOV in our news reporting.

[edit] See also

• 2006 in New Zealand
• 2006 in Australia
• 2006 in Oceania