In 1998, as reforms were occurring the hard way on the waterfront, John Howard set about implementing a long held wish to reform the Australian Tax System while the US President was brought to the brink of disaster by his own actions and a 77 year old hero proved that age is no barrier to the determination of individual achievement.

1998 was the year where:

– Scarborough Marina appointed as a customs and quarantine facility

– Extensions to the Redcliffe Hospital (including a helipad and intensive care wing) are completed

– The new cinema multiplex at Kippa Ring opens to the public

– Rolling blackouts engulf Brisbane and the greater South East after generator breakdowns at 4 major coal-fired power stations

– The Maritime Union of Australia stages the largest industrial dispute seen in this country after Patrick Corporation sack 2000 dock workers for inefficiency. A compromise is eventually reached where the jobs are re-instated in exchange for efficiency improvements

– Peter Beattie becomes Premier of Qld in a minority Government after Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party scores 23% of the popular vote and 11 seats in Parliament

– John Howard is re-elected in the Federal election despite losing the popular vote

– Fox Studios Australia opens in Sydney

– Mark Taylor equals Don Bradman’s record test score of 334 runs, retiring his innings upon reaching that milestone

– The Good Friday Accord is reached in Ireland

– Europeans agree on a single currency, the Euro

– Indonesian dictator Suharto steps down after 32 years in power

– Former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet is arrested in London

– US President Bill Clinton denies having an affair with Monica Lewinsky. He is later impeached by the House of Reps

– 77 year old former astronaut John Glenn returns to orbit in the space shuttle Discovery on his last mission

– The Thin Red Line, Bulworth, There’s Something About Mary, The Truman Show, Rushmore and The Big Lebowski are released

Deaths: Sonny Bono (5 January), Frank Sinatra (14 May), Akira Kurosawa (6 September), Florence Griffith Joyner (21 September)