The Australian men's national ice hockey team represent Australia in the sport of ice hockey under the jurisdiction of Ice Hockey Australia which is a part of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). Australia competed in the Winter Olympics once, in 1960, when the team lost all of their matches. They have also competed in the Ice Hockey World Championships, 33 times with their best result being a ninth-place finish at the same Olympics with a 13th place in 1962. The national team currently are in division two after being relegated from division one in 2013 with the team being currently ranked 35th in the IIHF World Rankings.

The 1979 Ice Hockey World Championships took place at the Palace of Sports of the Central Lenin Stadium in Moscow, Soviet Union from 14 to 27 April. Eight teams took part, with the first round split into two groups of four, and the best two from each group advancing to the final group. The four best teams then played each other twice in the final round. This was the 46th World Championship and at the same time, the 57th European Championship. In the May 1978 congress many rules were aligned with NHL practices and archaic rules were finally officially abandoned. The games were very well attended, setting a record by averaging over eleven thousand spectators per game.