Adam Ashley-Cooper, Nick Cummins, Tatafu Polota-Nau, Benn Robinson and Liam Gill will sit out the Scotland clash at Murrayfield, while Paddy Ryan will miss Australia's final spring tour game against Wales due to the fact the Wallabies are required to name four props on the bench.
Dave Dennis, Kane Douglas, Saia Fainga’a, Bernard Foley and Nick Phipps have received written warnings from Wallabies staff, while Scott Fardy, Mike Harris, Ben McCalman and Nic White were issued with verbal discplinary action.
The remarkable sanctions were handed out after the squad went out for dinner in groups on Tuesday night ahead of a scheduled day off on Wednesday.
The offending players chose to extend their evening out in town and came home in the early hours after consuming what McKenzie described as 'inappropriate levels of alcohol'.
Determined to enforce high standards amoung the playing group, the Wallabies coach, along with the ARU, felt they had no choice than to hand out the sanctions despite the fact the Wallabies do not have a ban on drinking or a curfew in place.
"Let's be clear – these are internal sanctions and aren't a result of any complaints or reports of inappropriate or sinister behaviour while our players were out," McKenzie said.
"Instead, we have chosen to address an issue that has come up internally and we are now being up-front about it. We've done this because we need to continually reinforce the need for our players to make smart decisions to benefit the team."
"The worst thing you could do for the Qantas Wallabies in the long-term is do nothing because that would mean we would be ignoring poor culture and a significant performance issue."
McKenzie now faces a massive selection dilemma ahead of the Scotland game with both of last week's starting wingers in Ashley-Cooper and Cummins ruled out – the issue compounded by Tevita Kuridrani's upcoming discplinary hearing in London on Tuesday after he was sent off in the win against Ireland.
Cummins and Ashley-Cooper have been key figures throughout the spring tour and will be a huge loss, while McKenzie will also have no options in the front row and will be forced to use his four remaining props, James Slipper, Sekope Kepu, Ben Alexander and Paddy Ryan, along with hookers Stephen Moore and Saia Fainga'a.
But McKenzie, who infamously dumped James O'Connor from the Wallabies squad earlier this year after he was escorted off a plane at Perth Airport by Australian Federal Police, insists his decision is for the benefit of the team in the long run.
"We will always take action in relation to examples of poor culture when it's warranted – doing nothing to address poor behaviour will never be an option," he said.
"We've taken on the challenge of re-defining our team culture."
"For us, this is a great opportunity to circle the wagons and re-calibrate our behaviours to get back on track off the field," he said.