Federal Environment Minister Tony Burke and Communications Minister Stephen Conroy admit that they received free holiday accommodation from allegedly corrupt former state MP Eddie Obeid.
Gold Coast mother, Novy Chardon, aged 34, goes missing from her Upper Coomera home, sparking a police search.
14 February – The Supreme Court of Queensland orders that serial rapist Robert John Fardon should be released because any risks which he posed to the community could be managed.
15 February –
Queensland Premier Campbell Newman announces that the Department of Transport and Main Roads Director-General Michael Caltabiano has been dismissed. In October 2012, Mr Caltabiano was referred to State Parliament's ethics committee for comments he made in an estimates committee hearing about Ben Gommers, son of former arts minister Ros Bates.
Queensland Arts Minister, Ros Bates, resigns amid controversy, with scandals having recently emerged over alleged irregularities with her lobbyist contact register, the Crime and Misconduct investigation into the appointment of her son Ben Gommers to a departmental role, and links to Michael Caltabiano.
21 February – Immigration Minister Brendan O'Connor urges the Coalition to rethink its opposition to the Malaysian solution, after the reported deaths of 98 asylum seekers who were trying to make their way to Indonesia or Australia.
24 February – Severe flooding occurs in Northern New South Wales, as well as a severe damage in Sydney's south-west, leaving many homes without power.
March
1 March – Myer's annual Autumn/Winter Collection show is held in Melbourne.
2 March –
A severe weather system dumps widespread heavy rain on Queensland. 71 mm of rain falls in Bundaberg before 9am. Wivenhoe Dam reaches 101% capacity.
Veteran TV journalist Peter Harvey dies in Sydney hospital after a battle with pancreatic cancer.
3 March – Prime Minister Julia Gillard starts a campaign in Western Sydney and announces a new federal taskforce to crack down on criminal gangs.
8 March – The Queen Street Mall in Brisbane goes into lockdown after Lee Matthew Hillier threatens plain clothes police officers with what they believed was a handgun while they were doing random street checks.
13 March – The Country Liberal Party in the Northern Territory elects Adam Giles as party leader while Terry Mills is overseas on a trade visit to Japan. Giles is sworn in as Chief Minister—Australia's first indigenous head of government—the next day on 14 March.[6]
21 March –
Prime Minister Julia Gillard makes a speech apologising on behalf of the Federal Government to families affected by forced adoption in Australia.[7]
Simon Crean calls on the Prime Minister to bring on a leadership spill to resolve tensions in the Labor Party, which she does. Expected challenger Kevin Rudd announces he will not contest the ballot, and Gillard is re-elected leader unopposed.[8]
28 March – A freak accident kills three pedestrians when a wall collapses in the Melbourne suburb of Carlton.
6 April – Brisbane City Hall is officially re-opened to the public following a three-year restoration
10 April
Prime Minister Julia Gillard ends her trip to China with an agreement for annual leadership talks with the new Chinese Premier Li Keqiang. They also signed agreements to set up an expert group to drive co-operation on carbon trading, engaged in a new round of defence talks and agreed to work together on aid and development in the Asia Pacific region.
Child killer Allyson McConnell is deported to Australia from Canada after serving just 15 months for killing her two young sons by drowning them. The leniency in sentencing provokes outrage, with Alberta Justice Minister Jonathan Denis appealing against the sentence and promising to seek her extradition.[10]
13 April – The Federal Government announces $2 billion worth of cuts to the university sector.
14 April – Prime Minister Julia Gillard announces $14.5 billion worth of funding for schools over the next six years to mark one year since the release of the Gonski review.
17 April – Australia's greatest racing horse since Phar Lap and one of the greatest mares in world history, Black Caviar is retired on an unbeaten record of 25 wins.
27 April – On the final day of the Sydney Racing Carnival, John Singleton sacks Gai Waterhouse as his trainer following mare More Joyous' loss in the race, claiming that Waterhouse's bookmaker son, Tom Waterhouse, had the night before expressed his suspicions to friends of Singleton's over More Joyous' physical condition and believed that it had no chance of winning the race. The incident prompts an inquiry, as well as debates over whether live betting odds should be permitted during televised sporting matches.
3 May – The Federal Government unveils a white paper on defence, setting an aspirational goal of increasing defence spending to 2 per cent of GDP, as well as the purchase of a dozen new FA18 fighter jets. Prime Minister Julia Gillard also says that her government wants to see more transparency from China on their military developments.[11]
9 May – Federal Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott, unveils the Coalition's industrial relations policy, saying workers have nothing to fear, promising sensible, careful and incremental changes. He foreshadows a review of the system in the first term of an Abbott Government.[12]
10 May – Michael Boggan, aged 15, of Ipswich, Queensland, suffers severe injuries after a home-made bomb in the form of a golf ball detonates in his hands.
June
3 June – Fair Work Australia announces a 2.6 per cent increase in the minimum wage, prompting criticism from the Australian Council of Trade Unions.[13]
5 June – Prime Minister Julia Gillard orders an inquiry into the intelligence agencies' handling of a case involving a convicted Egyptian terrorist, Sayad Latif, who arrived in Australia last year as an asylum seeker.[14]
6 June – New South Wales Police announce a $100,000 reward for information on the 23 Dec 1982 bombings of the Israeli Consulate in Sydney and the Hakoah Club at Bondi.[15]
7 June – The Reserve Bank of Australia decides to lower the official cash rate to 2.75 per cent – its lowest level in more than 50 years.[16]
8 June – The Queensland Government signs up to the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
12 June – Prime Minister Julia Gillard during Question Time calls on the Opposition to disendorse Liberal candidate Mal Brough after a menu that made lewd and offensive jokes about her anatomy was used at his party fund-raiser. The menu, used at an event in March, lists Julia Gillard Kentucky Fried Quail before going on to describe it as Small breasts, huge thighs & a big red box.[17]
1 July – Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's new ministry is sworn in at a ceremony at Government House, Canberra.[19]
Labor MP, Simon Crean, announces that he'll retire from politics at the next election.[20]
4 July – An inquest into the deaths of three men working under the Rudd Government's pink batts home insulation scheme finds that inadequate training, safety and supervision were all to blame for their deaths. The coroner's report also states that industry groups warned the Federal Government about the risks of the scheme, but were ignored.[21]
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announces a major crackdown on corruption in the New South Wales branch of Labor Party.[22]
5 July – Prime Minister Kevin Rudd meets with Indonesian President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, and announces the establishment of the Indonesia-Australia Red Meat and Beef Forum to improve and grow Indonesia's cattle industry, in an effort to defuse diplomatic tensions over cancelled beef exports.[23]
11 July – Prime Minister Kevin Rudd uses an address at the National Press Club in Canberra to lobby for a new "productivity pact" between businesses, unions and the Federal Government in an effort to lift the rate of annual productivity growth, as well as smoothing the transition from mining to non-mining led growth. The Prime Minister also accuses the Opposition of planning to "implement a slash and burn austerity drive across the nation".[24]
14 July – Federal Treasurer Chris Bowen announces that the Federal Government has agreed to scrap the fixed carbon price and move to a floating price on carbon on 1 July next year – one year earlier than scheduled.[25]
3 August – Simon Kruger, a seven-year-old boy, goes missing in the bush after wandering away from a family picnic. He is found by searchers the next day, and claimed that a kangaroo had kept him warm as he slept under a tree.[27]
27 September – Two large brawls involving members of the Bandidos bikie gang and another outlaw motorcycle club erupted outside a restaurant on Broadbeach on Queensland's Gold Coast, prompting the arrest of eighteen people and setting in motion a chain of events that would lead to the enactment of the Newman government's Vicious Lawless Association Disestablishment Act 2013 (VLAD) laws.
7 October – Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, attends the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) summit in Bali. After meeting with China's president, Xi Jinping, he says he is confident he could get a free trade deal with China within 12 months. He also addresses the lingering concern in Indonesia about his asylum seeker policies.
9 October – John Hancock and Bianca Rinehart's civil trial against their mother, Gina Rinehart, begins in the NSW Supreme Court. They're suing their mother for alleged misconduct as trustee. The family are also fighting over control of a family trust worth billions.
13 October – Bill Shorten is elected leader of the federal Labor Party, beating Anthony Albanese and receiving 52 per cent of the caucus, prompting his mother-in-law, Governor-General Quentin Bryce, to offer her resignation "to avoid any perception of bias".
The Queensland Parliament passes with bipartisan support its Vicious Lawless Association Disestablishment (VLAD)laws targeting outlaw bikie gangs after a marathon debate. The legislation names 26 "criminal organisations", including the Bandidos, Finks and Mongols. It restricts their members' and associates' movements and meetings, and increases minimum sentences for their crimes.
18 November – Material leaked by NSA contractor Edward Snowden reveals that Australian intelligence agencies had attempted to tap the phones of the President of Indonesia, his wife, and other officials. In response, Indonesia recalls its ambassador, and threatens other consequences.[32]
23 November – 35-year-old man, Chris Boyd, is killed by a Great White Shark at Gracetown, off the south-west coast of Western Australia. A "catch and kill" order was issued to permit the destruction of the shark.
29 November – A young surfer, 18-year-old Zac Young, died after shark attack Riecks Point beach near Coffs Harbour.
December
1 December – Thousands of motorbike riders protest new anti-bikie laws outside Brisbane's Parliament House.
6 December – The Queensland Court of Appeal decides to release serial rapist Robert John Fardon from prison after the Queensland Attorney-General withdrew a last-minute application to prevent his release.
Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt approves the expansion of the controversial Abbot Point coal terminal in north Queensland.
11 December – Car manufacturer Holden announces it will cease production of vehicles in Australia by 2017.[34]
13 December – Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, holds his first Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting. The states and territories agree to have sole responsibility for the environmental assessment of major developments and to focus on boosting the school attendance rates of Indigenous children. It is confirmed that the national paid parental leave scheme will include state public servants.
18 December – The Federal Government unveils its $100 million assistance package to help Holden and the manufacturing industry.
20 December – A two-hour siege took place outside Sydney's Parliament House when a man in his car threatened to set himself alight.
23 December – A Royal Commission into the Rudd Government's home insulation scheme begins in Brisbane.
26 December –
Acting Prime Minister, Warren Truss, announces that Australia will provide two military aircraft to South Sudan to aid in the current military crisis.
A mother and her teenage daughter are held hostage during a siege at a house in the suburb of Banyo in Brisbane.
30 December – Cyclone Christine intensifies into a category 3 cyclone causing heavy rainfall across a large section of the West Australian Pilbara coast. The towns of Roebourne and Wickham receive significant damage.
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