2 January – The fatal stabbing of a young Indian man, Nitin Garg, in the Melbourne suburb of Yarraville generates deep anger in India, following other incidents of violence against Indian students in Australia.[3]
7 January – The Queensland Government activates disaster relief funding for communities in central and southwest Queensland isolated by floods.[4]
3 February – Following extensive public criticism, the South Australian Attorney-GeneralMichael Atkinson announces that controversial new electoral legislation will be repealed after the South Australian state election to be held on 20 March 2010. The new legislation requires anyone responding online to a political report during an election period to provide their full name and postcode, with the information to be retained by the publisher for six months.[8]
19 February – Mary MacKillop is declared by Pope Benedict XVI to be a saint of the Roman Catholic Church, the first Australian so declared. A formal canonisation will take place in October 2010.[10]
22–23 February – Police are called to Rose Bay in Sydney's eastern suburbs in the early morning hours of 23 February to remove an illuminated street sign which had been tampered with earlier in the evening so it would display to passing motorists that “Kevin Rudd Sucks".[11]
1–2 March – A record rainfall for a single day, since 22 December 1956, with over 100mm of rain fall across 1.7 per cent of Australian territory on 1 March, and over 1.9 per cent of the country the following day.[12]
1–20 March – Major floods hit southern Queensland and north western New South Wales, with Charleville, Roma and St George severely affected,[13] resulting with significant damage to properties, roads and rail lines.
6 March – Severe thunderstorms and hail hit Melbourne and central Victoria, causing flash flooding and widespread property damage.
21 March – The category 3 severe tropical Cyclone Ului crosses the Queensland coast near Airlie Beach, causing moderate damage.[19]
22 March – A storm featuring torrential rain and large hailstones caused flash flooding, structural damage and loss of power to 150,000 houses in Perth.[20]
29 March – 100 boats have arrived since November 2007 bringing 4,386 asylum-seekers and at least 225 crew members to Australia. The 100th boat, with 41 passengers and 3 crew on board, was intercepted in the vicinity of Christmas Island.[23][24]
27 April – Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announces the deferral of the introduction of the proposed Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme until after the end of the current commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol (which ends in 2012), citing a lack of bipartisan support for the proposal and slower progress than expected in terms of global action on climate change.[29]
2 May – The Rudd Government announces it will tax the above-normal profits—known as super profits—of the mining industry to fund a superannuation rise and a company tax cut.[30]
3 June – The township of Lennox Head on the North Coast of New South Wales is affected by a tornado, which destroys at least 40 properties.
19 June – A by-election is held for the New South Wales state electorate of Penrith. The by-election was won by the Liberal Party candidate Stuart Ayres with a record swing of 25.7% in two party preferred terms. The by-election was triggered by the resignation of Karyn Paluzzano after an admission that she lied to the Independent Commission Against Corruption and her subsequent expulsion from the Australian Labor Party.[32][33]
26 June – The bodies of eleven people, including six board members of the Australian mining company Sundance Resources who were killed in a plane that crashed in West Africa, are recovered.
29 June – Jayant Patel is found guilty on three counts of manslaughter and one count of grievous bodily harm for his actions as Director of Surgery at Bundaberg Base Hospital between 2003 and 2005.[35]
2 July – Prime Minister Julia Gillard announces major changes to the Federal Government's proposed Resource Super Profits Tax, now known as the Mineral Resource Rent Tax, including a reduction in the headline rate to 30%.[37]
4 September – Widespread flooding across Victoria leads to the evacuation of hundreds of people and millions of dollars of property damage.
7 September – Seventeen days after the 2010 federal election, the three independent MPs holding the balance of power announce their decisions. Bob Katter announces he supports the Coalition. Several hours later, Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott announce they will support Julia Gillard's Labor government, allowing Gillard to inform the Governor-General that she is able to form a minority government.[43]
8 October – The Murray-Darling Basin Authority releases the Guide to the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. The plan proposes to cut water entitlements in the basin by up to 40% and return 4000 GL of water to the river system.[44]
25 October – Environmental activist Peter Gray throws his shoes at former Prime Minister John Howard on the ABC's Q&A programme, in protest to the Howard Government's involvement in the Iraq War.[46]
21–24 March – The 2010 UCI Track Cycling World Championships are held in Copenhagen, Denmark. Australia tops the medal table, winning 6 gold medals, 2 silver and 2 bronze.
22 April – The Melbourne Storm are stripped of their 2007 and 2009National Rugby League premierships and 2006–2008 minor premierships, fined a record $1.689 million, deducted all eight premiership points for the 2010 season and barred from receiving premiership points for the rest of the season after systematic breaches of the NRL salary cap were discovered.[59]
23 June – Despite defeating Serbia 2–1 in their final match in Group D, Australia did not progress past the group stages of the 2010 FIFA World Cup—finishing third in their group behind Ghana on goal difference.
5 September – The St. George Illawarra Dragons win their second straight, and most recent, minor premiership following the final main round of the 2010 NRL season. Following the Melbourne Storm's stripping of team points in April after their salary cap breach, they are relegated to last position by default.
26–29 December – England win the fourth Test and retain The Ashes.
28 December – Wild Oats XI takes line honours for the fifth time in the 2010 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, although a protest is unsuccessfully raised over the yacht's failure to report its position by radio as it entered Bass Strait at Green Cape.[70]
^Mesner, Kerri-Anne (13 September 2011). "Life sentence for granny killer". The Morning Bulletin. Archived from the original on 10 December 2023. Retrieved 10 December 2023.
^Fyfe, Melissa; Pierik, Jon (14 February 2010). "Altona in 12% swing against Labor". Melbourne: The Age. Archived from the original on 15 February 2010. Retrieved 13 February 2010.
^"Spot-on Sydney claims title". ABC Grandstand Sport. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 21 March 2010. Archived from the original on 28 December 2010. Retrieved 21 March 2010.
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