2020 in Australia

Incumbents

• Monarch – Elizabeth II
• Governor-General – David Hurley
• Prime Minister – Scott Morrison
• *Opposition Leader – Anthony Albanese
• Chief Justice – Susan Kiefel

  State and Territory Leaders

• Premier of New South Wales – Gladys Berejiklian
• *Opposition Leader – Jodi McKay
• Premier of Queensland – Annastacia Palaszczuk
• *Opposition Leader – Deb Frecklington
• Premier of South Australia – Steven Marshall
• *Opposition Leader – Peter Malinauskas
• Premier of Tasmania – Will Hodgman, then Peter Gutwein
• *Opposition Leader – Rebecca White
• Premier of Victoria – Daniel Andrews
• *Opposition Leader – Michael O'Brien
• Premier of Western Australia – Mark McGowan
• *Opposition Leader – Liza Harvey
• Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory – Andrew Barr
• *Opposition Leader – Alistair Coe
• Chief Minister of the Northern Territory – Michael Gunner
• *Opposition Leader – Gary Higgins, then Lia Finocchiaro

  Governors and Administrators

• Governor of New South Wales – Margaret Beazley
• Governor of Queensland – Paul de Jersey
• Governor of South Australia – Hieu Van Le
• Governor of Tasmania – Kate Warner
• Governor of Victoria – Linda Dessau
• Governor of Western Australia – Kim Beazley
• Administrator of the Australian Indian Ocean Territories – Natasha Griggs
• Administrator of Norfolk Island – Eric Hutchinson
• Administrator of the Northern Territory – Vicki O'Halloran

  Events

January

• 1 January – The death toll from the current bushfire season in the South Coast of New South Wales rises to seven.
• 2 January – Premier Daniel Andrews declares a state of disaster for six local government areas and three alpine resorts in Victoria, due to unprecedented risk from bushfires. Two people are confirmed to have died in eastern Victoria from the fires, with 17 people missing.
• 5 January – The New South Wales town of Eden, New South Wales is evacuated due to the bushfires.
• 20 January – Will Hodgman resigns as Premier of Tasmania, and is replaced by Peter Gutwein.

  February

• 3 February – Richard Di Natale resigns as leader of the Australian Greens.
• 4 February – Adam Bandt is elected unopposed as leader of the Australian Greens, with Larissa Waters and Nick McKim as co-deputy leaders.
• 16 February – A fundraising concert Fire Fight Australia is held at Stadium Australia in Sydney following the 2019–20 Australian bushfire season.
• 17 February – General Motors announces it is pulling its Holden brand from Australia.
• 19 February – A mother and her three children, aged 6, 4 and 3 years are killed in a car fire after their father, Rowan Baxter, doused the car in petrol and set it alight in the Brisbane suburb of Camp Hill. Baxter also died from a self-inflicted stab wound near the crime scene.
• 20 February –
• *Wallan rail derailment, two people are killed and several passengers are injured when a NSW TrainLink XPT train traveling from Sydney to Melbourne derails just north of Melbourne at Wallan.
• *Prime Minister Scott Morrison announces the Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements to look into the fires that devastated the country over summer. 18 million hectares burned, 28 people died, and 3,000 homes were destroyed.
• 24 February – The head of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, Mike Burgess, says there is rising foreign and far-right interference in Australia, and that violent Islamist fundamentalism remains ASIO's primary concern.
• 29 February – Former AFL footballer Joel Bowden wins the 2020 Johnston by-election, representing the Labor Party.

  March

• 1 March – Australia records its first death from the COVID-19 pandemic.
• 3 March –
• *Australian Associated Press announces it will close its newswire service in June, after 85 years in operation.
• *Major supermarket chains begin to ration toilet paper sales, after the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia triggers cases of panic buying across the country.
• 11 March – Two people are killed and two others are injured following a series of stabbings in Melbourne, with the offender shot dead by police.
• 28 March –
• *2020 Bundamba state by-election
• *2020 Currumbin state by-election

  Responses to the COVID-19 pandemic

• 13 March – Prime Minister Scott Morrison announces the formation of the National Cabinet, made up of the prime minister, premiers and chief ministers, to manage the impacts of the coronavirus.
• 15 March – Morrison announces that all travellers arriving in or returning to Australia from overseas must self-isolate for 14 days, mirroring a similar requirement imposed by New Zealand. Cruise ships will also be barred from docking in the country for 30 days.
• 18 March – Scott Morrison announces that all non-essential indoor gatherings of a hundred people or more will be banned. Schools, universities, workplaces and essential services such as retail stores will be exempt from the new measures.
• 19 March –
• *Premier of Tasmania Peter Gutwein announces that non-essential travellers arriving in Tasmania from must self-isolate for 14 days.
• *Scott Morrison announces that from 20 March all non-residents will be forbidden from entering the country.
• 21 March – Chief minister of the Northern Territory, Michael Gunner announces the Northern Territory will introduce strict border controls from 4:00pm on 24 March. Anyone arriving from interstate or overseas will have to self-isolate for 14 days.
• 22 March –
• *South Australia and Western Australia also follow suit of the Northern Territory and Tasmania to close off their borders starting from Tuesday 24 March. Anyone arriving from interstate and overseas will also have to self isolate for 14 days.
• *Scott Morrison announces that from midday Monday 23 March all pubs, clubs, restaurants, cinemas and indoor sporting venues across the country will shut down indefinitely in a bid to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
• * The cruise ship disembarked passengers in Sydney despite several of them, and some crew, showing symptoms of coronavirus. As of 6 April 2020 at least 12 deaths and more than 700 cases of coronavirus in Australia in Australia are now linked to this incident.
• 23 March –
• *As a result of the indefinite closure of venues within the hospitality, tourism, leisure, fitness and entertainment industries, the Centrelink and myGov websites crashed when too many people simultaneously try to apply online for unemployment benefits. Huge lines of newly unemployed people are seen outside Centrelink offices across the country.
• *The Australian Parliament sits to debate and pass an economic stimulus package to attempt to mitigate the economic effect of the COVID-19 pandemic, then adjourns until August 2020.
• 26 March –
• *From midnight further measures and restrictions on social gatherings and certain businesses are put in place. Weddings will be limited to 5 people including the bride, groom and celebrant. Funerals will be limited to 10 people. All food court seating areas are to be closed. Social gatherings of more than 10 people are discouraged as well as house parties with police to enforce these new restrictions. Auctions that require persons to be present are now banned. Open houses within the property market are now banned. Beauty Parlours, tattoo Parlours and other businesses with the health and beauty industry that require close physical contact between individuals and are not deemed essential are now banned. Hairdressers are exempt from these new measures.
• *Queensland follows other states and territories and closes its borders from midnight. Only those who work in essential services are permitted to enter. Exceptions are made for those who commute to work across the state border, such as residents of Tweed Heads.
• 31 March –
• *From midnight 31 March 2020 new national restrictions to curb the spread of coronavirus are put in place through the Public Health Act 2010, via Sect 7 of the Act, where a Ministerial Order was signed by the Minsiter for Health, however, as it is only an order and not law it is up to the states and territories as to whether these are enforceable. The new measures include a two-person limit on public gatherings, the banning of all indoor gatherings in households and the closure of playgrounds, skate parks and outdoor gyms.

  April

• 7 April – The High Court unanimously quashes Cardinal George Pell's convictions and substitutes verdicts of acquittal; the Court's summary of its judgment states that there was "a significant possibility that an innocent person has been convicted because the evidence did not establish guilt to the requisite standard of proof".
• 19 April – The Competition and Consumer Commission is working to create a mandatory code of conduct that would require Facebook, Google and other tech giants to pay news outlets when they use its content.
• 24 April – Perth Airport blocks runways with bulldozers in order to pressure Virgin Australia Airlines Pty Ltd to pay its $16 million debt.

  May

• 1 May – South Hedland stabbing attack
• 10 May – Jackie Trad resigns as Deputy Premier and Treasurer of Queensland and is replaced by Steven Miles and Cameron Dick, respectively.
• 19 May – A Queensland man is fined for saving the life of a whale.

  June

• 6 June –
• *Protests are held in numerous Australian cities, part of a series of George Floyd protests around the world, with Aboriginal deaths in custody also a focus in the Australian context.
• *Sony Europe, the parent company of Sony Australia, is ordered by the Federal Court of Australia to pay its customers $3.5 million AUD / $2.4 Million USD in penalty charges, due to lawmakers saying the company made "false and misleading representations on its website and in dealings with Australian consumers about their Australian Consumer Law rights."
• 19 June – A large-scale cyber attack against the Australian government is believed to have occurred; Scott Morrison holds a press conference at the Parliament House.
• 26 June – As part of an Australian Security Intelligence Organisation investigation, Australian federal police raided properties of NSW Labor MP Shaoquett Moselmane as part of an investigation into Chinese Communist Party influence in Australian politics.

  July

• 4 July – 2020 Eden-Monaro by-election. The Labor party retains the seat after Kristy McBain claimed victory in the by-election with an indicative two-party-preferred vote of 50.4%.
• 8 July –
• * In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Victorian capital city of Melbourne and nearby Shire of Mitchell reintroduce stage three restrictions for at least six weeks after a surge in coronavirus case numbers with the majority of new cases stemming from community transmission. All other states and territories introduce strict quarantine measures or deny entry for any incoming travellers who have recently visited Victoria.
• * The border between New South Wales and Victoria is closed for the first time since the 1918–19 Spanish flu pandemic, after an increase in COVID-19 cases in Melbourne.
• 15 July – An increase in COVID-19 community transmission cases in Sydney is traced back to a resident of Melbourne who traveled across the border before the Melbourne stage 3 restrictions came into effect with the initial outbreak arising from a hotel in the Western Sydney suburb of Casula. Despite the rise in case numbers, premier Gladys Berejiklian confirms NSW will not be going back to a lockdown scenario. Several other states and territories introduce strict quarantine measures or deny entry for any incoming travellers who have either recently visited greater Sydney or suburbs within the City of Liverpool,City of Fairfield and City of Campbelltown.
• 17 July – Victoria records 428 new coronavirus cases, the state's highest daily total since the beginning of the pandemic.
• 19 July – With increasing numbers of coronavirus cases in parts of Victoria, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews advises face coverings will be mandatory for all residents of Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire whenever they leave their homes from Thursday July 23. Anyone in a public area without a mask will risk a $200 fine.
• 22 July – Australia records 502 new coronavirus cases. The highest number of new cases recorded since the beginning of the pandemic.
• 23 July – Leonard Warwick is found guilty of carrying out the Family Court of Australia attacks in the early 1980s.

  Future and scheduled events

• 22 August – 2020 Northern Territory general election
• 4 – 11 October – 5th Plenary Council of the Catholic Church in Australia will be held in response to the report of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse
• 17 October – 2020 Australian Capital Territory general election
• 31 October – 2020 Queensland state election

  Music, arts and literature

• 16 July – Tara June Winch wins the 2020 Miles Franklin Literary Award for her novel The Yield.

  Sport

• 20 January to 2 February – Tennis: Novak Djokovic wins the Men's Singles and Sofia Kenin the Women's Singles at the 2020 Australian Open.
• 21 February to 8 March – Cricket: Australia wins the 2020 ICC Women's T20 World Cup, defeating India by 85 runs.
• 13 March – Motor racing: The 2020 Australian Grand Prix is cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• 22 March – Australian rules football: The 2020 AFL season and 2020 AFL Women's season are suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2020 AFL season has been scheduled to resume on the 11th June 2020.
• 23 March – Rugby league: The 2020 NRL season is suspended until May 28 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Although Queensland has closed its borders, it has made an exemption for players and officials traveling to and from interstate for football. As a biosecurity measure, all players must also be vaccinated against influenza.

  Future and scheduled events

• 18 October to 15 November – 2020 ICC Men's T20 World Cup

  Deaths

January

• 1 January
• * Alexander Frater, travel writer and journalist
• * Barry McDonald, rugby union player
• 4 January – Tom Long, actor
• 8 January – Pat Dalton, Australian rules footballer
• 9 January – Geoff Wilson, nuclear physicist
• 10 January – Brian James, rugby league player
• 14 January – Tony Beddison, businessman and philanthropist
• 15 January –
• * Mark Harris, rugby league player
• * Victor Salvemini, Paralympic athlete
• * Ben Swane, nurseryman
• 16 January – Barry Tuckwell, horn player and conductor
• 17 January – Grant Goldman, radio announcer
• 19 January –
• * Manfred Clynes, scientist, inventor and musician
• * David Leach, Chief of the Naval Staff from 1982 to 1985
• * James Mollison, art gallery director
• 20 January – Steph Bowe, author and blogger
• 21 January – Ian Tuxworth, 2nd Chief Minister of the Northern Territory
• 23 January – Peter Salama, epidemiologist
• 29 January – Mike Dancis, basketball player
• 30 January – Richard Hunstead, astronomer
• 31 January – James Dunn, diplomat

  February

• 6 February – Greg Hawick, rugby league footballer
• 10 February – John Smith, cricketer
• 11 February – Ron Haddrick, cricketer and actor
• 13 February – Ronne Arnold, dancer, choreographer and actor
• 16 February – Zoe Caldwell, actress
• 22 February – June Dally-Watkins, model, businesswoman and etiquette coach
• 24 February – Don Furner, rugby league footballer
• 25 February –
• * Adam Maher, rugby league footballer
• * Raymond Martin, chemist
• 26 February – Stroma Buttrose, architect and town planner
• 28 February – Sir Lenox Hewitt, public servant

  March

• 4 March –
• *Ivan Lee, Anglican bishop
• *Bill Young, Australian rules footballer
• 6 March – Silvia Smith, Tasmanian politician
• 9 March – John Bathersby, Catholic bishop
• 12 March –
• *Kevin Bacon, Olympic equestrian
• *Don Burrows, jazz musician
• 16 March – Saskia Post, actress
• 18 March –
• *Catherine Hamlin, obstetrician and gynaecologist
• *John Solomon, rugby union player
• 20 March – Denise Bradley, academic administrator
• 24 March –
• *Jack Jones, Australian rules footballer
• *Tom McNeil, Australian rules footballer and politician

  April

• 1 April – Bruce Dawe, poet
• 2 April – Ron Graham, character actor
• 4 April – Andrea Mitchell, Western Australian politician and sports administrator
• 5 April – George Ogilvie, film and theatre director
• 6 April –
• * Bruce Gonsalves, Australian rules footballer
• * Quenton Leach, Australian rules footballer
• 7 April – Jim Clarko, Western Australian politician
• 11 April – Michael Bowden, Australian rules footballer
• 12 April – Ted Evans, Treasury Secretary
• 17 April – Patricia Kailis, businesswoman, neurologist and geneticist
• 24 April – Graeme Watson, cricketer
• 27 April – Ian Causley, Queenslander politician

  May

• 1 May – Deb Foskey, Australian Capital Territory politician
• 7 May –
• * Margaret Loutit, microbiologist
• * Darby McCarthy, jockey
• 9 May – Arthur Dignam, actor
• 10 May – Jack Mundey, trade union leader and environmental activist
• 13 May –
• * Keith Lyons, sport scientist
• * John O'Brien, water polo player
• 16 May – Arthur Summons, dual-code rugby international
• 22 May –
• * Peter Harold Cole, electrical engineer
• * Ashley Cooper, tennis player
• 24 May – Bruce Reid, Victorian politician
• 30 May – Bob Hammond, footballer and coach

  June

• 2 June –
• * Geoffrey Burnstock, neurobiologist
• * John Cuneo, Olympic sailor
• * Desmond Charles Moore, Catholic bishop
• 11 June – Sir Clem Renouf, Rotary International president
• 14 June – Noel Kelly, rugby league footballer
• 16 June – John Madigan, Victorian politician
• 21 June – Manny Santos, Olympic weightlifter
• 23 June – Michael Falzon, musical theatre actor
• 25 June – John Kennedy Sr., Australian rules football player and coach Hawthorn, North Melbourne
• 28 June – Matthew Morris, New South Wales politician
• 29 June – Ken Shadie, screenwriter

  July

• 1 July – Ian MacDougall, naval officer
• 7 July – Elizabeth Harrower, author
• 8 July – Alex Pullin, Olympic snowboarder
• 12 July – Jack Ah Kit, Northern Territory politician
• 14 July – John Schaeffer, art collector
• 15 July – Nigel Murch, cricketer
• 17 July – Ron Tauranac, engineer and racing car designer
• 18 July – Barry Jarman, Test cricketer
• 19 July – Cor Fuhler, musician
• 20 July –
• *Shane Tuck, Australian rules footballer
• *Geoff Williams, Australian rules footballer
• 21 July – Margaret McIver, Olympic equestrian
• 28 July – Terry Waters, Australian rules footballer

  August

• 1 August – David Darcy, Australian rules footballer

  Country overviews

• Australia
• 2020s in Australia political history
• History of Australia
• History of modern Australia
• Outline of Australia
• Government of Australia
• Politics of Australia
• Years in Australia
• Timeline of Australia history

  Related timelines for current period

• 2019–20 Australian region cyclone season
• 2020
• 2020 in Oceania
• COVID-19 pandemic in Australia
• 2020 in politics and government
• 2020s