2 January – Victorian PremierDaniel Andrews declares a state of disaster for six local government areas and three alpine resorts in Victoria, due to unprecedented risk from bushfires.[2] Two people are confirmed to have died in eastern Victoria from the fires, with 17 people missing.[3]
20 January – A hail storm sweeps through Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory and surrounding parts of New South Wales, including areas affected by fire storms earlier in the year. The storm with winds recorded up to 177 km pelted hail stones the size of golf balls, big enough to smash car windows and injure birds. The hail caused significant damage to thousands of cars and homes, tore branches off trees, and caused localised flooding. This was less than 24 hours after the region was hit by massive dust storms blanketing entire towns and blacking out the sun.[5][6]
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 TrainLinkXPT train traveling from Sydney to Melbourne derails just north of Melbourne at Wallan.
The Indigenous Women's All Stars defeat the Māori Women's All Stars 10–4 in the 2020 Women's All Stars match. Nakia Davis-Welsh is named Player of the Match.
24 February – The head of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), Mike Burgess, says there is rising foreign and far-right interference in Australia, and that violent Islamist fundamentalism remains ASIO's primary concern.[13]
Major supermarket chains begin to ration toilet paper sales, after the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia triggers cases of panic buying across the country.[18]
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.[19]
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 lasting impacts of the pandemic.[20]
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.[23] Cruise ships will also be barred from docking in the country for 30 days.[24][25]
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.[26]
19 March –
Premier of Tasmania Peter Gutwein announces that non-essential travellers arriving in Tasmania from must self-isolate for 14 days.[27]
Scott Morrison announces that from 20 March all non-residents will be forbidden from entering the country.[28]
21 March – Chief minister of the Northern Territory, Michael Gunner announces the Northern Territory will introduce strict border controls from 4:00 pm on 24 March. Anyone arriving from interstate or overseas will have to self-isolate for 14 days.[29]
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.[30][31]
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.[32]
The cruise ship Ruby Princess 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.
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.[34]
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.[35]
The 2020 NRL season is suspended until 28 May 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.
25 March –
From 12pm, Australia required that Australian citizens and permanent residents seek exemptions to leave the country.[36]
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.[37]
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.[38]
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 Minister 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 (excluding members of your own household), the banning of all indoor gatherings in households and the closure of playgrounds, skate parks and outdoor gyms.[39]
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".[40][41][42][43]
14 April – The City of Wagga Wagga council voted to cut ties with its China's sister city Kunming city, a week later they would vote again joining Kunming as a sister city.[44][45][46]
19 April – The Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) 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.[47]
19 May – A Queensland man is fined for saving the life of a whale.[50]
26 May — Rio Tinto blows up the Juukan Gorge, a region inhabited by Australian Aborigines for 46,000 years, to expand an iron ore mine.[51] The move quickly faces international backlash.[52]
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 (ACL) rights."[54][55]
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.[56]
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.[63]
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.[64]
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.[65]
17 July – Victoria records 428 new coronavirus cases, the state's highest daily total since the beginning of the pandemic.[67]
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 23 July. Anyone in a public area without a mask will risk a $200 fine.[68]
22 July – Australia records 502 new coronavirus cases. The highest number of new cases recorded since the beginning of the pandemic.[69]
29 July – CSIRO gave scientific names to 165 new species this year, naming five flies after Marvel Cinematic Universe superheroes: Thor (Daptolestes bronteflavus), Loki (Daptolestes illusiolautus), Black Widow (Daptolestes feminategus), Deadpool (Humorolethalis sergius), and Stan Lee (Daptolestes leei).[71]
August
2 August – Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and escalating numbers of infection rates, especially in the workplace, Victoria declares a state of disaster and stage four restrictions are put in place. This including a police-enforced curfew in metro Melbourne and Mitchell Shire between 8 pm and 5 am, the shutdown of a number of non-essential businesses, exercise only allowed for one hour a day and only one person per household allowed to go shopping once a day and within a 5 km radius of home. As a consequence of rising infection numbers imported from metropolitan Melbourne all other areas of regional Victoria are to enter stage three restrictions previously placed on Melbourne and Mitchell Shire on 5 August.[72]
2 September – The Australian economy goes into recession for the first time in nearly thirty years, as the country's GDP falls 7 per cent in the June quarter.[76][77][78]
21 September – Around 250 pilot whalesbeach themselves at various locations on Tasmania's West Coast near Macquarie Heads. A further 200 whales are stranded two days later, making the event the largest cetacean stranding in Australia's recorded history.[79]
19 November – The Australian Defence Force releases the final report of the inquiry by Justice Paul Brereton into alleged war crimes during the War in Afghanistan. The inquiry found there was credible evidence of 23 incidents of unlawful killings and a further two instances of the war crime of "cruel treatment". The inquiry also found that Australian soldiers summarily executed non-combatants and prisoners.[84]
December
18 December – The 2020 Sydney to Hobart yacht race is cancelled for the first time in its history due to an outbreak of COVID-19 in Sydney, New South Wales, as the Tasmanian government declared Greater Sydney a "medium risk" zone, which would require all participants to quarantine for 14 days on arrival in Tasmania.[85]
19 December – In response to a COVID-19 outbreak in the Northern Beaches area of Sydney, all other states and territories close their borders to all residents of greater Sydney, throwing interstate travel plans into chaos for those intent on visiting or leaving greater Sydney. The Northern Territory later relaxes its border restriction.[86]
21 December – The final report from the inquiry into Victoria's botched hotel quarantine program which led to a second wave of COVID-19 in Victoria and over 800 deaths is released. The report is unable to determine who commissioned the use of private security and criticises the Andrews Government for failing to do "proper analysis" of the plan.[87]
^"Advice on coronavirus". Prime Minister of Australia (Press release). 13 March 2020. Archived from the original on 8 April 2020. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
^"Pell v The Queen [2020] HCA 12"(PDF). High Court of Australia, 2020 Judgment Summaries. 7 April 2020. Archived(PDF) from the original on 19 May 2023. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
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