6 January – Tennis player
Novak Djokovic has his
visa cancelled for failing to present evidence of
COVID-19 vaccination upon arrival in Melbourne to compete in the
2022 Australian Open. Djokovic is placed in immigration detention pending deportation, and indicates he will commence legal action against the decision.[3]
13 January –
The number of daily COVID-19 cases in
Australia exceeds 147,090 people, fueled by highly transmissible
Deltacron hybrid variant.[citation needed]
14 January – After Novak Djokovic's visa is reinstated by a judge of the
Federal Circuit Court on 10 January, immigration minister
Alex Hawke uses the ministerial discretion provisions of the Migration Act 1958 to re-cancel Djokovic's visa, citing "health and good order grounds".[5]
24 January – The federal government under
Scott Morrison announces that, after more than three years of confidential negotiations,[8] copyright ownership of the
Australian Aboriginal Flag has been transferred to the Commonwealth.[9]
Nichole Overall was elected to the
New South Wales Legislative Assembly as Member for
Monaro in a by-election triggered by the resignation of disgraced former Deputy Premier
John Barilaro. Nichole was the first woman to hold the seat. Nichole defeated Labor's Bryce Wilson who had previously been unsuccessful in gaining the seat.
Convoy to Canberra: Around 10,000
Anti-vaccination mandate protesters converged on Parliament House and Old Parliament House. These protesters had camped at
Exhibition Park in Canberra (EPIC), after being moved on from the lawns next to the National Library. Police arrested three people including one man for breaching a fence while two others were arrested for disturbing the peace. The crowd was generally well behaved. Participants called for the elimination of mandates and the sacking of government ministers. In response, Police called on protesters to vacate by 13 February.[12][13][14][15]
The Indigenous Women's All Stars defeat the Māori Women's All Stars 18–8 in the 2022 Women's All Stars match. Indigenous winger
Jaime Chapman is named Player of the Match.
21 February – Australia's external border to reopen to all fully vaccinated non-citizens and non-residents, the border has been closed since 20 March 2020.[16]
26 February –
Flooding in
Queensland kills 2 more people, with the death toll rising to 4. An SES Volunteer is among the dead.[17]
27 February – The flood crisis in
New South Wales and Queensland continues with the death toll in Queensland increasing to 6. Floodwaters in Northern New South Wales are feared to be higher than 2017. The Mary River in
Gympie peaked at 22.8m, the highest peak since 1893.[18]
28 February – The flooding emergency continues into New South Wales, with
Lismore, New South Wales experiencing its worst flood in history. The
Wilsons River surpassed the previous highest flood peaks in 1954 and 1974.[19]
29 March – the
Supreme Court of NSW dissolved the
Christian Democratic Party, a party that had at least one member in that state's Legislative Council, often holding or sharing the balance of power since 1981.[23][24]
April
7 April – Queensland Liberal National MP
George Christensen leaves the LNP, just days before the election was called, claiming that it was not conservative enough.[25] A few days later Christensen announced he had joined
Pauline Hanson's One Nation.[26]
First leaders' debate in Brisbane took place in front of 100 undecided voters, with Albanese declared the winner, with 40 votes to Morrison's 35 and 25 still undecided.[36]
21 April: Albanese tested positive for Deltacron hybrid variant of COVID-19 and was unable to campaign in person for seven days.[37]
Pauline Hanson's One Nation party was criticised for running "ghost candidates" in several electorates, who are neither campaigning in the lead-up to the election nor have an online presence. Additionally, many do not live in the electorates they are contesting. One Nation committed to run candidates in all seats.[41]
8 May: Second leaders' debate took place in Sydney.
11 May:
Albanese said that he supported an increase of 5.1% to the
minimum wage or an additional $1 an hour, tied to the inflation rate, with criticism from Morrison claiming that it would result in increasing interest rates.[43]
15 May: The Liberal election campaign launch was held in Brisbane, six days before the election, where Morrison promised to allow people to purchase their first home using funds from their
superannuation.[45]
18 May:
Albanese addressed the National Press Club.[46] Morrison is the first prime minister since 1969 not to address the National Press Club in the final week of an election campaign.[47]
Morrison advised in a press conference that a boat with refugees from Sri Lanka had been intercepted and turned back by the
Australian Border Force. Hours before polling stations close, voters across the country received a text message about the boat turnback, urging them to vote Liberal for border security.[51] The ABC later revealed on 27 May that the act followed a direct request from the Prime Minister's Office to the Border Force in revealing the operation before it was completed.[52]
At Albanese's first press conference as Prime Minister, the podium flags in the blue room at Parliament were changed to include Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander flags in addition to the Australian flag. Replacing two of the three Australian flags.[58][59][60]
Victorian State Liberal MP
Bernie Finn was expelled from the
Victorian Liberal Party for "a series of inflammatory social media posts", including calling for abortion to be made illegal in all circumstances, and comparing the Victorian Premier to
Adolf Hitler.[61][62][63]
8 June –
Queensland defeat
New South Wales 16–10 in the first match of the
2022 State of Origin series, held at
Accor Stadium. Queensland five-eighth
Cameron Munster is named player of the match. The match is notable for housing the highest attendance for a rugby league event since the COVID-19 pandemic's onset two years prior, with 80,512 people attending.
19 June – The NSW Liberal
Perrottet government announced plans to fly the Aboriginal flag on the
Sydney Harbour Bridge, at the cost of 25 million dollars.[68]
11 September – Charles III is
proclaimed as
King of Australia by Governor-General David Hurley at Parliament House.
12 September – Mass COVID-19 testing in Australia will no longer need them anymore.
16 September – Same day as New Zealand, Australia declared the end of COVID-19 pandemic after the first 30 months and 2 years of serious outbreak, for example: lifted all restrictions up and then prepare for transition to the endemic phase from Deltacron hybrid variant.[citation needed]
19 September – Australian representatives attend the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II in London.
22 September – A national day of mourning occurs in Australia for the late Queen Elizabeth II with a public holiday and a National Memorial Service at Parliament House in Canberra.
22 September –
Optus advises at least ten million current and former customers personal details are accessed in a cyber attack.
12 December – the
Wieambilla police shootings a mass shooting at a rural property in Wieambilla, a locality in Queensland, Australia.
14–20 December –
Thomas Sewell leader of the European Australia Movement and Far Right
Lads Society contested charges of affray, recklessly causing injury, and unlawful assault in the Melbourne Magistrates Court.[75] He attended with a number of supporters, including
Blair Cottrell. Other supporters, including
Neil Erikson, watched the proceedings online.[76] The following week, Sewell was found guilty affray and recklessly causing injury.[77]
6 January – Tennis player
Novak Djokovic has his
visa cancelled for failing to present evidence of
COVID-19 vaccination upon arrival in Melbourne to compete in the
2022 Australian Open. Djokovic is placed in immigration detention pending deportation, and indicates he will commence legal action against the decision.[3]
13 January –
The number of daily COVID-19 cases in
Australia exceeds 147,090 people, fueled by highly transmissible
Deltacron hybrid variant.[citation needed]
14 January – After Novak Djokovic's visa is reinstated by a judge of the
Federal Circuit Court on 10 January, immigration minister
Alex Hawke uses the ministerial discretion provisions of the Migration Act 1958 to re-cancel Djokovic's visa, citing "health and good order grounds".[5]
24 January – The federal government under
Scott Morrison announces that, after more than three years of confidential negotiations,[8] copyright ownership of the
Australian Aboriginal Flag has been transferred to the Commonwealth.[9]
Nichole Overall was elected to the
New South Wales Legislative Assembly as Member for
Monaro in a by-election triggered by the resignation of disgraced former Deputy Premier
John Barilaro. Nichole was the first woman to hold the seat. Nichole defeated Labor's Bryce Wilson who had previously been unsuccessful in gaining the seat.
Convoy to Canberra: Around 10,000
Anti-vaccination mandate protesters converged on Parliament House and Old Parliament House. These protesters had camped at
Exhibition Park in Canberra (EPIC), after being moved on from the lawns next to the National Library. Police arrested three people including one man for breaching a fence while two others were arrested for disturbing the peace. The crowd was generally well behaved. Participants called for the elimination of mandates and the sacking of government ministers. In response, Police called on protesters to vacate by 13 February.[12][13][14][15]
The Indigenous Women's All Stars defeat the Māori Women's All Stars 18–8 in the 2022 Women's All Stars match. Indigenous winger
Jaime Chapman is named Player of the Match.
21 February – Australia's external border to reopen to all fully vaccinated non-citizens and non-residents, the border has been closed since 20 March 2020.[16]
26 February –
Flooding in
Queensland kills 2 more people, with the death toll rising to 4. An SES Volunteer is among the dead.[17]
27 February – The flood crisis in
New South Wales and Queensland continues with the death toll in Queensland increasing to 6. Floodwaters in Northern New South Wales are feared to be higher than 2017. The Mary River in
Gympie peaked at 22.8m, the highest peak since 1893.[18]
28 February – The flooding emergency continues into New South Wales, with
Lismore, New South Wales experiencing its worst flood in history. The
Wilsons River surpassed the previous highest flood peaks in 1954 and 1974.[19]
29 March – the
Supreme Court of NSW dissolved the
Christian Democratic Party, a party that had at least one member in that state's Legislative Council, often holding or sharing the balance of power since 1981.[23][24]
April
7 April – Queensland Liberal National MP
George Christensen leaves the LNP, just days before the election was called, claiming that it was not conservative enough.[25] A few days later Christensen announced he had joined
Pauline Hanson's One Nation.[26]
First leaders' debate in Brisbane took place in front of 100 undecided voters, with Albanese declared the winner, with 40 votes to Morrison's 35 and 25 still undecided.[36]
21 April: Albanese tested positive for Deltacron hybrid variant of COVID-19 and was unable to campaign in person for seven days.[37]
Pauline Hanson's One Nation party was criticised for running "ghost candidates" in several electorates, who are neither campaigning in the lead-up to the election nor have an online presence. Additionally, many do not live in the electorates they are contesting. One Nation committed to run candidates in all seats.[41]
8 May: Second leaders' debate took place in Sydney.
11 May:
Albanese said that he supported an increase of 5.1% to the
minimum wage or an additional $1 an hour, tied to the inflation rate, with criticism from Morrison claiming that it would result in increasing interest rates.[43]
15 May: The Liberal election campaign launch was held in Brisbane, six days before the election, where Morrison promised to allow people to purchase their first home using funds from their
superannuation.[45]
18 May:
Albanese addressed the National Press Club.[46] Morrison is the first prime minister since 1969 not to address the National Press Club in the final week of an election campaign.[47]
Morrison advised in a press conference that a boat with refugees from Sri Lanka had been intercepted and turned back by the
Australian Border Force. Hours before polling stations close, voters across the country received a text message about the boat turnback, urging them to vote Liberal for border security.[51] The ABC later revealed on 27 May that the act followed a direct request from the Prime Minister's Office to the Border Force in revealing the operation before it was completed.[52]
At Albanese's first press conference as Prime Minister, the podium flags in the blue room at Parliament were changed to include Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander flags in addition to the Australian flag. Replacing two of the three Australian flags.[58][59][60]
Victorian State Liberal MP
Bernie Finn was expelled from the
Victorian Liberal Party for "a series of inflammatory social media posts", including calling for abortion to be made illegal in all circumstances, and comparing the Victorian Premier to
Adolf Hitler.[61][62][63]
8 June –
Queensland defeat
New South Wales 16–10 in the first match of the
2022 State of Origin series, held at
Accor Stadium. Queensland five-eighth
Cameron Munster is named player of the match. The match is notable for housing the highest attendance for a rugby league event since the COVID-19 pandemic's onset two years prior, with 80,512 people attending.
19 June – The NSW Liberal
Perrottet government announced plans to fly the Aboriginal flag on the
Sydney Harbour Bridge, at the cost of 25 million dollars.[68]
11 September – Charles III is
proclaimed as
King of Australia by Governor-General David Hurley at Parliament House.
12 September – Mass COVID-19 testing in Australia will no longer need them anymore.
16 September – Same day as New Zealand, Australia declared the end of COVID-19 pandemic after the first 30 months and 2 years of serious outbreak, for example: lifted all restrictions up and then prepare for transition to the endemic phase from Deltacron hybrid variant.[citation needed]
19 September – Australian representatives attend the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II in London.
22 September – A national day of mourning occurs in Australia for the late Queen Elizabeth II with a public holiday and a National Memorial Service at Parliament House in Canberra.
22 September –
Optus advises at least ten million current and former customers personal details are accessed in a cyber attack.
12 December – the
Wieambilla police shootings a mass shooting at a rural property in Wieambilla, a locality in Queensland, Australia.
14–20 December –
Thomas Sewell leader of the European Australia Movement and Far Right
Lads Society contested charges of affray, recklessly causing injury, and unlawful assault in the Melbourne Magistrates Court.[75] He attended with a number of supporters, including
Blair Cottrell. Other supporters, including
Neil Erikson, watched the proceedings online.[76] The following week, Sewell was found guilty affray and recklessly causing injury.[77]