2020s in Australian political history

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2020s in Australia political history refers to political history of Australia in the 2020s, presented in narrative format.


46th Parliament, 2019–present[]

See also: 46th Parliament of Australia, Chronology of Australian federal parliaments, 2019 Australian federal election, and Morrison government

General history[]

At the 2019 election, in the 151-seat House of Representatives, the incumbent Coalition government was reelected with 77 seats, a majority of two seats. The Labor opposition won 68 seats. Six other MPs were elected to the crossbench, with the Greens, Centre Alliance, Katter's Australian Party, and independents Andrew Wilkie, Helen Haines and Zali Steggall winning a seat each.

In the Senate, 40 of 76 seats were up for election. Following the election, the Coalition had a total of 35 seats, four short of a majority. Labor held 26 seats, the Greens held 9 seats, Centre Alliance and One Nation each held two seats, the Jacqui Lambie Network held one and one seat was held by independent Cory Bernardi, who deregistered the party he was previously a member of on 25 June 2019.

Specific issues and events[]

COVID-19 pandemic[]

See also: COVID-19 pandemic in Australia

The COVID-19 pandemic in Australia is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first confirmed case in Australia was identified on 25 January 2020, in Victoria, when a man who had returned from Wuhan, China, tested positive for SARS-CoV-2.

Australian borders were closed to all non-residents on 20 March. Social distancing rules were imposed on 21 March and state governments started to close "non-essential" services.[1] "Non-essential services" included social gathering venues such as pubs and clubs but unlike many other countries did not include most business operations such as construction, manufacturing and many retail categories.[2]

The number of new cases initially grew sharply, then levelled out at about 350 per day around 22 March, and started falling at the beginning of April to under 20 per day by the end of the month.[3] As of 8 June 2020, 3 pm, 7,265 cases and 102 deaths had been reported in Australia, with the highest number of cases being in New South Wales, with 3,112.

Pandemic economic response[]

Main article: COVID-19 pandemic in Australia

The federal government announced an economic stimulus package to combat the effects of coronavirus on the economy.[4]

On 12 March 2020 the government announced a A$17.6 billion stimulus package, the first since the 2008 GFC.[5][6] The package consists of multiple parts, a one-off A$750 payment to around 6.5 million welfare recipients as early as 31 March 2020, small business assistance with 700,000 grants up to $25,000 and a 50% wage subsidy for 120,000 apprenticies or trainees for up to 9 months, 1 billion to support economically impacted sectors, regions and communities, and $700 million to increase tax write off and $3.2 billion to support short-term small and medium-sized business investment.[5][7]

On 30 March the Australian Government announced a $130 billion "JobKeeper" wage subsidy program. The JobKeeper program would pay employers up to $1500 a fortnight per full-time, part-time or casual employee that has worked for that business for over a year. For a business to be eligible, they must have lost 30% of turnover after 1 March of annual revenue up to and including $1 billion. For businesses with a revenue of over $1 billion, turnover must have decreased by 50%. Businesses are then required by law to pay the subsidy to their staff, in lieu of their usual wages.[8] This response came after the enormous job losses seen just a week prior when an estimated 1 million Australians lost their jobs. This massive loss in jobs caused the myGov website to crash and lines out of Centrelink offices to run hundreds of metres long.[9] The program was backdated to 1 March, to aim at reemploying the many people who had just lost their jobs in the weeks before. Businesses would receive the JobKeeper subsidy for 6 months.[8]

The announcement of the JobKeeper wage subsidy program is the largest measure announced by the Australian Government in response to the economic impact of the COVID-19 Outbreak. In the first hour of the scheme, over 8,000 businesses registered to receive the payments. The JobKeeper wage subsidy program is one of the largest economic packages ever implemented in the history of Australia.[8]

Parliament sexual misconduct allegations[]

Main article: 2021 Australian Parliament House sexual misconduct allegations

In February and March 2021, a number of allegations involving rape and other sexual misconduct against women involving the Australian Parliament and federal politicians were raised, causing controversy especially for the federal Liberal-National Morrison Government.

On 15 February 2021, Liberal Party junior staffer Brittany Higgins alleged to two media outlets – news.com.au and The Project[10] — that she had been raped late at night on 22 March 2019 in then-Defence Industry Minister Senator Linda Reynolds' office in the ministerial wing of Parliament House by a male colleague, who was not named, after security guards let the pair into the building.[11]

On 26 February 2021, the ABC published details of a letter that had been sent to the Prime Minister and several other members of parliament, including Senate Opposition Leader Penny Wong and Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young. It alleged that a 16-year-old girl had been raped in Sydney in 1988 by a man who was now a member of Cabinet. The letter was anonymous, and included a statement by the alleged victim,[12] who had opened a case with New South Wales Police in 2020, but closed it shortly before taking her own life in Adelaide in June 2020.[13] The identity of the minister was not disclosed, but on 3 March Attorney-General, House Leader and Industrial Relations Minister Christian Porter held a press conference identifying himself as the minister.[14]

On 28 February 2021, Liberal Senator Sarah Henderson said a woman had sent her an email alleging she had been raped by a man who is now a Labor federal member of Parliament.[15] A date for the alleged rape was not given, but it was described as "historic". The matter was referred to Australian Federal Police.[16] In March 2021, details emerged of a Facebook group where women shared stories of sexual harassment within the Labor Party, but without sharing the names of the alleged harassers. Deputy leader Richard Marles said he was "appalled".[17]

In March 2021, photos and videos were leaked from a group chat of male government staffers, where they had performed sex acts in Parliament House, including masturbating on the desk of female MP Nola Marino.[18] Peta Credlin alleged:

When an MP cleaned out the former staffer’s desk, and the computer, that MP uncovered evidence that for many months, that staffer had regularly met with other men during the middle of the day — while the MP was in Question Time — for orgies in political offices.[19]

The 2021 March 4 Justice took place on 15 March 2021 across Australia.[20] The protest included a series of events in major Australian cities including the nation's capital Canberra.[21] Protests occurred in 40 cities in Australia; organisers estimated 110,000 people were in attendance, including the federal opposition leader as well as other politicians from the major political parties.[22]

On 26 March 2021, Morrison demanded that federal Liberal MP Andrew Laming both personally and publicly apologise to two women for trolling them on Facebook, and stop using social media to post trolling comments. It was also alleged that Laming hid in bushes in a public park and took photos of one of the women. She reported the incidents to the police.[23] On 27 March, Laming stood aside from all parliamentary roles after another woman accused him of taking a mobile phone photo of her bottom while her underwear was visible in 2019.[24]

The Morrison Government has been widely criticised for its handling of these scandals, with an Essential poll finding 65% of respondents (including 76% of Labor supporters, 51% of Coalition supporters and 88% of Greens supporters) saying the Government was more interested in protecting itself than women.[25]

In December 2021, Alan Tudge stood down as Minister for Education and Youth after Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced an investigation into domestic abuse allegations against Tudge from a former staffer who claimed that the two were involved in an extramarital affair.[26]

See also[]

Year articles[]

Australia articles and timelines[]

Decade timelines[]

Specific issues[]

References[]

  1. ^ "Australia's social distancing rules have been enhanced to slow coronavirus — here's how they work". ABC. 21 March 2020. Archived from the original on 21 March 2020. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
  2. ^ "Restrictions on non-essential services". business.gov.au. 3 April 2020. Retrieved 20 April 2020.
  3. ^ "Coronavirus (COVID-19) current situation and case numbers"This page is continually updated with new data. The very last day may appear inaccurate as more data becomes available.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
  4. ^ https://treasury.gov.au/coronavirus
  5. ^ a b "Economic Stimulus Package". www.liberal.org.au. 12 March 2020. Archived from the original on 20 March 2020. Retrieved 20 March 2020.
  6. ^ Martin, Sarah (12 March 2020). "What the Australian government's $17bn coronavirus stimulus package means for you". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 20 March 2020. Retrieved 20 March 2020.
  7. ^ Scott, Jason; Alexandra Veroude, Alexandra (11 March 2020). "Australia Unveils A$17.6 Billion in Stimulus to Combat Virus". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on 20 March 2020. Retrieved 20 March 2020.
  8. ^ a b c "Federal Government offers $130b in coronavirus wage subsidies for businesses to pay workers". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 30 March 2020. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
  9. ^ "Print Email Facebook Twitter More People urged to go home as lines form around Centrelink offices due to coronavirus, Stuart Robert admits not anticipating MyGov demand". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 25 March 2020. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
  10. ^ "Timeline of Higgins incident and response". Victor Harbor Times. 18 February 2021. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
  11. ^ Stayner, Tom (2 March 2021). "How Australian politics has been shaken to the core in the wake of Brittany Higgins' rape allegation". SBS. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
  12. ^ Australian Associated Press (26 February 2021). "Letter to PM reveals new rape allegation against cabinet minister". Yahoo! News. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
  13. ^ Stayner, Tom (2 March 2021). "How Australian politics has been shaken to the core in the wake of Brittany Higgins' rape allegation". SBS. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
  14. ^ "Christian Porter reveals he is minister at the heart of historical rape allegation - as it happened". The Guardian. 3 March 2021. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
  15. ^ Henderson, Sarah [@SenSHenderson] (28 February 2021). "My media statement" (Tweet). Retrieved 12 April 2021 – via Twitter.
  16. ^ Crowe, David (28 February 2021). "Labor MP accused of rape in new email". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  17. ^ "Female Labor staffers detail allegations of aggressive behaviour and sexual harassment". ABC News. 15 March 2021.
  18. ^ Grand, Chip Le (26 March 2021). "How Parliament's sexual revolution lost its way". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 28 March 2021.
  19. ^ "Peta Credlin reveals details of orgies, prostitutes during her time working at Parliament House". The Australian. 24 March 2021.
  20. ^ "Women's March 4 Justice live: Thousands march at rallies around Australia to protest against gendered violence". ABC. 15 March 2021.
  21. ^ "Women's March 4 Justice live: Brittany Higgins addresses Parliament House protest in Canberra as crowds mass in Sydney and Melbourne". The Guardian. 15 March 2021.
  22. ^ Zhuang, Yan (15 March 2021). "'Enough Is Enough': Thousands Across Australia March Against Sexual Violence". New York Times.
  23. ^ Bourke, Latika (26 March 2021). "PM urged to act after Laming apologises for 'shocking' trolling behaviour". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  24. ^ Massola, James; Fegan, Peter (27 March 2021). "Liberal Andrew Laming steps aside from parliamentary roles after fresh allegations emerge". The Age.
  25. ^ Hurst, Daniel (2 March 2021). "Two-thirds of Australians think government more interested in protecting itself than women - poll". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
  26. ^ "Alan Tudge stands aside after Rachelle Miller alleges their affair was at times 'abusive'". the Guardian. 2 December 2021. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
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