2022 in Australia

The following is a list of events including expected and scheduled events for the year 2022 in Australia.

Incumbents Monarch

Governor-General

Prime Minister

Deputy Prime Minister

Opposition Leader

Chief Justice

State and territory leaders Premier of New South Wales – Dominic Perrottet Opposition Leader – Chris Minns Premier of Queensland – Annastacia Palaszczuk Opposition Leader – David Crisafulli Premier of South Australia – Steven Marshall (until 21 March), then Peter Malinauskas Opposition Leader – Peter Malinauskas (until 21 March), then David Speirs (from 19 April) Premier of Tasmania – Peter Gutwein (until 8 April), then Jeremy Rockliff Opposition Leader – Rebecca White Premier of Victoria – Daniel Andrews Opposition Leader – Matthew Guy (until 8 December), then John Pesutto Premier of Western Australia – Mark McGowan Opposition Leader – Mia Davies Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory – Andrew Barr Opposition Leader – Elizabeth Lee Chief Minister of the Northern Territory – Michael Gunner (until 13 May), then Natasha Fyles Opposition Leader – Lia Finocchiaro

Governors and administrators Governor of New South Wales – Margaret Beazley Governor of Queensland – Jeannette Young Governor of South Australia – Frances Adamson Governor of Tasmania – Barbara Baker Governor of Victoria – Linda Dessau Governor of Western Australia – Kim Beazley (until 15 July), then Chris Dawson 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 1–8 January – ex-Cyclone Seth causes severe flooding and hazardous surf in South East Queensland and Northern New South Wales. The system crosses the Queensland coast near Hervey Bay on 7 January bringing heavy rainfall and major flooding to the Mary River. 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. 13 January – The number of daily COVID-19 cases in Australia exceeds 147,090 people, fueled by highly transmissible Deltacron hybrid variant. Official deaths from COVID-19 surpass 2,500. 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". 17–30 January – The Australian Open 2022 is held. Ashleigh Barty wins the women's singles title, the first Australian to do so since 1978. Spanish player Rafael Nadal wins the men's singles title. 24 January – The federal government under Scott Morrison announces that, after more than three years of confidential negotiations, copyright ownership of the Australian Aboriginal flag has been transferred to the Commonwealth. Text may have been copied from this source, which is available under a Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.

February 5 February – Convoy to Canberra: About 2,000 Anti-vaccination mandate protestors marched to the Parliamentary Triangle. The march began at Glebe Park in the CBD, then onto Commonwealth Avenue, disrupting traffic. United Australia Party leader Craig Kelly and Liberal National Party of Queensland Member of Parliament George Christensen and Senator Gerard Rennick attended the protests. 6 February – Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II's accession as Queen of Australia. Buildings and monuments across Australia were lit in royal purple to mark the start of the Platinum Jubilee year. 12 February – 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. The Māori All Stars defeat the Indigenous All Stars 16–10 in the 2022 All Stars match, held at CommBank Stadium. Māori prop Joseph Tapine, of Canberra Raiders, wins the Preston Campbell medal for Man of the Match. 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. 26 February – Flooding in Queensland kills 2 more people, with the death toll rising to 4. An SES Volunteer is among the dead. 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. 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.

March 10 March – The 2022 NRL season commences, with 2021 premiers Penrith Panthers defeating Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 28–6 at BlueBet Stadium. 19 March – The 2022 South Australian state election results in defeat for Steven Marshall's Liberal government, and Labor leader Peter Malinauskas claims victory. Pauline Hanson's One Nation Sarah Game won a seat within the South Australia legislative council (upper house) making history as One Nation first member of SA parliament. 25 March – Lance Franklin kicks his 1000th AFL goal against the Geelong Cats at the SCG. 27 March – A-League Women Grand Final is held at Jubilee Oval, Sydney with Melbourne Victory defeating Sydney FC 2–1. Melbourne Victory's Casey Dumont was named Player of the Match. 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.

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. A few days later Christensen announced he had joined Pauline Hanson's One Nation. 8 April – Jeremy Rockliff becomes Premier of Tasmania after Peter Gutwein's resignation. 9 April – 2022 AFL Women's season 6 Grand Final is held at Adelaide Oval, with defeating 4.5 (29) – 2.4 (16). Adelaide's Anne Hatchard was named best on ground. 10 April – Sydney Roosters defeat St. George Illawarra Dragons 16–4 to win the Grand Final of the delayed 2021 NRL Women's season at Moreton Daily Stadium. Roosters second-rower Sarah Togatuki is awarded the Karyn Murphy Medal for player of the match.

April–May election campaign 10 April: Scott Morrison announces the date of the 2022 Australian federal election as 21 May. 11 April: Labor Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese was unable to state the cash or unemployment rates. 13 April: Labor said they would not commit to an increase in JobSeeker Payment after the election if they win. 16 April: Albanese said he would commit to an anti-corruption watchdog should Labor win the election. The United Australia Party election campaign launch was held. 19 April: A debate was held at the National Press Club in Canberra between Minister for Agriculture and Northern Australia David Littleproud and Shadow Minister Julie Collins. 20 April: Morrison continued to support his "captain's pick" to contest the seat of Warringah, Katherine Deves, despite her comments about transgender people and surrogacy. 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. 21 April: Albanese tested positive for Deltacron hybrid variant of COVID-19 and was unable to campaign in person for seven days. 22 April: Former Liberal foreign minister Julie Bishop and former defence chief Chris Barrie criticised the Morrison government for not doing enough to stop the Solomon Islands' security pact with China. 29 April: Albanese came out of COVID-19 isolation, just three days after he had fully recovered from COVID-19 Deltacron hybrid variant. 30 April: Shadow minister Bill Shorten said Labor would hold a royal commission into Robodebt if elected. 1 May: The Labor election campaign launch was held in Perth. 4 May: A debate was held at the National Press Club in Canberra between Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Shadow Treasurer Jim Chalmers. 5 May: 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. A debate was held at the National Press Club in Canberra between Minister for Defence Peter Dutton and Shadow Minister Brendan O'Connor. 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. Third leaders' debate took place in Sydney. 13 May: A debate was held at the National Press Club in Canberra between Minister for Foreign Affairs Marise Payne and Shadow Minister Penny Wong. 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. 18 May: Albanese addressed the National Press Club. Morrison is the first prime minister since 1969 not to address the National Press Club in the final week of an election campaign. The Australian Bureau of Statistics released the March 2022 Quarter Wage Price Index of 0.7%, or 2.4% annually. 20 May: Telephone voting rules changed to allow Australians who have tested positive to COVID-19 after 6 pm on 13 May to vote by telephone. 21 May: The 2022 Australian federal election takes place.Scott Morrison poised to call May 22 poll ABC News 10 April 2022 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. 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. Anthony Albanese defeated Scott Morrison in the election and brought Labor back into government for the first time since 2013. Morrison conceded defeat and resigned as leader of the Liberal Party; his successor will be decided at the next Liberal party room meeting.

May 9 May – The Australian Building Codes Board released Volume 1 of NCC2022. 23 May –