2021 in Australia

The following lists events that happened during 2021 in Australia.

2021 in Australia
MonarchyElizabeth II
Governor-GeneralDavid Hurley
Prime ministerScott Morrison
Australian of the YearGrace Tame
ElectionsWA, TAS

Flag of Australia.svg
2021
in
Australia

Decades:
See also:

Incumbents

State and Territory Leaders

Governors and Administrators

Events

January

  • 1 January – The words of the Australian national anthem, "Advance Australia Fair", are changed for the first time since 1984, amending the line "For we are young and free" to "For we are one and free".
  • 2 January – Two women drown during a guided canyoning tour at Mount Wilson in the Blue Mountains
  • 8 January – A three-day lockdown is imposed on the Greater Brisbane area to stop the spread of a UK COVID-19 variant after a hotel quarantine worker unknowingly contracted the virus and spread it out into the community.
  • 22 January − An ongoing plague of mice continued to cause problems and began to cause concerns for crops in areas of New South Wales and Queensland.
  • By March the mice were stripping food and other items from the shelves of a supermarket in Gulargambone.
  • In June 2021 the plague caused the complete evacuation of the Wellington Correctional Centre as dead mice and damage to infrastructure led to concern for the health and safety of inmates and staff.

February

  • 11 February – A tsunami warning is issued and later retracted after a 7.7 magnitude earthquake just off the coast of New Caledonia brought fears of a possible tsunami impacting Lord Howe Island.
  • 15 February – 142,000 doses of the Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine arrived in Australia.
  • 18 February – Facebook blocks all Australian news websites from sharing news content on its social media platform, preventing any Facebook user from sharing news content from any Australian-based news websites, and preventing Australian users from accessing news content from overseas media outlets on Facebook.
  • 22 February – The first doses of the Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine are administered.

March

April

May

June

July

August

  • 1 August – YouTube bars Sky News Australia from uploading new content onto their channel for a week for breaking YouTube's rules on spreading COVID-19 misinformation.
  • 7 August – The Armidale Regional Council local government area in northern New South Wales has a snap week-long lockdown imposed, after two positive cases of COVID-19 are detected in the region.
  • 10 August – The national Census of Population and Housing is held.
  • 21 August – New South Wales records the highest daily COVID-19 case numbers in Australia thus far, recording 825 new cases of COVID-19.
  • 25 August – New South Wales records 1,029 new cases of COVID-19 in 24 hours becoming the first state in Australia to surpass the 1,000 daily case milestone.

September

  • 5 September – Melbourne Storm win the minor premiership (their fifth since 2011) following the final main round of the 2021 NRL season. Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs finish in last position, claiming their first wooden spoon since 2008.
  • 15 September – Australia cancels its Attack-class submarine submarine construction deal with France in favour of the AUKUS security alliance with the United States and United Kingdom, which includes the acquisition of nuclear powered submarines.
  • 20 September – in Melbourne, there was a protest by hundreds of people against mandatory vaccination for construction workers outside the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) headquarters. The protest became violent, the union building was damaged, and riot police employed pepper spray and rubber bullets. Combined with an increase in transmission of COVID-19 in the industry, from 11.59pm that night all building and construction industry worksites in Ballarat, Geelong, Metropolitan Melbourne, Mitchell Shire and the Surf Coast were shut down for two weeks.
  • 21 September – in Melbourne, there was another protest with thousands of people marching against a wide range of pandemic response related issues, including the previous days' construction industry shut down. The "Victorian Workers Rally For Freedom" started near to the CFMEU headquarters at 10am, went through the CBD, past state Parliament, Flinders Street railway station, then onto and blocking the busy West Gate Freeway causing "chaos" in peak hour traffic. At least one media reporter was assaulted, and objects, including bottles and flares, were thrown at police. Riot police again used tear gas and rubber bullets and at least 62 arrests were made. Union officials such as John Setka, CFMEU Victorian state secretary, and Sally McManus, Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) national secretary, asserted that the protests had been hijacked, McManus saying it was by "… far right groups and anti-vax groups, …". The construction shutdown has put about 300,000 out of work, and could cost the industry nearly AU$500 million per day.
  • 22 September – A 5.9 magnitude earthquake is reported, with the epicentre being around the Mansfield area in north-eastern Victoria. The quake's effects were felt as far away as Tasmania and Adelaide. Southern New South Wales experienced the quake as well.
    • in Melbourne city there was yet another protest, with up to 1,000 people converging on the Shrine of Remembrance. After a stand-off for a few hours with police surrounding them, protesters were dispersed at about 5pm. Two police officers were injured by thrown bottles and more than 200 people were arrested. An estimated 300 fines were issued for not complying with stay-at-home directives. One protester there was hospitalised by the next day with COVID-19.
  • 25 September – Melbourne Demons defeat Western Bulldogs 21.14 (140) to 10.6 (66) to win the 2021 AFL Grand Final at Optus Stadium, Perth. It is the Demons' first premiership victory since 1964.
  • 30 September – A tornado touches down in the NSW Central West, demolishing homes in Peel and Meadow Flat. Three people are left injured.

October

Deaths

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

See also

Country overviews


This page was last updated at 2021-10-30 17:41 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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