EVENTS THAT HAVE IMPACTED AUSTRALIA SINCE THE LAST ELECTION
2013
September
- Tony Abbott leads Liberal-National coalition to victory in the federal election
OCTOBER
- Bill Shorten elected Labor leader
- ACT becomes first state/territory to legalise same-sex marriage
NOVEMBER
- Edward Snowden leaks reveal Australian intelligence agencies tried to tap the phones of the Indonesian president, his wife and officials in 2009; Indonesia recalls its ambassador
DECEMBER
- Holden announces it will cease vehicle production in Australia by 2017
- Pink Batts Royal Commission into Rudd government home insulation scheme begins
2014
JANUARY
- NSW government introduces lock-out laws and mandatory jail sentences for fatal one-punch attacks in an effort to clamp down on alcohol-fuelled violence in Sydney
- General Peter Cosgrove announced as Australia's next governor-general
FEBRUARY
- Convicted drug smuggler Schapelle Corby released on parole from Bali prison
MARCH
- Malaysia Airlines MH370 disappears while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with search mission focused on Pacific Ocean, off Western Australia
- Royal Commission into trade union governance and corruption begins
- Liberals win Tasmanian election; Labor hangs onto power in South Australia
- Abbott reintroduce titles of knights and dames into the Order of Australia
APRIL
- NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell resigns after lying to corruption watchdog, ICAC, and is succeeded by Mike Baird
- Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge conduct first official tour of Australia with their son Prince George
MAY
- Abbott government's first budget widely criticised for huge cuts to welfare, healthcare, education
JULY
- Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 shot down over Ukraine killing 283 passengers and 15 crew, includes 37 people who call Australia home
SEPT
- Australian forces sent to the Middle East to help fight Islamic State; terror threat level in Aust raised to high amid concerns about militants returning Iraq, Syria
- Police in Sydney, Brisbane arrest 15 people suspected of being Islamic State sympathisers and planning attacks locally
NOVEMBER
- Public memorial service in Sydney for former prime minister Gough Whitlam
- G20 summit held in Brisbane. Abbott hosts world leaders including US President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin
- Government announces cuts to ABC and SBS
- Senator Jacqui Lambie quits the Palmer United Party to become an independent
- Daniel Andrews leads Labor to victory in the Victoria election, ousting the one-term Napthine coalition government
DECEMBER
- Abbott backs down from controversial plans for $7 Medicare co-payment announced in budget
- A madman armed with an Islamic banner takes 18 people hostage in the Lindt Chocolat Cafe in the centre of Sydney. It ends after 17 hours, with the gunman and two hostages dead.
2015
JANUARY
- Al-Qaeda terrorists kill 21 people in attack on satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris
- Abbott makes the Duke of Edinburgh a Knight of the Order of Australia, infuriating colleagues and sparking speculation of a leadership challenge
- Domestic violence survivor Rosie Batty named Australian of the Year, kickstarting public discussion about domestic violence
- Queensland Premier Campbell Newman loses his seat and the LNP its enormous majority after just one term. Labor's Annastacia Palaszczuk is able to form a minority government.
FEBRUARY
- Journalist Peter Greste returns to Australia after 400 days in an Egyptian jail
- Abbott Liberal leadership spill motion, describes it as a "near death experience" and vows to listen more to colleagues, public
- Head of the Australian Human Rights Commission Gillian Triggs vilified by government after report on children in immigration
MARCH
- Data retention laws pass, requiring phone and internet providers to store metadata for two years
- Liberal-National coalition comfortablly retains government in NSW election
APRIL
- Anzac Day centenary commemorated
- Bali Nine ringleaders Andrew Chan, 31, and Myruan Sukumaran, 34, killed by firing squad in Bali despite pleas from Aust government
MAY
- Ireland legalises same-sex marriage, the first country to legalise it by popular vote
AUGUST
- Speaker of the house Bronwyn Bishop reluctantly resigns over taxpayer-paid helicopter trips scandal
- Growing public support drives Abbott to declare that government will hold a plebiscite on same-sex marriage following the 2016 election
SEPTEMBER
- Turnbull challenges Abbott for the Liberal leadership, becomes new prime minister
OCTOBER
- Sydney police worker Curtis Cheng shot dead by 15-year-old boy, who is then illed by police outside police headquarters
NOVEMBER
- Michelle Payne rides Prince of Penzance to Melbourne Cup victory, becoming the first female jockey to do so
- Paris terrorist attacks by Islamic State kill 130 people
DECEMBER
- United Nations global climate change agreement reached, with all countries committing to reduce carbon emissions for the first time
2016
FEBRUARY
- Barnaby Joyce succeeds Warren Truss as Nationals leader, becomes deputy PM
- Turnbull ditches GST reform talk
- Electronics retail giant Dick Smith goes under with 2500 jobs lost
- Cardinal George Pell testifies via video from Rome at Royal Commission into child sex abuse
MARCH
- Former Independent senator Tony Windsor announces return to politics to challenge Barnaby Joyce for seat
- Senate voting reform laws passed, challenging the political livelihoods of minor party senators
- Turnbull announces he will seek a double dissolution election for July 2 if Senate refuses again to pass bills restoring the Australian Building and Industry Commission and imposing tougher governance measures on trade unions
APRIL
- Hundreds of Australians investigated by tax office after Panama Papers leak
- Federal MP Clive Palmer's Queensland Nickel refinery goes under, forcing taxpayers to cover $75m in worker entitlements
- Reconvened Senate votes down construction watchdog bills for second time, handing double-dissolution trigger to Turnbull to call an election.
- South Australian steelmaker Arrium goes into administration, throwing hundreds of jobs into doubt
- Turnbull announces French company DCNS has won the $15 billion to build Australia's submarines fleet in South Australia
MAY
- The first Turnbull/Morrison budget is unveiled
- Clive Palmer announces he won't recontest his lower house seat of Fairfax
- The Queensland LNP replaces Lawrence Springborg with Tim Nicholls as state opposition leader
