2020s in Australian history
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.
On the economy, after the lowest deficit in a decade, Morrison predicted a small surplus in the 2019 Federal Budget, however the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic led to a dramatic increase in government expenditure.
Pandemic management became a core focus of the Morrison government, which instigated tight border controls and a program of income support for business and workers.
Political and social debate surrounded many aspects of the 2019–20 Australian bushfire season, particularly regarding the causes and future prevention of such fire activity, and the role of climate change.
[14][15] 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 apprentices 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.
This massive loss in jobs caused the myGov website to crash and lines out of Centrelink offices to run hundreds of metres long.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the incident was "deeply disturbing and troubling" and that "Australia is not naive to the threats that it faces" before cautioning "anyone leaping to any conclusions about these matters".
[21] Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang rejected the alleged plot and said that some Australian politicians, institutions and media outlets "reached a state of hysteria and extreme nervousness".
[23][24] In June 2020, China's foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying criticised Prime Minister Morrison after responding to a European Union report alleging that Beijing was disseminating disinformation about the pandemic.
[28] Western commentators, including those at The Washington Post identified China's subsequent targeting of Australian trade, particularly beef, barley, lobsters and coal, as being "defacto economic sanctions.
The list includes such issues as government funding for "anti-China" research at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, raids on Chinese journalists and academic visa cancellations, "spearheading a crusade" in multilateral forums on China's affairs in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Xinjiang, and calling for an independent investigation into the origins of COVID-19.
Although China was not specifically mentioned in the news announcements, critics interpreted it as a major blow to Australian-Chinese relationship, by firmly allying Australia with the United States in military terms in the region.
The Juukan Gorge cave that was the only inland site in Australia with evidence of continuous human occupation for over 46,000 years, including through the last Ice Age was permanently destroyed by mining company Rio Tinto in May 2020.
[40] Prior to its destruction, the cave in Juukan Gorge was a sacred site for the traditional owners of the land, the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura (Binigura) peoples.
After this aroused widespread international media coverage and public outcry,[41] Rio Tinto apologised to the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and the Pinikura peoples for the destruction of the caves and for causing distress.
On 15 February 2021, Liberal Party junior staffer Brittany Higgins alleged to two media outlets – news.com.au and The Project[44] — 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.
The letter was anonymous, and included a statement by the alleged victim,[46] 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.
[50] 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.
[54] 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.
[56] 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.
