2020s in Australia political history
2020s in Australia political history refers to political history of Australia in the 2020s, presented in narrative format.
46th Parliament, 2019- present
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
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 cases 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
The Morrison 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]
History by issue
Economic
Foreign policy
Public health
See also
Year articles
Australia articles and timelines
Decade timelines
Specific issues
References
- "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.
- "Restrictions on non-essential services". business.gov.au. 3 April 2020. Retrieved 20 April 2020.
- "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.
- https://treasury.gov.au/coronavirus
- "Economic Stimulus Package". www.liberal.org.au. 12 March 2020. Archived from the original on 20 March 2020. Retrieved 20 March 2020.
- 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.
- 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.
- "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.
- "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.