2026 in Australia

Incumbents

State and territory leaders

• Premier of New South Wales – Chris Minns
• *Opposition Leader – Kellie Sloane
• Premier of Queensland – David Crisafulli
• *Opposition Leader – Steven Miles
• Premier of South Australia – Peter Malinauskas
• *Opposition Leader – Ashton Hurn
• Premier of Tasmania – Jeremy Rockliff
• *Opposition Leader – Josh Willie
• Premier of Victoria – Jacinta Allan
• *Opposition Leader – Jess Wilson
• Premier of Western Australia – Roger Cook
• *Opposition Leader – Basil Zempilas
• Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory – Andrew Barr
• *Opposition Leader – Mark Parton
• Chief Minister of the Northern Territory – Lia Finocchiaro
• *Opposition Leader – Selena Uibo

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 – Margaret Gardner
• Governor of Western Australia – Chris Dawson
• Administrator of the Australian Indian Ocean Territories – Farzian Zainal
• Administrator of Norfolk Island – George Plant
• Administrator of the Northern Territory – Hugh Heggie

Events

January

• 4 January – Over 60 prominent sportspeople including tennis player Lleyton Hewitt, canoeist Jessica Fox, swimmer Ian Thorpe and former cricket team captain Michael Clarke pen an open letter calling on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to establish a federal royal commission into antisemitism, radicalisation and the 2025 Bondi Beach shooting.
• 8 January:
• *Prime Minister Albanese announces a royal commission into antisemitism and social cohesion, to be chaired by Virginia Bell. In response, New South Wales Premier Chris Minns announces that his state would not proceed with a state-level royal commission.
• *Six emergency warnings are issued in Victoria in response to bushfires.
• *Blak Caucus, the Palestine Action Group and Jews Against the Occupation'48 file a challenge against new laws restricting protests in New South Wales at the Supreme Court of New South Wales.
• 9 January – A total fire ban comes into force in Victoria in response to an ongoing heatwave.
• 10 January – Wildfires destroy 130 structures in Victoria, prompting premier Jacinta Allan declares a statewide emergency. The Australian Capital Territory declares a total fire ban.
• 12 January – the National Socialist Network announce it would disband in response to proposed new hate speech laws by the federal government which would make it easier to designate organisations as prohibited hate groups.
• 13 January – The 2026 edition of Adelaide Writers' Week is called off after more than 180 writers and speakers boycott the event in protest against the organisers' decision to exclude Australian-Palestinian writer and academic Randa Abdel-Fattah.
• 15 January – The board of the Adelaide Festival retracts the Adelaide Writers' Week's decision to exclude Randa Abdel-Fattah from the event and issues an apology to her.
• 18 January:
• *Heavy rain leads to flooding and landslides in coastal New South Wales particularly Sydney, which records of rain. The State Emergency Service responds to about 2,500 calls for help and performed 25 flood rescues.
• *Pauline Hanson's One Nation overtakes the Liberal–National Coalition in a first for Newspoll. The Coalition also polls at its record low.
• *A 12-year-old boy is severely injured in a shark attack off Shark Beach in Vaucluse, New South Wales, resulting in his death in hospital on 24 January.
• 19 January:
• A man is severely injured in a shark attack off Manly Beach in New South Wales.
• The New Sydney Fish Market at Glebe, New South Wales opens to the public after 6 years of construction.
• 20 January – A surfer is injured in a shark attack off Point Plomer in New South Wales.
• 21 January – National Party of Australia senators Bridget McKenzie, Ross Cadell and Susan McDonald quit the Ley shadow ministry after opposing the official Liberal–National Coalition position on the hate speech law. Following this, the eight remaining National frontbenchers also resign from the shadow cabinet.
• 22 January:
• *National leader David Littleproud confirms the party had again quit the Coalition, saying "our partyroom has made it clear that we cannot be part of a shadow ministry under Sussan Ley" and that "we sit by ourselves" in the parliament. This is the second time the National party left the Coalition since 2025.
• *2026 Lake Cargelligo shootings: Three people are killed and another injured in a shooting in Lake Cargelligo, New South Wales.
• 26 January:
• *March for Australia holds a series of nationwide protests in many Australian cities.
• *A 31 year old man is arrested for throwing a homemade "fragment bomb" at a crowd gathering for an Invasion Day rally in Perth's Forrest Place, which fails to detonate. The man is charged with one count of committing an unlawful act with intent to harm and one count of making explosives under suspicious circumstances.
• 28 January – Colin Boyce announces he will challenge David Littleproud for the leadership of the National Party of Australia.

February

• 2 February –
• * 2026 National Party of Australia leadership spill, Incumbent leader David Littleproud was re-elected, defeating Queensland MP Colin Boyce.
• * Pauline Hanson's One Nation announce former Liberal senator Cory Bernardi will lead the upper house ticket in the 2026 South Australian state election.

Future and scheduled events

• 14 March – King Frederik X of Denmark and Queen Mary of Denmark are expected to begin their 6 day tour of Australia.
• 21 March –
• *2026 South Australian local elections
• *2026 South Australian state election
• *2026 South Australian First Nations Voice election
• 2 May – 2026 Tasmanian Legislative Council periodic election
• 11 August – 2026 Australian census
• October – 2026 Tasmanian local elections
• 28 November – 2026 Victorian state election

Sport

• 16 January – Olympic snowboarder Belle Brockhoff announces her retirement from competition.
• 1–21 March – 2026 AFC Women's Asian Cup

Holidays

Deaths

January

• 2 January – Phoenix Spicer, footballer
• 6 January – Ron Boswell, senator
• 8 January – Loraine Braham, Northern Territory politician
• 20 January – Marie Bashir, governor of New South Wales