2011 in Australia

Incumbents

• Monarch – Elizabeth II
• Governor-General – Quentin Bryce
• Prime Minister – Julia Gillard
• *Deputy Prime Minister – Wayne Swan
• *Opposition Leader – Tony Abbott
• Chief Justice – Robert French

  State and territory leaders

• Premier of New South Wales – Kristina Keneally, then Barry O'Farrell
• *Opposition Leader – Barry O'Farrell, then John Robertson
• Premier of Queensland – Anna Bligh
• *Opposition Leader – John-Paul Langbroek, then Jeff Seeney
• Premier of South Australia – Mike Rann, then Jay Weatherill
• *Opposition Leader – Isobel Redmond
• Premier of Tasmania – David Bartlett, then Lara Giddings
• *Opposition Leader – Will Hodgman
• Premier of Victoria – Ted Baillieu
• *Opposition Leader – Daniel Andrews
• Premier of Western Australia – Colin Barnett
• *Opposition Leader – Eric Ripper
• Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory – Jon Stanhope, then Katy Gallagher
• *Opposition Leader – Zed Seselja
• Chief Minister of the Northern Territory – Paul Henderson
• *Opposition Leader – Terry Mills
• Chief Minister of Norfolk Island – David Buffett

  Governors and administrators

• Governor of New South Wales – Marie Bashir
• Governor of Queensland – Penelope Wensley
• Governor of South Australia – Kevin Scarce
• Governor of Tasmania – Peter Underwood
• Governor of Victoria – David de Kretser, then Alex Chernov
• Governor of Western Australia – Ken Michael, then Malcolm McCusker
• Administrator of the Australian Indian Ocean Territories – Brian Lacy
• Administrator of Norfolk Island – Owen Walsh
• Administrator of the Northern Territory – Tom Pauling, then Sally Thomas

  Events

January

• December 2010 to January 2011 – Flooding across Queensland continues, the most widespread flooding disaster in Queensland history. The Toowoomba and Lockyer Valley regions are severely affected by floodwaters on 10 January, which would later lead to flooding in the Ipswich and Brisbane regions.
• 10 January – A large bushfire threatens the area of Lake Clifton, Western Australia, about 100 km south of Perth.
• 13 January – of rain falls in 24 hours at Scamander in north east Tasmania leads to flash flooding in the town, along with St Helens.
• 14 January – Major floods occur across much of western and central Victoria totally inundating the town of Carisbrook and causing evacuations in many others.
• 17 January – The Commission of Inquiry into the 2010–11 Queensland floods is established to investigate matters related to the Queensland floods.
• 23 January – Corporal Ben Roberts-Smith of the Special Air Service Regiment is awarded the Victoria Cross for Australia for his actions in the Shah Wali Kot Offensive in June 2010, part of the War in Afghanistan.
• 23 January – David Bartlett announces his resignation as Premier of Tasmania citing a desire to spend more time with his family.
• 27 January – Prime Minister Julia Gillard announces that her government proposes to introduce a Flood levy to assist in funding reconstruction works required as a result of major floods in Queensland and Victoria.
• 30 January – Tropical Cyclone Anthony makes landfall near Bowen in Queensland's north, bringing wind gusts of up to.

  February

• 3 February – Severe Tropical Cyclone Yasi makes landfall at near Mission Beach, south of Innisfail, Queensland.
• 4–5 February – Severe thunderstorms related to Tropical Cyclone Anthony affect much of Victoria. Flash flooding affected many places across the state including Mildura in the state's north west and the south eastern suburbs of Melbourne. The town of Koo Wee Rup was evacuated when the Bunyip River reached a height of.
• 6–7 February – Bushfires in Perth destroy at least 50 houses.
• 17 February – REDGroup Retail is placed into voluntary administration with Ferrier Hodgson appointed as administrators.
• 24 February – Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced that the Federal Government proposed to introduce a carbon pricing scheme by 1 July 2012. Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott claims that Gillard broke a promise made during the 2010 Federal election campaign not to introduce a carbon tax.
• 24 February – AFACT loses its appeal to the Federal Court of Australia affirming that iiNet was not liable for the illegal downloading and peer-to-peer file sharing of films and television programs by its users.

  March

• 3 March – The temperature in Perth reaches above 30 degrees for the 26th consecutive day, making it the longest recorded heatwave in the city, beating the previous record set in 1988.
• 26 March – A state election is held in New South Wales. Kristina Keneally's Labor government is defeated by Barry O'Farrell's Liberal-National Coalition.

  April

• 19 April – Floodwaters inundate around 100 houses in the western Queensland town of Roma.
• 20 April – Asylum seekers at Sydney's Villawood Detention Centre riot in protest over delays in processing their applications for asylum, burning down at least three buildings.

  May

• 4 May – Virgin Blue Airlines is renamed and rebranded as Virgin Australia.
• 11 May – While waiting for an elevator at an undercover carpark at Highpoint Shopping Centre Ashgrove an out-of-control vehicle slams into Alison France, the 38-year-old daughter of state MP Peter Lawlor. After pushing her son's stroller out the way before impact, France becomes pinned between two cars. The accident results in France's left leg being amputated above the knee.
• 16 May – The Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly elects Katy Gallagher as Chief Minister, following the resignation of Jon Stanhope on 12 May.
• 29 May 2011: Detective Senior Constable Damien Leeding was shot when he confronted an armed offender at the Pacific Pines Tavern on the Gold Coast. Leeding died in hospital on 1 June three days after being shot.

  June

• 5 June – Say Yes demonstrations occur in numerous cities across Australia in support of political action on climate change.
• 11 June – Hundreds of flights are suspended following the ash cloud from an eruption in the Puyehue-Cordón Caulle volcano complex in Chile reaching southern Australia.
• 16 June – A report by the Victorian Ombudsman criticises the Chief Commissioner of Victoria Police Simon Overland's publication of "misleading" crime statistics in the lead-up to the 2010 State election. Overland subsequently resigns as Chief Commissioner.

  July

• 25 July – The Gillard government signs off on an arrangement with Malaysia that will see Australia deport 800 asylum seekers to that country in return for resettling 4000 refugees verified by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

  August

• 8 August – A High Court judge orders the government's "Malaysia Solution" to send asylum seekers to Malaysia be put on hold until the full bench of the High Court could assess the scheme's legality.
• 9 August – The 2011 Census of Population and Housing is held.
• 28 August – Queensland Police confirm that bones found in bushland on the Sunshine Coast are those of missing teenager Daniel Morcombe. Morcombe had been missing since 2003
• 31 August – The High Court of Australia rules the Gillard government's "Malaysia Solution" for the processing of asylum-seekers is unlawful.

  September

• 1 September – Forensic experts confirm that the remains of a person found on the grounds of the former HM Prison Pentridge are those of bushranger Ned Kelly.
• 28 September – Eatock v Bolt Justice Mordecai Bromberg founds conservative political commentator Andrew Bolt to have contravened section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act. The case was controversial. Bolt described the decision as a "terrible day for free speech" in Australia and said it represented "a restriction on the freedom of all Australians to discuss multiculturalism and how people identify themselves. I argued then and I argue now that we should not insist on the differences between us but focus instead on what unites us as human beings."

  October

• 19 to 29 October – Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip visit Canberra, Perth, Brisbane and Melbourne.
• 21 October – Mike Rann stands down as Premier of South Australia after losing party support, and is replaced by Jay Weatherill.
• 21 October – Victoria Police officers forcibly remove Occupy Melbourne protesters from Melbourne's City Square.
• 28 to 30 October – the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting is held in Perth.
• 29 October – In response to industrial action by pilots, ground staff and engineers, Qantas grounds its entire international and domestic fleet.
• 31 October – Fair Work Australia orders the termination of all industrial action taken by Qantas and the involved trade unions. Qantas flights resume on the afternoon of that day.

  November

• 16 November – The President of the United States Barack Obama visits Australia to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the ANZUS alliance.
• 24 November – Harry Jenkins resigns as Speaker of the House of Representatives. Peter Slipper is elected in his place.
• 25 November – 34 homes are destroyed in Margaret River, Western Australia when a prescribed burn by the Department of Environment and Conservation had "gone wrong" and "escaped" into bushland.
• 30 November – Legislative Assembly of Queensland passed a bill allowing civil partnerships for same-sex couples in Queensland; a similar legislation already exists in Tasmania, Victoria, the ACT and NSW.

  December

• 18 December – A boat sailing from Indonesia carrying over 200 asylum seekers sinks off the coast of Java while heading for Christmas Island. At least 160 people are feared dead.

  Arts and literature

• 27 April – Andrew Ruhemann and Shaun Tan are awarded the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film at the 83rd Academy Awards for their film The Lost Thing.
• 15 April – Ben Quilty is awarded the Archibald Prize for his portrait of Margaret Olley. The Wynne Prize was awarded to Richard Goodwin for Co-isolated slave and the Sulman Prize was awarded to Peter Smeeth for The artist's fate.
• 17 August – The National Gallery of Victoria announces it has acquired Madonna and Child with the infant Saint John the Baptist by Italian High Renaissance painter Antonio da Correggio. Purchased at auction for £3.2 million, it is the most expensive acquisition in the 150-year history of the NGV.