The year began with the words of the Australian national anthem changed for the first time since 1984, with the line "For we are young and free" in Advance Australia Fair amended to "For we are one and free" in acknowledgement of Australia's long Indigenous history.

The world looked on in shock as supporters of Donald Trump stormed the United States Capitol on January 6 following the president's defeat in the 2020 elections.

However, the inauguration of Joe Biden sped up progress towards the AUKUS technology sharing pact Australia was seeking from the US and the UK.

The string of disasters that defined 2020 continued into 2021 with a plague of mice impacting crop-growing areas in NSW and Queensland.

Tasmanian Grace Tame was named Australian of the Year for 2021 for her advocacy for survivors of sexual assault, inspiring women to come forward in what would become one the biggest political stories of the year.

The first 142,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine arrived in Australia from Pfizer with Health Minister Greg Hunt declaring "The eagle has landed."

Mr Morrison was one of the first to get the Pfizer vaccine kicking off a trend of prominent Australians sharing photos of their vaccination on social media.

The Prime Minister's Facebook page was flooded with comments spreading conspiracy theories and misinformation about the vaccine. Liberal MP Craig Kelly and others in the government encouraged it and posted their own misinformation. Mr Kelly quit the party after Mr Morrison failed to convince him to stop encouraging anti-vaxxers.

Media outlets were unable to respond to the misinformation on Facebook for much of February as the US giant locked Australian news media pages in protest against the proposed news media bargaining code. Google warned the code would lead to the end of the open Internet as we know it and threatened to withdraw from Australia, but each platform resumed negotiations to compensate Australia media outlets for use of their content.

Former Liberal Party staffer Brittany Higgins came forward alleging she was raped after a work party by a colleague in the office of then defence minister Linda Reynolds. Under fire over the handling of the matter, Senator Reynolds went on leave and never resumed her role as defence minister.

Controversy also surrounded the Prime Minister's Office over who knew of the allegations and when. Mr Morrison agreed to an independent review into the workplaces of federal parliamentarians and their staff and apologised to Ms Higgins, but drew criticism for saying he understood the allegations better after consulting with his wife.

Parliament was rocked again with more sexual assault allegations, this time from an anonymous source, accusing a senior minister of raping her in 1988 when he and the accuser were teenagers.

Christian Porter came forward as the person accused of the historical rape allegation in a teary media conference and immediately took a leave of absence from his role as Attorney General to support his mental health. He would also never resume that role.

Defence chief Angus Campbell admitted to telling cadets to beware the "four As" to avoid becoming prey to sexual predators, sparking further outcry over the normalisation of sexual assault and harassment of women.

More than 200 protests called the March 4 Justice were held around the country and on the steps of Parliament House calling for the implementation of the Human Rights Commission's Respect@Work report that had sat on the Prime Minister's desk for a year.

The political pressure continued to grow on the Prime Minister and Mr Porter and Senator Reynolds were moved to less senior roles in a ministerial reshuffle and a new portfolio was created in cabinet for women's safety.

The aged care royal commission report was handed down, but as it contained two competing sets of recommendations key reforms were left out of the government's response.

The first Australian died following an extremely rare complication from the AstraZeneca vaccine, which was still the only COVID-19 vaccine manufactured in the country as millions waited for their dose. Several more would die throughout the year, though far fewer than the numbers of lives saved by the vaccine.

AstraZeneca was now recommended for people aged 50 and over. Those under 50 could make an informed decision to have AstraZeneca. The change in advice plunged the rollout into chaos as the country had only limited supplies of Pfizer coming.

The government admitted that priority groups were struggling to access doses, including aged care facilities and those with disability. The government put Navy Commodore Eric Young in charge of the rollout.

A travel bubble with New Zealand commenced, allowing the first overseas trips for many. Quarantine facilities, such as Howard Springs in the Northern Territory, were also ramped up as tens of thousands of Australians still awaited repatriation more than a year into the pandemic.

The government announced the Australian Defence Force would withdraw from Afghanistan within a matter of months, signalling the end of an overseas war that lasted 20 years and resulting in the loss of life for 41 Australians.

A Sydney Indigenous dance troupe was humiliated as footage of their performance at the launch of HMAS Supply, which featured twerking in front of the Defence chief, was mocked on social media and criticised by Defence Minister Peter Dutton.

A hastily released educational video about sexual consent commissioned launched by Education Minister Alan Tudge as part of a "Respect Matters" campaign and known as the milkshake video, was also mocked for being tonedeaf and immediately pulled.

The federal government overturns the Victorian government's participation in China's Belt and Road Initiative. Questions remain whether the Port of Darwin 99-year lease to a Chinese-owned firm will be allowed to remain.

All travellers from India were barred from Australia for a short period as cases in the subcontinent spiked.

The federal budget offered hope that the pandemic would not destroy Australia economically as Treasurer Josh Frydenberg outlined the recovery was already underway. However, Australia was a long way from ending its deficit streak, going a further $106.6 billion into the red, roughly 5 per cent of GDP.

Health was the cornerstone of the 2021-22 budget with $1.9 billion going into the vaccine rollout. The number of COVID vaccine doses ordered for Australia was updated 170 million. The majority of those doses were the locally-manufactured AstraZeneca vaccine. The budget also included funding for the development of a domestic mRNA vaccine production facility.

Scott Morrison visited New Zealand but talk was mostly about China, as its 2020 tariffs imposed on Australia goods worked their way through international dispute processes.

A defamation claim by former attorney-general Christian Porter against the ABC over its reporting of the rape allegations against him was withdrawn. Both parties claimed it as a victory.

The third wave of the pandemic in Australia hit NSW first, but quickly expanded into Victoria and the ACT, as the Delta variant arrived in the country.

AstraZeneca was now "preferred" for people aged 60 and over. Those under 50 could make an informed decision to have AstraZeneca knowing the risk of extremely rare blood clotting.

Barnaby Joyce, who had resigned as Nationals leader in 2018 following a sexual harassment complaint, which he denied, and an affair with a former staffer, which he acknowledged, won a new leadership spill to become the Deputy Prime Minister. Bridget McKenzie, who resigned during the sports rorts scandal in which she failed to declare a conflict of interest, also returned to the cabinet. Former deputy prime minister Michael McCormack and veterans' affairs minister Darren Chester moved to the backbench in the reshuffle.

The Prime Minister apologised for the pace of the vaccine rollout following mounting pressure as NSW and Victoria remained in lockdown and vaccination rates too low to have a meaningful impact. Millions of doses of the Pfizer vaccine already purchased would be brought forward under swap deals with other countries where unwanted doses were about to expire.

A national plan to end the lockdowns and reopen Australia to the world was agreed to by state and territory leaders in national cabinet. Each phase would commence at specific markers of vaccination rate in the community. A lack of detail meant individual leaders could interpret the plan as they chose.

Respectful workplace behaviour training for MPs and other parliamentary staff began rolling out following the sexual assault allegations that plagued the Parliament. Some government MPs refused to participate in the 1 hour training session.

The National Disability Insurance Scheme's planned shift to independent assessments as a cost cutting measure was dumped after state and territory ministers refused to agree.

NSW becomes the first state to record more than 1000 COVID cases in a single day.

The first Indigenous death from COVID was recorded. The poor rates of vaccination among the Indigenous population sparked further criticism of the rollout.

Social media companies expanded efforts to crack down on COVID misinformation, which led to Sky News' YouTube channel being locked for a week.

Anti-lockdown protests in Melbourne reached more than 4000 participants, with smaller protests in Adelaide, Brisbane, Darwin, Perth and Sydney, resulting in hundreds of arrests and fines.

The AUKUS pact to help Australia build nuclear submarines was announced in what was the country's best kept political secret in decades. Defence would dump its attack-class submarine program with France's Naval Group and immediately announced it would be building a nuclear fleet of submarines for use sometime in the 2040s as part of evolving geo-political dynamics of the Indo-Pacific region.

However, the fallout from not telling the French in advance proved to be a global headache that led to souring relations.

Scott Morrison visited the United States and met with the other Quad leaders, Joe Biden, India's Narendra Modi and Japan's Yoshihide Suga.

Back in Australia, COVID protests continued. A demonstration at the Shrine of Remembrance was condemned by the Prime Minister, but his ministerial colleagues were acknowledging the "deep frustrations" of the activists over lockdowns.

South Australian Labor senator Alex Gallagher died in office after a battle with lung cancer, and Christian Porter gave up his cabinet position rather than disclose the donors funding his defamation claim against the ABC.

The resignation of Gladys Berejiklian as NSW premier following her appearance at corruption hearings prompted renewed calls for the federal government to keep its promise to implement a national anti-corruption body. Time was running out with only a handful of parliamentary sitting weeks left for legislation to pass.

Lockdowns began to lift around the country as states reached 80 per cent vaccination targets. Australia was on the verge of the targets set for Phase C of the national plan to reopen in which vaccinated Australians were to be exempt from domestic travel restrictions, however Queensland and Western Australia's premiers refused. The Prime Minister said the country could open without them.

The Australian government committed to net zero by 2050 as Scott Morrison travelled to a major UN climate change summit in Glasgow. What concessions the Nationals secured in exchange for their co-operation was kept secret.

COVID protests continued, switching from anti-lockdown to focusing on opposition to vaccine mandates in workplaces and recreational venues, with the language growing increasingly violent. A gallows and nooses were carried through the streets of Melbourne in one protest. The Prime Minister took criticism for "playing both sides", by condemning the threats and intimidation but saying he understood why people were frustrated.

Several senior political figures around the country, including Health Minister Greg Hunt, revealed they and their families had received serious threats of violence during the pandemic that prompted concerns about candidate security in the upcoming election in 2022.

Defence Minister Peter Dutton escalated the "drums of war" rhetoric from parts of the government in a major speech about China that warned Beijing's ambitions saw Australia as a "tributary state".

The year came to a close with more from the ongoing story of abuse of female staffers in Parliament House, with further allegations about Education Minister Alan Tudge from his former media advisor Rachelle Miller. Mr Tudge stood aside as the matters were investigated.

The new Omicron strain of COVID rewrote all the rules. The interval for booster shots were brought forward from six months to five and then four months from next year, and children aged five to 11 were given the tick to get vaccinated as the government prepares for Australia to go into its third year of the pandemic.

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