• 30 January – Prime Minister
Julia Gillard announces planned election date of 14 September 2013. • 19 February – Greens leader
Christine Milne announces that the alliance agreement with the ALP is over, but her party will not vote against confidence or supply. • 26 February – Gillard announces she will "campaign" in western Sydney for the following week, from Sunday night until Friday. • 19 March –
Richard Torbay is forced to resign from the
Nationals, forfeiting his candidature for the
Division of New England.
Barnaby Joyce puts his name forward as a possible replacement candidate, hoping to move from the Senate to the House of Representatives. • 21 March – Former Labor leader, Minister
Simon Crean asks Gillard for a party leadership vote, and publicly declares his support for Kevin Rudd. In parliament, the Opposition attempts to suspend standing orders for a
no confidence vote and although gaining 73 votes to the government's 71 votes, fails to gain the absolute majority of 76 votes required. Crean is sacked from the ministry. At the
leadership ballot no alternative candidate nominates, and Gillard is re-elected as ALP leader unopposed. Rudd supporters
Joel Fitzgibbon,
Ed Husic,
Janelle Saffin and
Richard Marles quit their positions in the executive government. • 22 March – Rudd issues a statement that he will never again return to the ALP leadership.
Kim Carr,
Martin Ferguson and
Chris Bowen quit their ministries. • 23 March – Key independent MP
Andrew Wilkie warns that ongoing instability within the ALP means the government will have difficulty surviving a
vote of confidence when parliament resumes in May. • 2 May – The opposition indicates it will support the Government's
National Disability Insurance Scheme policy, including an increase in the
Medicare levy from 1.5% to 2%. • 26 June – Independents
Rob Oakeshott and
Tony Windsor both announce they won't recontest their seats at the election.
Kevin Rudd defeats
Julia Gillard in
another Labor leadership spill by a 57–45 margin. After the spill, Gillard along with ministers
Craig Emerson and
Peter Garrett announce their retirement at the coming election. • 27 June – Rudd is sworn in as prime minister by
Governor-General Quentin Bryce, with
Anthony Albanese and
Chris Bowen sworn in as deputy prime minister and Treasurer respectively. Defence Minister
Stephen Smith MP announces his retirement at the coming election. • 29 June –
Greg Combet MP announces his retirement at the coming election. • 1 July – The
Second Rudd Ministry is sworn in.
Simon Crean MP announces his retirement at the coming election. • 1 July –
Wikileaks party receives formal registration as a political party. • 22 July – The ALP caucus approves changes to the way the federal parliamentary leader is chosen. The new rules make it more difficult to change leaders and require a ballot of the party membership on contested leadership spills. • 4 August –
Kevin Rudd announces the election date as 7 September 2013. • 5 August –
Quentin Bryce, the
Governor-General, issues the
election writ. • 11 August – The first of three televised leaders debates between Rudd and Abbott is held in Canberra. • 21 August – The second televised leaders debate between Rudd and Abbott is held in Brisbane. • 25 August – The Coalition's formal campaign launch is held in Brisbane. • 27 August – Treasurer Chris Bowen and shadow treasurer
Joe Hockey debate at the National Press Club. Later that evening, the third and final televised leaders debate between Rudd and Abbott is held at the Rooty Hill RSL in Sydney. • 28 August – The Coalition releases a document outlining $31.6 billion of proposed budget savings. • 29 August – The Rudd government releases several costings estimates which it claims show a $10 billion shortfall in the Coalition's claimed savings released the previous day. In a strongly-worded statement, the secretaries of the Department of Treasury and Department of Finance criticise the use of these confidential costings prepared for the government, re-iterating that the assumptions used differ from the costings prepared for the Coalition. • 1 September – Labor's formal campaign launch is held in Brisbane. • 5 September – The Coalition releases its remaining policy costings, claiming a further $9 billion worth of savings, including a $4.5 billion reduction in Australia's foreign aid budget. Later in the day, the Coalition releases a policy document announcing the implementation of an opt-out
Internet filter. That evening, Shadow Communications Minister
Malcolm Turnbull states that the document was "poorly worded" and released by mistake, and that the Coalition had no such policy. • 7 September (election day) – The Liberal-National coalition defeats the Australian Labor Party with the Coalition expected to win about 90 seats in the House of Representatives. Kevin Rudd conceded defeat and announced that he would not renominate for the ALP's leadership. • 18 September – The
Abbott Ministry is sworn in by
Governor-General Quentin Bryce. • 17 October – A recount of all "above-the-line" Senate votes made in Western Australia is initiated after an appeal by the WA Greens and the Australian Sports Party is upheld. • 31 October – The AEC announces that it is unable to find 1,375 ballot papers during the WA Senate recount. • 31 October – The AEC declares
Clive Palmer the winner of the seat of Fairfax, after two recounts, by a margin of 53 votes. Palmer claims the result vindicates his decision to challenge more than half the ballot papers cast. • 4 November – The AEC declares the result of the WA Senate recount, awarding the last two seats to the Greens and Australian Sports Party, instead of the ALP and Palmer United Party. • 15 November – The AEC disputes its own declaration of the WA Senate result, by lodging a petition with the
Court of Disputed Returns, asking that the WA Senate result be declared null and void. • January 2014 – Justice
Kenneth Hayne, in the Court of Disputed Returns, hears submissions from the AEC and political parties. On 30 January 2014, Hayne
reserved his decision. • 20 February 2014 –
The Court of Disputed Returns voids the results of the WA Senate election. • 21 February 2014 – Electoral Commissioner Ed Killesteyn announces his resignation, to take effect on 4 July 2014. ==Campaign==