Deadly bushfires menaced Victoria in 2009
2007 December - Prime Minister Rudd signs documents ratifying Kyoto protocol on climate change, reversing the previous government's policy.
2008 February - Government apologises for past wrongs committed against the indigenous population.
Australia ends its policy of sending asylum seekers into detention on small Pacific islands, with the last refugees leaving Nauru.
2008 July - Labor government abandons policy - introduced in 1990s - of holding all asylum seekers in detention centres until their cases are heard.
2008 September - Quentin Bryce sworn in as Australia's governor-general, the first woman to hold the post.
2009 February - Devastating bushfires in the south-eastern state of Victoria kill more than 170 people.
2009 May - Australia announces plans to more than double its submarine fleet and buy 100 US Stealth fighters as part of a $70bn military modernisation programme.
Indian students hold rallies in protest against a series of violent attacks - more than 70 in the past year - which they say are racially motivated. India voices concern about the violence.
2010 February - Five Muslim men are sentenced to lengthy prison terms for conspiracy to carry out attacks.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown apologises for the policy of sending thousands of children to former colonies under a migrant programme that ended 40 years previously.
Gillard as PM
2010 June - Julia Gillard becomes prime minister, ousting Kevin Rudd in a Labor Party leadership challenge.