Events in the US
We are gathered here tonight on what is a really troubling moment for democracies around the world.
Yesterday, a former President of the USA survived an assassination attempt. An extraordinary moment for one of Australia’s most important international partners.
An attack on a candidate for the most powerful elected position in the world is an attack on democracy itself.
There is much still to unfold here.
But there is no question that this is part of a growing reflex towards violence in one of the world’s oldest and greatest democracies.
And shows us, I think, that tonight’s discussion has never been more important.
So let’s get to it.
Acknowledgement of country
It is said that the land around Canberra has been a place for communion, discussion and decision-making for more than 50,000 years.
I acknowledge the Ngunnawal people, the traditional owners, and any First Nations people who are with us tonight.
Stories about Australian democracy almost inevitably focus on the white men who have exercised most of the political power, for most of our modern history.
But the essence of what I want to talk about tonight is better captured by these four people.
This is William Barak defending his people’s rights to the land at Coranderrk in Victoria in the 1870s and 1880s; William Cooper getting signatures for his petition to the King in 1930s; and Yolngu leaders in 1963 presenting bark petitions to protest against the seizure of their lands for mining.
All these acts of democratic engagement occurred because of the wild commitment and energy and belief of these pioneers of democracy.
All were trying to influence a political system that at the time did not even acknowledge their existence.
That took some guts.
Their activism paved the way for our modern Indigenous leaders. Linda Burney, Pat Dodson, and Malardirri McCarthy and Jana and Marcus Stewart, to name but a few.
All idols of mine.
All people who see and believe that our democracy is capable of change, and growth.
Introduction: An optimistic vision
If I have a single critique about the global discussion about democracy, it is the overwhelming negativity.
There is much problem-admiring, hand-wringing and darkness about the future.
For some countries, that might be the right diagnosis.
But not here in Australia.
When we walk around the Museum of Australian Democracy, who have been kind enough to host us this evening, the story of our country’s democracy is one of powerful optimism.
When we put today’s very real challenges to democracy in their historical context, four things are apparent.
First, democracy is under challenge all over the world, in ways that are new and striking.
Second, Australia’s democracy is better positioned than any other to innovate our way through those challenges.
Third, Australia not only has a choice to do this, but an obligation: to show the rest of the world that democracies can survive and thrive. This is Australia’s light on the hill moment.
And finally, our history shows us what has to happen to meet that moment.
Threats to democracy
Let me start with some of the challenges.
There is no question that from a global perspective, there is a battle on foot for political supremacy between democracy and autocracy. And right now, democracy is losing ground.
In 2024, Freedom House reported that global freedom had declined for the 18th consecutive year.
Over the past decade, the number of people living in democracies has fallen. And many democratic countries have become less democratic.
Like a virus, populists are replicating at an exponential rate. New strains of nationalism are emerging around the world.
Autocratic leaders are personalising political power, strangling free speech, attacking diversity and adopting ‘strongman’ authoritarian measures.
That these trends are global is not accidental. Autocratic regimes are learning from each other, picking up and refining techniques and tactics.
We see it in countries disempowering independent judiciaries and sharing spyware. We see countries invest millions of dollars in electronic surveillance and hacking systems. We see countries building firewalls to create isolated online networks which can be closely monitored by dictators, and then sharing those tools with like-minded nations.
I say this not to scare people. But to help people understand that some of the challenges to our democracy are quite intentional. The very existence of successful, prosperous democracies like Australia threatens autocratic regimes.
And I share this, too, to demonstrate that the threats to our democracy are changing with the digital age.
The strongest democracy in 2040 will not look identical to the strong democracies of 2005, or 1985.
Strength in democracy means adaptation. My argument today is that we need a Democracy 2.0, and that Australia is uniquely placed to create it.
I want to quickly run through the four major challenges that democracies are facing today—mis and disinformation, foreign interference, social cohesion, and public trust.
Challenge 1: Mis- and Disinformation
Mis- and disinformation are an insidious poison to democracy. They are also as old as democracy itself. But the modern incarnation of the problem is new, and we need new tools to fight back.
In the 19th century, media looked very different. Even small towns had a couple of newspapers. The journos that worked for them reported on everything from the price of livestock in the local cattle yard to the war in Crimea.
Mis- and dis-information was present in this world of ‘old media’. Critics anguished over biased content in the paper and on radio.
But now social media allows mis- and disinformation to spread at a speed that was unimaginable in the age of the telegraph, and on a scale that we’ve never seen before.
Lies move faster than the truth. In 2018, MIT researchers found that on social media platforms, lies were 70% more likely to be shared—and they reach audiences six times faster.
Social media platforms are not a neutral medium in our democracy.
Like many newspapers that began as sources of essential information and then degenerated into purveyors of propaganda, social media algorithms push people into filter bubbles and echo chambers that entrench polarising beliefs. And, unlike the disinformation of ages gone past, most of this is invisible, to trusted news sources, and to governments.
AI will massively compound the problem. There is potential here for massive amounts of harmful, perfectly curated content to be generated and shared at lightening speed.
Newsguard, an organisation that develop tools to counter misinformation found that between May and December 2023 websites hosting AI-created false articles had increased by more than 1000 per cent.
Social media has benefits for democracy.
But without proper regulation, social media platforms are diminishing and dividing the politics they once promised to enrich.
Challenge 2: Foreign Interference
This trend has not gone unnoticed by democracy’s enemies. Social media is one of the most common vehicles by which nation states are conducting foreign interference—which is Australia’s principal national security concern.
We know that Australia is subject to ongoing attempts at foreign interference, where malicious actors try to meddle in our diaspora communities, universities and political systems.
And just last Friday, two Russian-born Australian citizens were accused of obtaining Australian Defence Force material to share with Russian authorities. This was the first time an espionage-related offence has been laid in Australia since new laws were introduced in 2018.
But there is no question that tackling foreign interference is going to be a critical focus for democracies for the foreseeable future.
Challenge 3: Social Cohesion
Leila Smith, an Expert Advisor to the Taskforce, said it best—a united nation does not mean we all have to agree on issues.
Democracy is about mutual respect.
It’s about being willing to listen, understand and respect different points of view.
Sadly, I see the US as a cautionary tale here. There is no doubt that we are seeing polarisation in its extreme.
And we see troubling signs of this, too, here in Australia.
Over the last 18 months, ASIO has seen a genuine uptick in the number of nationalist and racist violent extremists advocating sabotage, both here and overseas.
We see it, too, in the context of more mainstream political debate. It is understandable that there are very deeply held views about the Israel-Hamas War. And I am worried about the way these views are being expressed.
The right to protest is a cornerstone of any democracy. But denying access to government services, terrorising politicians and their staff, painting symbols of terrorism in public spaces, setting buildings alight. These are not democratic actions.
We need to remember here that democracy is not just a system of government, it is a set of cultures and values about how we resolve conflict.
Challenge 4: Public Trust
The final challenge is loss of public trust.
The evidence tells us that there is overwhelming support for democracy in Australia. In a recent survey commissioned by the APS Commission, 85% of Australians say it is important to live in a country that is governed democratically. Only 1% believed it is not at all important.
Australians also trust our electoral institutions. 90% of Australians say they trust the AEC, and it ranks #1 in public satisfaction—making it the most trusted provider of public services in the country.
Despite these strengths, many Australians remain concerned about the trajectory of democracy. The APSC survey found that only one in two Australians believe democracy is on the right track. And we see this across all most institutions – not just government, but business, media and politics.
Our unique opportunity
I’ve spoken a lot here about challenges. And now I want to turn to the good news.
The issues I have raised with you – these are problems in democracies all over the world.
If I could be in any country in the world confronting these challenges, I would pick Australia every day of the week.
We face challenges. But Australia is uniquely placed to lead the world in tackling them. If we choose, Australia can be integral to the global revitalisation of democracy.
Why do I believe this? Because this is what our history tells us is possible.
Australia is one of the world’s most successful democracies. This was not an accident.
We have an incredibly proud history of innovation and leadership. And if I could change one thing to improve Australian democracy, it would be that more Australians know about this rich and proud history.
In the late 19th- and early-20th centuries, Australia was what the Australian historian Judith Brett called “a laboratory for new ideas about democracy”.
Many of those pioneering ideas are now taken-for-granted features of democracy—not just here, but around the world.
Let me run through some Australian achievements
The combination of a government-supplied voting slip with the secret ballot is a distinctively Australian contribution to global democracy. Imagine turning up on Election Day and being intimidated into declaring who you voted for. That is what used to happen in the mid-19th century.
So Australians devised a way to hold elections so no one would know who you voted for. The Australian ballot, as it was sometimes called around the world.
Australia was also a pioneer in establishing a non-partisan, professionalised electoral administration, paving the way for today’s Electoral Commission.
Some of our best innovations barely make it into the history books. Herbert Payne is not a name that’s likely to ring any bells with most Australians.
There is no portrait or bronze statue of him in Parliament.
Yet this unassuming Senator arguably had a greater influence on democracy than almost any politician who has served in the national parliament.
In 1924, Payne brought the Electoral (Compulsory Voting) Bill into the Senate.
“Parliament is supposed to be a reflex of the mind of the people.” Payne declared when he introduced the Bill. “If the people exhibit no interest in the selection of their representatives…there must be considerable deterioration in the nature of the laws governing the social and economic development of this country.”
The Bill passed with brief debate, little opposition, and no formal division to record votes.
I’ve spoken about the importance of change. The shameful early disenfranchisement of First Nations people was partly corrected by the monumental actions of First Nations leaders.
These failings took more than six decades to correct, including landmark reforms to the Commonwealth Electoral Act in 1962.
But we are still on a journey here, something we will get into in our panel discussion.
Many women are also the heroes of our democratic story. Australians such as Rose Scott, Edith Cowan and Vida Goldstein, among others, led to the passage of the 1902 Commonwealth Franchise Act.
This Act saw Australia become the first nation in the world to grant women the dual rights to vote and to stand in national elections.
When we look back at our democratic history, we see mistakes and challenges. But the reason we are one of the most successful, resilient and strongest democracies in the world is because smart citizens fought for innovation, change and improvement.
This journey, this history, is the perfect preparation to help Australia confront the headwinds of the coming decades. And, as each of these pioneers did, create a stronger democracy and an example for the world.
Our work to date
Every generation needs to write their own chapter of this story.
Our Government takes this responsibility seriously.
Many of you know I am a long-term democracy nerd. I also see a deep need for us to approach the challenges to Australian democracy in a serious and sustained way.
Indeed, if I seek to hand a better Australia on to my children, this is what must occur.
In 2022, I launched the Strengthening Democracy Taskforce to identify concrete initiatives to build Australia’s democratic resilience.
Tonight, it is my honour and pleasure to announce the publication of the Taskforce’s report entitled Strengthening Australian democracy: A practical agenda for democratic resilience. This report is the culmination of the tremendous work of the Taskforce over the past 18 months.
I would also like to thank the Expert Advisory Board—Professor Larry Diamond, Professor Rod Sims AO, Ms Leila Smith and Professor Ngaire Woods for their immense contributions.
I would like to thank all the members of the Taskforce, and everyone in the room who made this possible. In particular, I would like to thank the head of the Taskforce, Dr Jeni Whalan, for her fantastic leadership.
There is a lot of related work happening across government, and tonight I want to show you how it fits together around a democracy agenda. These pieces of work address the four threats to democracy that I outlined earlier.
To combat the scourge of mis- and disinformation online, Communications Minister Michelle Rowland is legislating powers to hold digital platforms to account.
Industry and Science Minister Ed Husic is working to ensure we have the right regulatory settings to capture the benefits of AI, while keeping us safe from those who would use this technology to do us harm.
In this year’s Budget, we committed $71.6m to tackle foreign interference. This includes launching the Technology Foreign Interference Taskforce, known as TechFIT, to protect sensitive information from espionage, sabotage and foreign interference.
Our government is restoring social cohesion as a core function of the Commonwealth. We’ve made significant investments in this area – which my colleague, Minister Andrew Giles, leads.
To help restore public trust in government, Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus has led the establishment of the National Anti-Corruption Commission and passed major whistleblowing reforms. And Special Minister of State Don Farrell is working on landmark changes to the role of political donations and spending in Federal elections.
The path forward
This is some of what government is doing. And I want to finish talking about the role of Australian citizens.
One of the goals of our work in Home Affairs is to spark a conversation with citizens about their democracy.
Defending democracy is a national responsibility.
This isn’t just about governments. We can’t do this on our own—indeed, we mustn’t do it alone.
Democracy is strengthened by herd immunity against the threats I’ve discussed.
There are clear steps that every Australian can take.
First, we must recognise, celebrate and protect our democratic strengths.
This includes upholding and celebrating a system of government that reflects the will of the people, our ability to have open discourse, our checks and balances, and the inclusiveness of our diverse society.
Second, we should invigorate our participation in democracy. We can improve our understanding of democracy and how it works.
We can say ‘no’ to the toxic content that too often passes for legitimate comment on social media and the violent actions of those on the fringes.
As citizens, we have to keep talking with, and listening to, people with whom we disagree.
Third, we must draw inspiration from Australia’s long history of inventiveness and innovation.
Australia can be a laboratory for new ideas about democracy.
But this needs whole-of-society invigoration. It needs the expertise of our communities and businesses, our universities and think tanks and charities.
And, we need to see the global picture and our country’s role in it.
Australia can be a pioneer and an overseer; we can be an innovator and a caretaker; a trailblazer and a flagbearer.
Finally, we need to talk more about democracy. We need to spark new conversations around the dinner table and the boardroom table, in our universities and workplaces, and right across our richly diverse Australian community.
Today, with the release of the Strengthening Democracy report, I want to help spark these new conversations.
As a next step, the Taskforce will undertake conversations around the country to facilitate these conversations. I encourage everyone in this room to jump in and have your say.
I’m adding my voice to what I hope will be a symphony—diverse but harmonious—as we continue to steward our democracy through the difficulties ahead.
Hopefully, one day, we’ll see a new exhibit at MoAD called Democracy 2.0—a story of how Australia cultivated and championed a new period of global leadership in democracy, led by the Australians in this room, and from every walk of life.