Executive summary

The enduring success of Australia’s democracy rests on many vital foundations including a free press, informed and diverse debate, the rule of law, free and fair elections, active civil society and the checks and balances provided by courts and other institutions. Yet, despite Australia’s strong democratic history, there is a clear and disturbing trend of new laws and practices eroding many of these foundations.

Federal and state governments have stepped up efforts to avoid scrutiny, reduce transparency and limit accountability in order to expand government power, advantage political elites and advance the interests of business. Governments are using a range of funding levers to stifle advocacy by non-government organisations that represent vulnerable minorities. Environmental groups who challenge the fossil fuel industry are facing threats to their financial viability though attempts to remove their charity tax concessions. A number of states have enacted excessive and unnecessary anti-protest laws that prioritise business and political interests over protest rights.

Whistleblowers who expose even the most serious human rights abuses against children now face unprecedented risks of reprisals including prosecution and jail. Press freedom is being eroded by new laws and policies jeopardising journalists’ ability to maintain the confidentiality of sources and to report on matters of public interest. All the while, in critical areas governments are undermining or sidelining the courts and institutions like the Australian Human Rights Commission, the nation’s human rights watchdog, that were created to keep them in check.

The success of Australia’s democracy relies on much more than the ability of adults to cast a free vote on election day. For our democracy to thrive, we need free speech, the free flow of information and a free press to hold government accountable and to inform peoples’ voting decisions. We need to be able to organise and protest on issues that concern us. We need an environment in which civil society can effectively participate. We need institutions, organisations and practices to prevent and expose misconduct and abuse of power; to ensure that government and elected representatives act in the best interests of the Australian public instead of prioritising powerful business and political interests; and to ensure that the interests of vulnerable minority groups are represented in policy debates.

These are not only our human rights but they are vital preconditions to the health and prosperity of our democracy and our nation.

We must arrest this trend that is eroding many of the vital foundations of our democracy and we must strengthen these foundations. This report outlines a way forward.