For the people: future-proofing Australia's democracy Australians cannot take the future strength and resilience of our democracy for granted. These are more turbulent times not just for our economy or standard of living, but for liberal democracies themselves.

You can read more in our full report 'For the people: future-proofing Australia's democracy', available now on the Grattan Institute website. 11/

Making our democracy more resilient isn’t just about responding to threats as they arise. It’s also about getting the fundamentals right. Local council elections are one example where Australia can, and should, make our democracy fairer and better. 10/

States should also go further, by expanding voting rights in council elections to all long-term residents, as already happens in New Zealand, the UK, the Netherlands, and the City of Melbourne. 9/

Voting in local government elections should be both fair and easy. That’s why all states should ensure council elections are ‘one resident, one vote’, as Queensland has already done, and ensure the voting experience is just as easy for council as for state elections. 8/

This uneven engagement with local elections has consequences for the decisions councils make once they’re elected. As we see regularly on housing policy matters, local policy processes often under-represent the views of younger residents, renters, and marginalised communities. 7/

Voting in Victorian, Tasmanian, and South Australian local council elections is further skewed by property and business franchise, which allows some property- or business-owners to vote multiple times, or in multiple councils. 6/

And this doesn't include the many non-citizen residents who can't vote. For instance, long-term temporary and permanent residents make up more than 1 in 5 adults in 7 local councils across Australia, including Wyndham in Victoria, Cumberland in NSW, and Wanneroo in WA. 5/

Even in states like Victoria - where voting is compulsory - turnout is still lower than for federal elections, and it's distributed unevenly. For example, we show that areas with more renters saw lower turnout at the 2024 Victorian council elections. 4/

Turnout for local government elections is lower than for state or federal elections. In South Australia for instance – where council elections are not compulsory – turnout in 2022 was just 34.5 per cent, compared with more than 91 per cent at that year’s federal election. 3/

Voting is by far the most widely shared experience in Australia’s democracy. Thanks to compulsory voting and well-managed elections, state and federal elections see high turnout generally strong engagement. But council elections vary much more widely. 2/

Who gets a say? It’s one of the core questions in any democratic process. In our recent report on Australia’s democratic resilience, we make the case for broadening whose voices count in elections for our lowest level of government. A short thread 🧵 1/

The Grattan podcast is back! Listen in to catch Kate Griffiths and me talking about our latest report 'For the people: future-proofing Australia's democracy'. Link below.

For the people: future-proofing Australia's democracy Australians cannot take the future strength and resilience of our democracy for granted. These are more turbulent times not just for our economy or standard of living, but for liberal democracies themselves.

You can read the full report on the Grattan Institute website here:

Parliament ultimately needs to tackle these challenges for itself, but how does it do so in an environment where trust in politicians is low? Our proposal for an independent review would allow for a wide-ranging package of reforms that could garner public support.

And while our current parliament is in many ways the product of a two-party system, an increasing number of Australians are opting to vote for non-major parties, challenging parliament's ability to represent the diversity of Australia's political opinions.

Australia's parliament faces a range of challenges: growing demands on parliamentarians' time and resources, concerns about the influence of money in politics, shrinking membership bases for our political parties, and concerns around the efficacy of parliamentary committees.

Our report includes a range of recommendations to achieve these goals, which I won't cover in full here, but I will highlight one example: we recommend that parliament commission an independent review of how parliament works, and how to make it better.

So, what steps can we take to future-proof Australia's democracy in these turbulent times? We outline five key areas: making the most of our parliament, nurturing belonging and engagement, protecting the public sphere, tackling the known challenges, and preparing for volatility.

While political polarisation in Australia has remained in check, it has risen in many peer democracies, challenging the natural give-and-take of democratic politics. Even healthy democracies are not immune to the spillover effects of rising illiberal ideologies around the world.

More broadly, a range of global economic, technological, and social trends are undermining democratic norms and institutions. Notably, the shift online has weakened the news media's economic model, and pushed key information onto social media, which has lower public trust.

Declining perceptions of economic fairness and a falling sense of belonging in the Australian community are among the key drivers of this dissatisfaction. Regardless of their individual financial circumstances, Australians are increasingly pessimistic about the nation's economy.

But while democracies around the globe are under pressure, Australia's democracy retains widespread support, with three quarters of Australians saying it is preferable to other systems. It's satisfaction with our policy makers and political parties that is more fragile.

Today, the state of democracy is again in the news, as Hungary sees a change of government after 16 years of rising illiberalism. But Hungary's challenges are not unique: while Australia's democracy is strong, many peer democracies have become less free and fair since 2000.

For the people: future-proofing Australia's democracy Australians cannot take the future strength and resilience of our democracy for granted. These are more turbulent times not just for our economy or standard of living, but for liberal democracies themselves.

Among many discussions we have with policy leaders at the Grattan Institute, one issue continually comes to the fore: Australia's democracy. But is our democracy really under pressure? If so, how should we respond? This is the topic of our latest Grattan Institute report.

I get where you’re coming from, but who is the “y’all” you’re thinking of in this sentence?

Their 30-year infrastructure strategy does a great job of pulling together much of this work, and is well worth a read, even for non-Victorians.

You can catch a full recording of the webinar at Infrastructure Victoria’s website here: www.infrastructurevi...

I’ve long admired the detailed research Infrastructure Victoria has done to outline how Melbourne (and Victoria’s regional towns) could build more homes in the places that people want to live, with great access to public transport, jobs, and services.

Was great to be on a panel hosted by Infrastructure Victoria last week discussing all things housing, planning, and infrastructure, alongside Katherine Sundermann, Patrick Fensham, and Jonathan Spear.

But Bagg’s work shows that taking a practical view of democracy’s benefits doesn’t have to detract from its richness. In a time when mature democracies around the globe are facing new threats, it’s a useful guide for reformers everywhere.