Tim Watts (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Communications and Cyber Security) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Australia's democracy is the foundation of our individual freedoms and our collective prosperity, and all of us in this place owe our positions to the institutions of Australian democracy. We're custodians of these democratic institutions, but all too often we take these institutions for granted. Every democratic norm that is ignored in this place and every principal that is bent in pursuit of short-term political gain weakens these institutions and undermines public trust and confidence in our democracy. This is a problem because around the world democratic principles are under pressure from rising populist and authoritarian forces, as much within our own societies as without. Our generation is being called on to fight for democracy in the face of this challenge.

Next week, US President Joe Biden is convening the Summit for Democracy, which will be attended by around 110 countries, including Australia. The aim of the summit is:

… to renew the spirit and shared purpose of the nations of the Free World.

It will:

… strengthen our democratic institutions, honestly confront … nations that are backsliding, and forge a common agenda …

It's an important challenge, and a welcome return to global leadership in service of democratic values from the United States.

We've seen democracies around the world under pressure from without and within in recent years. In the United States, we saw this most dramatically with the 6 January insurrection at the US Congress—an event that grew out of many years of attacks on democratic values and institutions in the United States under President Trump—and culminated in an attack on the most fundamental part of any democracy—a peaceful transition of power at the conclusion of free and fair elections. In this way, President Biden's summit for democracy is a welcome initiative, not because it seeks to lecture the world but because it encourages the democracies of the world to undertake the same kind of self-reflection that it is currently undertaking about the health of its democracy in the wake of the 6 January insurrection.

Australia should take up this invitation for self-reflection. Unfortunately, we're beginning to see a similar pattern play out in Australia under the current government. Although external threats remain in the form of increasing cyber-enabled foreign interference, the greatest threat for our democracy comes from within. It comes from those who undermine public confidence in our democracy by trashing the norms of our democratic institutions in pursuit of short-term political gain.

Recent years have seen a series of actions from this government that have been destructive to public confidence in our democracy. Secret donations to ministers. The countless Auditor-General reports into the rorting of billions of dollars of public funds, from sports rorts to car park rorts. Law enforcement raids on journalists' homes over leaked documents. Attacks on our universal franchise in attempts to import US-style voter suppression tactics to this country for the first time. Ministers and MPs suing their own citizens for defamation! The continuing failure of this government to establish a national integrity commission more than 1,000 days after it committed to doing so. And, most concerningly, a failure to unequivocally condemn rising authoritarianism in our political debate.

For too long this Prime Minister has shamefully pandered to extremists who have increasingly been introducing the threat of physical violence into our democracy. We've seen the consequences of this play out in the streets of our capital cities, with violent rhetoric and props of violence targeting elected representatives. I know that many members of parliament are facing the next federal election fearing for their physical safety and the physical safety of their families for the first time. All of this should prompt serious self-reflection about what every one of us is doing to help sustain the strength of our democracy.

The Summit for Democracy will seek commitments from participants to galvanise their own democracies under three themes: defending against authoritarianism, fighting corruption and promoting respect for human rights. There's plenty that the Australian government could commit to here for the sake of our democracy. I'm keen to do my bit, as an elected representative in this place, and I'm looking forward to participating in this conversation through the legislative track of the Summit for Democracy, hosted by the US Congress's House Democracy Partnership very early in the morning on Friday Australian time. The topics for this legislative track are well chosen: curbing authoritarianism through strong legislatures; the defence of democratic institutions and principles; and advancing integrity through parliament. There is plenty that the Australian government could do on this front too.

This summit underlines the way that Australia's alliance with the United States is far broader than simply a joint military defence alliance. It's an alliance founded on shared democratic values. It's an alliance founded on the common things that our elected representatives and all of the citizens of our respective democracies believe. It's a deep alliance; it's not a shallow one. Australia should rise to the challenge posed by our alliance partner and join in this fight for the future of democracy—not just internationally, not around the world, but, most importantly of all, at home.