Tania Lawrence (Hasluck, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters, I present the committee's report, incorporating dissenting reports, entitled From classroom to community: Civics education and political participation in Australia.

Report made a parliamentary paper in accordance with standing order 39(e).

by leave—Democracy only works where citizens are able to engage in the democratic process in an informed way. In Australia, we require our citizens to show up to the polls, and that expectation must be matched with the readiness to provide the education and tools to make an informed choice.

Democracy is under pressure in the world today. We have a duty to ensure that we learn from best practice and that we provide within our own institutions and practices examples of democratic functioning that others can learn from.

Trust in government is an issue in modern democracies. We build trust through the way we conduct ourselves, through creating sturdy institutions and by demonstrating respect for them, and through education and providing voters with the tools they need to make the choices and decisions within the political process.

During the inquiry, there were over 130 submissions, 11 public hearings, five site visits and an online survey with almost 1,000 responses. We heard that civics education is crucial and also that the current state of civics education nationally is inadequate.

The 23 recommendations of the report include a nationally mandated civics and citizenship curriculum in the next version of the Australian Curriculum, more resourcing for professional development for civics teachers, finding ways to encourage more remote and regional schools to visit Canberra or access digital learning experiences, providing the better resources needed for regional and remote communities at voting time, working with community organisations to better engage youth and culturally and linguistically diverse communities on voter education and their opportunities, and a greater focus on media and digital literacy to address the growing rise of mis- and disinformation distorting the foundations of our democracy.

In my first speech in this place, I said that our representative institutions must be representative in order to be legitimate and instil confidence. The parliament and the government must always lead in this respect. I am proud of the gender diversity, the cultural diversity and the diversity of the life experiences that this parliament is now increasingly reflecting. But that reflection only endures and increases if the Australian people are able to engage adequately at each election with the democratic process. The Australian people include, without qualification, the young Australian people, the Indigenous Australian people and the Australian people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. We need to make special efforts to ensure their full participation in our democracy so that their voices are heard and their votes are counted.

I am proud of the work done by the committee to further these goals. I thank the committee secretariat, who fulfilled their duties with their usual professionalism, and I make special mention of the leadership of the chair, Senator Brown, and of the former chair, the member for Jagajaga. I thank the many individuals and organisations that gave up their time and effort during the inquiry process. I commend the report to the House and move:

That the House take note of the report.

Debate adjourned.