The democratic project is about more than elections; its institutions must be revitalised on the basis of fairness, respect, openness, integrity and trust.

The most obvious sign of democratic retreat in Australia is the rise of One Nation. Voters are supporting this racist and populist party because they are sick and tired of the untrustworthiness of our major parties, as shown in their response to the gambling lobby.

The US and UK are in democratic decline. In a democracy index produced by the Economist Intelligence Unit the US ranking has fallen from 28th to 34th place since Trump took office. The US remains classified as a “flawed democracy”, marred by political polarisation, institutional damage and major concerns about electoral processes and civil rights.

In the EIU index, Norway, New Zealand, Sweden, Iceland, Switzerland, Finland, Denmark consistently occupy the top positions. Australia, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Ireland and most of Western Europe typically sit in the upper-middle tier of full democracies, generally ranked somewhere between 10th and 20th globally.

There is also the Democracy Perception Index 2026, the world’s largest annual study on how people perceive democracy. The index measures a range of issues: elections, peaceful transitions, civic education, rule of law, political pluralism, freedom of speech, separation of powers and government transparency. It rates the US 64 out of 98 countries. Australia is ranked 8, NZ 10 and the UK 30. Since Brexit the UK has almost become ungovernable with six prime ministers in 10 years.

In many countries, “democracy” has been narrowed down to a view that it is only about elections and not well-functioning institutions. There are so many signs of decay in our institutions – unchallenged lies and falsehoods in the media, most........

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