Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil has warned that democracy in Australia and overseas is under threat due to populism, misinformation, disinformation and foreign interference. Source: ABC News.
Ms O’Neil said both established and recent democracies were declining, and the system needed to adapt to modern challenges.
“Many democratic countries are becoming less democratic. Like a virus, populists are replicating at an exponential rate,” she said in a speech at the Museum of Australian Democracy in Canberra last night.
“New strains of nationalism are emerging around the world. They are personalising political power, strangling free speech, attacking diversity and adopting ‘strongman’ authoritarian measures – all in the name of ‘saving the soul of the nation’,” she said.
“It seems like the democratic project is backsliding – not only in newer, less robust democracies but also in democracy’s heartland.”
She said social media platforms were not neutral mediums, but “big players” that pushed people into echo chambers.
She also spoke of threats to social cohesion and the part they play in eroding democracy.
“Denying access to government services, terrorising politicians and their staff, painting symbols of terrorism in public spaces, smashing windows, setting buildings alight,” she said.
“These are the measures of autocrats, despots and tyrants. They have no place in our democracy.”
The democracy of today needed to revitalise and adapt to these challenges, and Australia could be “integral” in that process, she said.
Collective action was needed to strengthen democracy, she said.
“The project of democratic renewal can’t be led by one person, one task force, or one government. It needs the expertise of our communities and businesses, our universities and think tanks, our charities and philanthropies,” Ms O’Neil said.
“We can’t let Australia become an island of democracy in a sea of autocracy,” she said.
FULL STORY
Democracy is ‘backsliding’ and needs to adapt to modern threats, Clare O’Neil warns (By Nelli Saarinen, ABC News)
