Australia’s global role in building democracy after Covid-19
The 2020 parliamentary year started with a hope for a more purposeful democracy, driven by a bipartisan bushfire condolence motion.
The national cabinet was born in 2020 and gave Australians a sense of faith in our leaders, putting purpose above party and showing an ability to act fast, act in the national interest and act as a team.
During the crisis, most Australians turned to trusted sources of information, including the government, state premiers and members of parliament.
This year is also when we started the dismantling of Australia’s democracy.
Parliament became optional. Our committees became virtual, and their hearings were disrupted by poor internet connections.
The once unified national cabinet frayed and split. The government’s commitment to democracy and parliamentary traditions disappeared.
This isn’t a uniquely Australian phenomenon. Democratic breakdown is occurring across the globe. From Hong Kong to New Zealand to the US we’re seeing elections delayed or tweaked.
Even before the pandemic in 2019, the Global Democracy Index hit its lowest rating since it was founded by the Economist Intelligence Unit more than a decade ago (EIU 2020). That was before the coronavirus slammed the brakes on our public institutions.
This coming decade is a fight between believers that democracy will prevail and those who seek to say it’s becoming too hard.
Australia must protect our core value of democracy.
A health crisis becomes a democratic and security crisis
Protecting democracy is the smart way to defend against bigger threats.
The world’s health and economic challenge of 2020 will become a decade or more of ongoing national security and democratic challenges.
The Prime Minister rightly alerted Australians to this when he said clearly, ‘We could see countries themselves fall into chaos.’
President Obama noted that democracy was under threat in the US when he said, ‘Don’t let them take away your democracy.’
On the security side, the UN Secretary-General’s call for a global ceasefire during the Covid-19 pandemic has failed. Within weeks, international monitors were reporting ceasefire violations across the globe.
Things are likely to get worse. Peace talks and diplomacy have been curtailed by international and domestic travel bans.
We may see wars and conflicts emerge or be exacerbated. Australia, as a wealthy and comparatively lucky country in the wake of Covid-19, will be asked to help.
The International Crisis Group has rung the alarm on the potential for nations to exploit the crisis and for a dramatic acceleration in the shift in major-power relations. The group warns that our world in the near future could be one in which unpredictable civil conflict and failed states are part of our daily security challenge.
Our focus as a pivotal power on the world stage is to think how we can best prevent failed states.
A loud voice for democracy
Australia should become the leading international voice for democracy.
Much of my life has been spent actively participating in Australian elections. As an adviser to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, as the campaign director for Labor’s most recent transition from opposition to government in the great state of Western Australia, and now as the federal member for Perth.
I love elections—they bring out ideas, passions and Australia’s best sausage sizzles.
Democracy is a value we take for granted far too often in Australia. But the rest of the world doesn’t experience democracy quite as consistently.
As we adjust our international response to Covid-19, democracy building must be a priority.
Our nation will never have the financial heft of China’s Belt and Road Initiative infrastructure funding program. Instead, we should have a ‘Ballot and Representation Initiative’ to play to our strengths.
Promoting democracy and strong institutions rather than simply bankrolling infrastructure is cheaper and more effective, and is a strategic value we must prioritise.
Democracy building is very practical: training future leaders, enabling women to run for office, running free and fair elections, building ethical political parties, working with civil society to build accountability mechanisms, and ensuring parliaments of diversity.
The costs of not protecting parliaments and democratic institutions are clear.
Australia’s democracy must set a good example
We start by setting a good example at home.
The habit of parliament reaching for the pause button when the movie gets too scary won’t make our world safer.
The measures Australia has taken to suppress the spread of the virus and flatten the curve have been extremely successful.
That has come at a cost to our own democratic traditions. We must not let this crisis suppress our democracy or our commitment to international stability and order.
Australia, as a beacon of democracy and security in both our region and the wider international community, has a duty to ensure that those values shine as brightly as possible during these dark times.
Australia is a respected voice for democracy
Australia’s democratic values aren’t something we can just follow when times are good.
Our nation has embraced the task of growing and improving our democracy since federation in 1901. We’ve proved it’s a good system for a start-up nation like ours.
When asked, we also help others. In 2014, I travelled to Kabul to observe the recount of the Afghanistan presidential election. Our team consisted of people from the US and India and a good contingent of Australians.
We were the nerdiest of all among that crew of election nerds. And we were respected observers because we practise at home what we preach abroad.
It’s entirely appropriate that the country that has a voting system named after us—the ‘Australian ballot’—should become one of the most active and loudest international voices for democratic values.
Many remember the lengths Australia went to in assisting Indonesia to shift to democratic government. We provided emergency assistance, advocated for Indonesia in international forums and pledged to back Indonesia’s currency while the transition to democracy caused economic upheaval within the country. Australia has time and time again proven our commitment to democracy across the globe.
Our parliament is adapting
At home in Australia, as it has become clearer that the coronavirus outbreak could go well into 2021, we’ve adapted.
Practising democracy in Australia is currently more difficult than at any time since federation. Persistence has been key.
After months of resistance, parliamentarians can now connect via video link into the House of Representatives to give a speech or ask a question. We held our first federal by-election under coronavirus restrictions in Eden-Monaro.
This is a good sign that we’ve turned the corner from parliamentary cancellation towards a new sustainable democracy.
We need our democratic institutions to function because increasing reliance on the nation-state is the reality of the next decade. That’s also the reality for our traditional allies, such as the US, while the Chinese political and economic system is also likely to increase its authority.
A functioning political system and a vibrant national debate aren’t just about how we protect the health and livelihoods of our citizens.
We must also protect our democratic institutions for a decade that’s going to be destructive and dangerous to democracy.
Australia’s role in building democracy abroad
While things are comparatively good at home, for too long our global institutions have avoided the hard questions on promoting democracy.
This is a gap that Australia should and can fill.
There are three practical and immediate actions Australia can take to get democracy back on the international agenda.
1. Demand leadership from the UN Democracy Fund
With a measly staff of eight and a tiny budget, the UN Democracy Fund is built to fail. But that doesn’t have to be the case.
Australia should lead a push with like-minded countries to replenish funding for the UN Democracy Fund. At the same time, it should become a standalone agency, not an appendage to the Secretary-General’s office.
Like-minded countries could help build a fund into the hundreds of millions of dollars, helping run fairer elections in more parts of the world.
2. Reprioritising democracy building in the aid program
Australia currently spends $793 million a year on capacity building and governance initiatives in our aid budget (DFAT 2019). ‘Effective governance’ is important, but so is representative government.
Elections are expensive in dollar terms, but extremely cheap, given the benefits they bring.
Increasing the democratic institutions of our aid partners also increases our confidence in the spending of our aid. Australia’s country-specific programs in supporting free media and civil society organisations play an important role, too.
The Australian expertise we have could be shared more widely, and the 75,000 people who work for the Australian Electoral Commission at election time could take on more roles in running and observing free and fair elections abroad.
3. Push for democracy to be part of the next Sustainable Development Goals
The Sustainable Development Goals run until 2030, and we’ll need to renew and revise them in coming years as they become part of our Covid recovery.
A lack of international will, combined with Covid-19, has halted progress in areas from climate to education to gender equality.
The Sustainable Development Goals have avoided the difficulty of mentioning democracy. Australia should lead the charge to change that.
Wouldn’t it be good if one day Goal 16 ‘Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions’ instead becomes ‘Peace, Justice and Strong Democracies’. After all, the UN says that democracy is a core value of the institution.
We know there are many countries that will object to this change, but this is a discussion worth having and worth Australia fighting for.
Conclusion
For more than a century, Australia has been a leading force of democracy—the secret ballot and an independent electoral commission and seat redistribution process.
The era of Australia’s humility on the world stage is over—it’s time to share our passion and expertise in this space with the international community.
Australia becoming an international voice for democracy will energise our diplomats and is entirely in line with our values.
This should become a priority for the next decade as part of our contribution to building and maintaining a post-Covid rules-based order.
This piece was first published on December 1, 2020 by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute in After Covid-19 Volume 3: Voices from Federal Parliament.