About the Taskforce
In January 2023, the Department of Home Affairs established the Strengthening Democracy Taskforce to determine what could be done to strengthen Australian democracy.
In July 2024, the Strengthening Democracy Taskforce presented their report Strengthening Australian Democracy: a practical agenda for democratic resilience. The report invites Australians to:
- reflect on our democracy
- recognise and celebrate our strengths
- acknowledge our vulnerabilities
- join with common purpose in protecting, nurturing and advancing our precious national asset.
Democracies around the world are under threat from a range of anti-democratising forces. These include:
- foreign interference
- rising disinformation
- discord online
- polarisation
- declining public trust.
Australian democracy is strong, but it is not immune to a range of emerging and evolving threats. Some threats are acute, others more chronic in nature. Some emerge locally, others from abroad. Collectively, they challenge three historic strengths of Australian democracy:
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Trusted institutions - the security, integrity, legitimacy, responsiveness, and performance of democratic institutions
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Credible information - the accuracy, relevance, responsibility, accessibility, and civility of information flows within a deliberative public sphere
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Social inclusion - a society that is connected, cohesive, participatory, engaged and respectful, reinforcing and reflecting a sense of common purpose and shared identity.
Drawing on Australia’s tradition of democratic resilience and innovation, the Taskforce engaged across the Australian government and with:
- state and territory governments
- research experts
- civil society organisations
- cultural institutions
- business communities and
- professional and community groups.
Through this engagement, the Taskforce explored possibilities for safeguarding and sustaining Australia’s democratic resilience, in the near term and for the long term. The Taskforce used the following to inform its work:
- research
- data and evidence and
- consultation and engagement.
The Taskforce focused on understanding the challenges and opportunities facing Australian democracy over the coming decade. In October 2024, the Strengthening Democracy Taskforce was incorporated into the Department of Home Affairs Office of Community Cohesion.
Expert Advisors
The Taskforce benefitted from high-level advice from four independent Expert Advisors with diverse experience in academia and business, in Australia and internationally:
- Professor Larry Diamond, Senior Fellow at Stanford University
- Professor Rod Sims AO, Crawford School of Public Policy, ANU
- Ms Leila Smith, CEO of Aurora Education Foundation
- Professor Ngaire Woods (CBE), founding Dean of the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford.
They helped to guide, challenge, test and support the work of the Taskforce.
