Distrust, false information, AI, espionage, and social division are risking Australia's democracy, according to a recent government report.
Director of the Australia Institute's Democracy and Accountability Program Bill Browne said: "It’s certainly the case that around the world, democracy has suffered recent setbacks. And measures of the quality and spread of democracy in different countries tend to confirm that in the last 10 years or so, things have moved backwards."
But Mr Browne added that Australia has been shielded from the worst of these changes.
He points to democratic advantages such as elected lower and upper houses, compulsory voting, and an independent electoral commission.
“I think there are lessons that could be learnt from the Australian system, and the Australian way of doing things, that would improve the quality of democracy around the world," he told SBS Examines.
This episode asks: what does democracy look like in Australia? And is it on the decline?
