Inquiry into civics education, engagement, and participation
Authors
Australia’s electoral participation is relatively good, though there is significant room for improvement, including doing better to count the votes of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and making citizenship more accessible for Australian residents.
But it is not at the ballot box where civic participation is most at risk.
State and federal governments have suppressed civic participation by penalising non-violent protests, stonewalling requests for information, insulating political parties from the consequences of declining membership and silencing dissenting public servants.
The Australia Institute’s body of research on democratic participation provides a starting point for reform efforts, but these efforts will be futile unless governments and parliaments stop suppressing and start encouraging civic participation.