Democracy

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY (15:37): The United Nations has named 15 September the International Day of Democracy, and it seems we need the annual reminder based on what we are seeing around the world today. Some countries around the world have never really subscribed to the democratic system. Countries such as China, Russia and North Korea are the most obvious cases, and then there is the United States, the country which is supposed to be the bastion of democracy and a model for other countries to emulate. In recent years, though, it has been anything but a model of democracy.

Every country will have challenges to its system. We had it on Remembrance Day in 1975, when the Australian federal government was replaced undemocratically by our Governor-General. But even that dark day in Australia's political history does not compare to what happened in the United States on 6 January 2021. That was when an outgoing President rallied his supporters to reject the results of an election and tried to overthrow a fairly elected government.

To see that former President somehow a serious contender for this year's presidency brings into question the strength of the US political system. In most democratic countries, that person would probably be in prison for their role in inciting an insurrection. At the very least, they would never be allowed to run for office again. Yet somehow former President Trump has been able to sidestep a series of very serious criminal charges, to be involved in a presidential debate only just hours ago.

We can be proud that in Australia we have a more mature and fair response to elections. On both sides of this house, we have all been winners and losers, and we accept the voice of the people. That is what democracy is. Many democracies around the world are less than a century old, but the concept of democracy itself dates back to the fifth century in Greece, perhaps even earlier according to some scholars. Whenever it was first practised, it has stood up to the face of tyrants, and we have had to accept the decision of the people, even when we believe they are simply wrong.

Even in the case of the undemocratically removed federal government of 1975, Labor leader Gough Whitlam accepted the result of the election that followed. He eventually even broke bread with the man who beat him, Malcolm Fraser, and that is how democracy works—not by having your supporters act unlawfully on your behalf, not by rejecting the results of a fair election, and certainly not by resorting to violence that led to the deaths of nine people and threatened the foundations of the American democracy.

Fortunately, the world still has more than 30 nations that are rated as strong working democracies. The US, frighteningly, is not one of them. It is now considered a 'deficient democracy'. Led by the usual suspects of Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden and New Zealand and placing Australia high up on the list created by the democracy matrix, democracy is the best system we have when it is properly run.

When you look at the list of world democracies, it proves that change can be made for the better and, sadly, for the worse. Germany, the country that once had the worst political regime in history and inflicted hideous war crimes on innocent people, has turned out to be one of our great democracies. It is listed at No. 5, while the US has slipped to No. 36. On recent form, that nation has a tenuous hold even on that position.

If this day, 15 September, does anything, it reminds us to cherish our political system. Australia is one of the great democracies, but as the country rated the 13^th best democracy in the world, there is room for improvement. In our democracy, the average person can actually phone up and speak to their political representatives. We have to keep working to ensure that we maintain one of the world's greatest democracies.