Unlike some parts of the world, Australia is endowed with natural wealth. We have vast mineral reserves that can be sold to the highest bidder. We are drenched in sunshine that can power the nation and oceans brimming with food and energy. We also have the luxury of geographic distance that keeps us a hemisphere away from the bloody conflicts that regularly spill over the northern half of the globe. So why do we have alarmingly high levels of poverty? Why is there so much homelessness? Why is inequality on the rise? Why are we enmeshed in conflicts thousands of kilometres away? Given our natural wealth and distance, why is it that Australian politicians and corporate leaders are reluctant to fix the nation’s most pressing problems and why do they avoid helping other nations fix theirs?
A long list of failures
Take a stroll through our towns and cities and it quickly becomes apparent that Australia is in a slow state of decay. The public transport system and its infrastructure crumples under the first signs of stress while our roads and highways crumble. Our health system is fatigued, and the education system has been gutted and dumbed-down under reduced government funding and corporatisation. Essential public services have been transformed into mindless bureaucratic mazes that continue to shrink under waves of government cut backs and parcelled off to the private sector. Meanwhile, the health of our democracy is steadily deteriorating.
Whilst in office, the Labor Party and the Liberal and National Party coalition consistently fail to achieve the most basic tasks of government. They repeatedly fail to meet the electorate’s modest expectations. For decades, Australia’s corporate leaders fail to tackle the nation’s most pressing problems. Collectively, the major political parties and the nation’s largest corporations have miserably failed to deliver a better Australia for the majority of the population.
Transparency and accountability
Recent governments have dismally failed to act with transparency and demonstrate accountability for their actions. Every term in office is marred by the ALP or LNP coalition exploiting their position in office for personal gain. Public officials continue to deepen and widen their abuse of power. Regardless of the major political parties promises to crack down on waste and inefficiency, it is abundantly clear that such pledges merely translate into hollow slogans aimed at wooing voters during political campaigns. The latest actions to address transparency by government officials have been stymied, and initiatives to tighten the rules regulating accountability have been watered down as evidenced by the effective shelving of the Report of the Review into Public Sector Board Appointments Processes headed by Lynelle Briggs.
Meanwhile, those courageous individuals who have called out corrupt practices, and likely criminal actions in government institutions and agencies have been met with the government’s full application of lawfare and penalties. For his courageous efforts, former Australian Army lawyer David McBride is currently languishing in prison. Australian Taxation Office officer Richard Boyle’s exposure of aggressive and unethical debt recovery tactics has caused him to face extensive prosecution and Commonwealth criminal charges. The clear message from government to concerned citizens and public servants contemplating calling out corrupt practices is to keep quiet and leave the status quo alone or else you may find yourself dragged through the legal process, charged and imprisoned.
Corporate Funding
The major political parties have failed to check the concentration of mass media ownership. This failure has led to the reshaping of the nation’s agenda by a handful of media moguls who wilfully skew reality and promote an artificial consumer-based narrative of the world. The corporate capture of the mainstream media has given billionaires a free hand in shaping public perception by dictating the day’s issues and more importantly, omitting facts that would readily demonstrate how the wealthy and influential one percent pilfer the public purse.
Concentration of media ownership
They have failed to check the concentration of mass media ownership. This failure has led to the reshaping of the nation’s agenda by a handful of media moguls who wilfully skew reality and promote an artificial consumer-based narrative of the world. The corporate capture of the mainstream media has handed billionaires the strategic capacity to shape the public’s mind, dictate the day’s issues and more importantly, omit facts that readily demonstrate the one percent’s rapacious pilfering of the public’s dwindling resources and assets.
Climate emergency
Despite the policies, strategic plans and corporate vision statements, the major political parties and big business have failed to curb the climate emergency. Despite having a commanding majority in parliament, the federal ALP has been tinkering with the transition away from fossil fuels to renewables. The current global fuel crisis has laid bare how ill-prepared the federal government is when facing the current fuel crisis. It also begs the question: why did our biggest and closest ally and member of AUKUS keep Australia in the dark leading to the illegal and unprovoked attack on Iran leading to the current global fuel crisis? To exacerbate the current situation, Australia’s energy resources, oil refining and storage facilities have long been sold off by the political and corporate elite. As things stand, we have become largely reliant on other nations for our energy security.
Resource sovereigntyDuring his term as prime minister, Anthony Albanese has been reluctant to secure Australia’s resource sovereignty. Our gas continues to flow virtually tax free to foreign nations who sell Australian gas at a large profit whilst the Australian tax payer receives a pittance. Both major political parties have become adept in regurgitating industry cheat sheets to the mainstream media whilst hiding behind claims that the tax regime is ‘complex’. Under the stewardship of the ALP and LNP coalition, six of the eight oil refineries have been shut down, severely slashing our oil refining capacity. Successive governments have created an unnecessary reliance on importing refined oil products. Australia’s crude oil reserves are not owned by Australians but are held by major international and national oil corporations including Chevron, ExxonMobil, Woodside Energy, Santos and Bridgeport. Given the current fuel crisis, such reserves are being sold to the highest bidder, rather than being quarantined to safeguard our nation’s resource security.
War and peace
The political elite have failed to prevent war. In fact, the major political parties have acted as cheerleaders for the largest and most aggressive military power in the world. They have aided and abetted foreign nations who repeatedly break international law and wilfully turn a blind eye to ‘our close allies’ who casually bomb civilians, starve men, women and children and commit genocide. The double standards and hypocrisy by the Albanese-led ALP government and the opposition Liberal party is all on display whilst the Australian public is kept in the dark of our military operations, intelligence support and supply of military parts and weapons systems that are likely used against civilians.
Throughout the post-war period, past and present governments have consistently backed the world’s most belligerent nation. They have willingly sidestepped ethics and undermined our international standing by turning a blind-eye to the crimes of our so-called allies. Our government regularly sends Australian military personnel to far-off lands to fight for our powerful allies in dubious conflicts despite that fact that our involvement in illegal wars and conflicts undermines Australia’s security. To facilitate war, our state and federal governments actively shut down peace protesters and crush all forms of criticism and dissent.
National sovereigntySuccessive governments have failed to protect and safeguard Australia’s sovereignty. Our nation is riddled with foreign military bases and lop-sided security alliances that drain our resources and weakens rather than strengthens our nation’s security. The major political parties march in lockstep eagerly opening up our land, sea and air to foreign powers. The AUKUS alliance has further weakened our national sovereignty as thousands of US troops are being stationed in Australia. At present, the federal government foresees such foreign forces as ongoing, rotational deployments. As the Australian public learns that the $368 billon dollar submarine deal is being downgraded with second-hand subs, the public is being kept in the dark in relation to how bodgy the Morrison-led deal actually is. The government continues to avoid transparency in relation to the management of medium and high grade nuclear wastes, and the implications of ‘nuclearising’ our defence forces. Nevertheless, the Australian government is actively working to expanding the operations of foreign forces into a long-term arrangement. Such developments do not bolster our nation’s sovereignty but weakens our control over our territory and undermines our independence as a nation.
Social cohesion
Our politicians and corporate leaders have failed to improve social cohesion at home. The political and corporate elite casually oversaw the failure of the referendum to give greater political rights to indigenous Australians. Spurred on by powerful interests and amplified by the billionaire owned media, Australian voters overwhelmingly rejected the Voice referendum thereby deepening fractures in society.
See PIBCI's Policy on Treaty The casual inaction by state and federal governments to address the growing list of war crimes and charges of genocide committed by the state of Israel have helped to deepen rifts in society. The government’s reluctance to practically address this century’s most heinous crime has been contrasted by the major political parties’ vigour in demonising and prosecuting peace protesters. As witnessed in NSW, the political elite supported by powerful business families rolled out the red carpet for Israeli President, Herzog as Israel entered into its third year of turning the Palestinian lands into rubble. They also ignored Israel’s brutal and unprovoked attacks on its neighbouring countries. To exacerbate social divisions, the NSW police meted out levels of force and violence against protesters not seen since anti-war demonstrations during the war in Vietnam. Furthermore, the federal government has diverted attention from the daily crimes committed by the state of Israel and the IDF through its hyper-focus on Anti-Semitism. The tactics employed by the government and its agencies have been deeply regrettable as they have expanded the rifts in Australia’s social fabric.
Essential human services, poverty and homelessnessState and commonwealth governments along with big corporations have failed to halt the decline in essential human services, the rise in poverty and homelessness. Year after year, Australians living under the poverty line are airbrushed out of the political and economic calculus. Australians sleeping rough have received little warmth from the federal budget. The May budget dedicated small change towards halting poverty in Australia, and has made a limited attempt to address the housing crisis.
The historic win by the ALP is being frittered away by the Albanese-led ALP whose slow and cautious approach to government simply translates into the triumph of low expectations. Since taking the reigns of government, the ALP has done little to improve the nation’s education. The apartheid system that operates in the education system remains firmly in place. Public schools remain underfunded in comparison to their private counterparts. Universities continue to be held in a corporate head-lock as private partnerships confine our best education institutions in the corporate matrix. Despite the overwhelming electoral support afforded to the ALP by the Australian public, the federal government has embarked on a course of making incremental improvements to the health system. Key essential services remain under stress, underfunded and under constant attack.
Democratic health check
At its core, a democratic system of government serves the interests of the majority of its citizens. Through the electoral process, politicians act as the representatives of the citizenry by translating their hopes and wishes into legislation that will bring about the betterment of society. So what does a true democracy look like? And how does Australia’s democracy compare?
What is democracy
A democracy is based on power being vested in its citizens. Such power is exercised through voting and expressed through elected representatives. Functioning democracies do not stagnate, nor do they remain static. Based on the wishes of the majority, democracies relentlessly work towards bettering the life of the majority of its citizens. In fact, a healthy democracy regularly innovates its approach to governance and restructures its institutions to meet the new challenges facing society. A robust democracy will do this in an open and transparent manner, ensuring that the views and opinions of its citizens are central to the political process.
At a fundamental level, a healthy democracy is supported by politicians of all persuasions actively representing their constituents. A true democracy is held up by politicians seeking to craft legislation and pass laws that best reflect their community’s views. In general, politicians work towards passing legislation for the betterment of the public.
Elections in a democratic society are free and fair. They are free from the influence of powerful interest groups and wealthy individuals. Each vote is counted as equal to another. A healthy democracy genuinely encourages the public to actively participate in politics by engaging in debates about important national issues, and encourages its citizens to be politically active. Participation in the electoral process is merely the icing on the democratic cake as politically engaged citizens get involved in politics on a daily basis, not simply to cast a vote once every three or four years.
A functioning democracy encourages freedom of speech, freedom of expression and freedom of opinion. True democracies do not clamp down on dissenting voices, opposing views and alternative visions of society. In fact, they encourage robust public debate so ideas can be contests. The wide range of views are widely communicated so the public is informed and can engage in public discourse. A true democracy does not hide behind laws that muzzle alternative views and vilify opposing political opinions.
Critical thinking is fostered in a robust democratic society. Through the free flow of news, views and opinion, citizens are encouraged to actively analyse issues of the day. Independent research is a mainstay of critical thinking that fosters critical thinking. By evaluating key issues and interpreting information that is not dominated by media outlets dominated by billionaires and government, the public is able to develop well-informed opinions and well-reasoned solutions to the issues and challenges that face society.
Equality underpins a democratic society. A true democracy ensures that all citizens have equal access to resources, opportunities and political representation. A democratic society ultimately works for the betterment of the majority of citizens by removing the privileges and mechanisms that enable a small minority to accumulate wealth and power that undermines a fairer society.
A robust democracy rests upon a resolute approach to accountability and transparency, particularly towards individuals and groups involved in decision-making. It does not tolerate any form of corruption, and vigorously upholds government and public officials to the highest of standards by meting out justice to those who exploit their position in power.
A healthy democracy employs active measures to avoid stagnation by refreshing and innovating its processes and practices that meet the contemporary needs of society. This is supported by opening its institutions to accountability and transparency through public scrutiny, and encouraging public involvement in national or international issues. This approach works to keep corporate interests at bay, and halts influential interest groups from capturing government, persuading officials, and swaying key institutions.
A democracy actively works to bolster social cohesion. This is demonstrated by taking the public’s view into account and meeting the wishes of the majority. A true democracy represents broader society, not just the wishes of a small group or wealthy individuals. A democracy works to bring people together, rather than clamping down on dissenting voices at the behest of influential interest groups and the wishes of foreign governments.
Australia's dying democracy?
The current situation in Australia is far from perfect. In fact, the state of democracy is in a steady state of decline. Governments faced with the choice of fixing Australia’s democracy have dismally failed to stem the decay. Successive governments have dodged the most basic suggestions to fix our fading democracy. In fact, the major political parties have opted to hasten its decline by wedded themselves to the outmoded neoliberal model that has proven to be an anathema to democracy. Since the 1970’s, successive Australian governments followed the lead of other western nations by implementing the neoliberal template to politics, the economy and culture. What was a new form of capitalism in the 1970’s has burrowed itself into society and hollowed out key democratic institutions.
By placing the market above all human needs, the neoliberal ideology has replaced the social values of cooperation and collaboration with competition, conflict and consumption. In the neoliberal calculus, human needs do not rate as it serves to increase the wealth and power of a small minority. This demonstrates that neoliberalism is an anti-democratic system, and explains why it has failed to improve the living standard of the majority of citizens. In order to continue the status quo, the proponents of the neoliberal system have conveniently shifted focus by blaming minority groups, immigrants, unions, and alternative political groups for its failures.
Read PIBCI Perspective:
The Invisible Ideology
Under the neoliberal template, governments have given up on governing and opted to manage. They have given up on working towards a better future for the public and maintaining reasonable standards normally expected of public office. They have cast aside pressing issues such as fixing our nation’s most pressing problems. They avoid repairing the damage caused by decades of neoliberal policies, and have turned a blind eye to the growing levels of corruption and dishonesty that are festering in the corridors of power. The deceit and deception witnessed in the Robodebt scheme, the hundreds of millions of dollars funnelled into Sports rorts, and the inept AUKUS deal (to name a few) have not been addressed by the Albanese-led ALP, but have been swept aside with the hope that the Australian public will simply forget. Governments at the state and federal level have given up on justice and ethics. They show vigour in cracking down on peace protesters whilst normalising violence by ignoring the slaughter of Palestinian civilians. They gleefully host the political head of Israel during a genocide, cheerlead the Trump administration’s unprovoked attack on Iran, and remain silent on the USA’s kidnapping of Venezuela’s president. The political elite have been silent whilst international law is treated like toilet paper by our good mates. The political elite have given up on presenting a better future for Australia., and prefer to present themselves as competent managers who talk of impending crisis, and how they are best place to manage current challenges and phantom fears.
The political class have retreated from the day-to-day affairs of their constituents. They have given up their role discussing community issues with the public and instead dine in plush restaurants paid for by lobbyists, corporate bosses and wealthy Australians. Government ministers are more at home nestling themselves in luxurious bunkers populated with bankers, financiers and mainstream media bosses. Moreover, many serving politicians have exclusively worked in a political bubble as staffers, factional number crunchers or other political-bureaucratic officers in a political party machine. This is a world away from the streets of Australian towns, suburbs and cities where the public live and work.
Repairing the damage
Given that Australia’s political and corporate leaders have demonstrated an inability and unwillingness to fix society’s most pressing problems, we need to take charge. Collectively, we need to put a halt to the rise in poverty and homelessness. Together, we need to stem the growing number of billionaires and the concentration of wealth by a small minority. Through the public’s concerted actions, the nation’s wealth needs to be spread fairly and more equally to alleviate the hardship felt by those hardest hit in our communities. We also need to show solidarity in the face of rising nationalism and the phantom fears conjured up by the mainstream media and politicians that are designed to divide and destabilise the public from taking collective action.
We are entering a time where the consequences of democracy’s slow death under neoliberalism’s last days are evident across society. The pointy end of capitalism is being sharpened as the neoliberal dream is transforming into a social and political nightmare. As evidenced on the streets of Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, the collective calls for peace are systematically crushed by the government, and rubbished by the mainstream media. Dissenting ideas are banished from the legacy media and violence is directed against minority groups and entire populations in an attempt to normalise hate and hostility by the corporate owned media. The neoliberal attack on democracy cannot be permitted to continue as it is at the point where it is opening the gates to creeping fascism. As history demonstrates, corporations and the wealthy minority have never worked to reverse the swing to the extreme right of politics, given that they have always benefitted from it. We need to be active in raising political awareness of across our communities, as the rise in populist right-wing movements and the increase in nationalism is not a passing phase but instead are grave signs of a social and political transition that may turn very ugly.
In order to upend the corrosive swing to right-wing politics and toxic nationalism, we need to focus on building community by working collectively to support independent political activists, independent media and community legal centres as a first front to hem in local democratic and progressive political actions. We need to support community-led cooperatives and financial institutions that assist the local economy. We also need to support civic education that work towards strengthening critical thinking, community activism and building a democratic culture, rather than serving corporate requirements by programming students into unthinking consumers accepting of the grind culture. As citizens, we need to bolster existing democratic institutions and develop new approaches that raise awareness and enhances political participation at all levels of society. A culture of questioning, enquiry, debate and activism are some of the key steps in building a vantage point to redress the state of decay that the political and corporate elite have fostered for the past five decades. Building resistance to the neoliberal ideology and the rising tide of right-wing populism and nationalism is critical at this juncture in time given that failure to resist and upend this trend will inevitably pave the way towards neo-fascism.
This is the time when you need to be an engaged social agent and halt the rising tide that is swamping Australian democracy.
Anthony B – Website Editor
June 2026
