Guardian Australia
Australia has been averse to ideological extremes but after two decades of growing inequality and public policy stasis, the country’s robust democratic formula is facing challenges Since Australia’s emphatic repudiation at the May 2025 election of the Coalition’s accelerated journey towards a strident rightwing populism, there has been a surge of interest in the country’s political distinctiveness. At a time of democratic backsliding in many other parts of the globe, not least in Trump’s United States, and an associated proliferation of populist strongman leaders, Australia had bucked that trend. Its democracy was resilient and its political centre holding. Historians have been writing about the country’s democratic exceptionalism for many years, but suddenly it became a subject on which every galah in every pet shop was squawking. From overseas, there came expressions of envy and marvelling at Australia’s difference. According to one of Britain’s most influential political watchers, Rory Stewart, amid the fraying of politics in America, the United Kingdom and elsewhere, “if liberal democracy has a future, it looks surprisingly Australian”. Sign up for a weekly email featuring our best reads Continue reading...
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