Open Government Review of Australia

Executive summary

In Australia, as across OECD countries, changing patterns of civic engagement and rapid digital advances are reshaping relationships between governments and citizens. Citizens have increasing expectations for transparency, responsiveness and genuine opportunities to influence public decision making. A strong and protected civic space is a prerequisite for the meaningful participation of all segments of the population in public life. Ensuring that participation mechanisms are regular, visible, accessible, and genuinely responsive can help ensure all people have a voice in public decisions and services. This Open Government Review of Australia analyses the legal, policy, institutional and practical conditions for civic space and citizen and stakeholder participation, assessing how the country can build on its strengths and respond to emerging trends, including in the context of the digital transition, to reinforce trust in public institutions and foster democratic resilience. The review’s recommendations encourage a coherent approach across Australia’s federal system to help ensure that all people can access government, participate in public debate, and engage in civic life on an equitable basis.

A thriving civic space to strengthen Australia’s culture of civic engagement

Australia benefits from strong civic space foundations, underpinned by robust policy frameworks, legal protections and institutions. Fundamental rights are well protected in practice, and the Government has committed to fostering an enabling environment for Australia’s vibrant civil society, by promoting public trust in civil society organisations (CSOs), reducing unnecessary regulatory obligations and providing public funding across portfolios and levels of government. The Australian Government has also placed significant importance on protecting vulnerable groups from hate and discrimination, while protecting freedom of speech and ensuring open public debate. Finally, Australia showcases significant efforts to ensure continuous civic education across the life journey.

As Australia is however not immune to the increasing pressures on civic space observed across the OECD, opportunities exist for the country to anticipate and address emerging risks across key priority issues. Building on its existing strengths, Australia could consider different legal, policy and institutional options to further strengthen and future-proof the protection of civic space as a precondition for participation in public life, trust in public institutions and democratic resilience.

Key Recommendations

• Consider options to enhance the coherence and practical application of civic freedoms across the country, for instance through a federal legal framework, ensuring the financial sustainability of independent oversight and complaints bodies, and strengthening data-collection and -sharing arrangements to enable evidence-based decision making.

• Further streamline and simplify administrative frameworks governing the enabling environment for CSOs – including registration, reporting and application for public funding – and enhance the CSO sector’s financial resilience, including by exploring options to increase the availability of long-term and core public funding and improving indirect public funding mechanisms, notably through comprehensive DGR reform.

• Consider options to better protect the right to peaceful assembly in law and in practice, for instance through explicit nation-wide legal recognition of protest rights and streamlined notification procedures.

• Pursue a more holistic, strengths-based and whole-of-government approach to tackling hate, including by harmonising and systematically reviewing relevant laws to ensure their alignment with international standards on protecting freedom of expression, continuing to enhance monitoring systems and further institutionalising collaboration with CSOs to improve outreach to affected communities.

• Continue efforts to protect online civic space, including through pursuing a systematic approach to addressing online harms while safeguarding freedom of expression.

• Bolster civic education efforts, including through promoting experiential civic education and continuing to build teachers’ skills in this field.

Towards more meaningful and impactful citizen participation in Australia

Australia has a mature citizen and stakeholder participation landscape, with strengths in electoral participation, deliberative democracy, co-design and regulatory consultation. Its range of citizen participation mechanisms, from mandatory voting to e-petitions and deliberative democracy is strong by international standards. Moreover, its offer regarding participation-related capacity building and guidance for public servants is advanced, as is for instance the Australian Public Service Framework for Engagement and Participation. The country also has a sound basis for measuring the longer-term impacts of participation, including trust, and strong digital government capabilities on which participation platforms can build.

The recommendations below focus less on “doing more” participation in Australia, but rather on how to use it more strategically and coherently, and to embed it as a core governance function. Participation is not yet consistently understood, applied and resourced across the public sector, and opportunities exist to better align with citizens' expectations. Moreover, as in many countries, participation opportunities are often shaped by the timing of policy cycles, legislative obligations or ministerial priorities rather than a strategic approach. Opportunities also exist to strengthen horizontal and vertical co-ordination to reduce duplication and consultation fatigue and build economies of scale. Stronger incentives could support the uptake of available training, including through embedding participation skills in public sector workforce planning. Finally, the digital ecosystem for participation could be further standardised and made more interoperable.

Key Recommendations

• Advance a coherent whole-of-government commitment to citizen participation through strong political and administrative leadership, greater coherence across existing frameworks, and a centralised support and co-ordination function. The latter could take the form of a Centre, Taskforce, or Office with a clear mandated role and authority to support cross-agency efforts to promote meaningful participation.

• Build a culture of participation through embedding it as a core competency in APS workforce and capability frameworks, setting clear incentives, and strengthening officials' skills to engage citizens directly, including through digital means.

• Measure and demonstrate the added value of participation through shared quality indicators, a whole-of-government standard for closing the loop with citizens, and an evaluation of participation's long-term impact on trust and policy outcomes.

• Build a more coherent digital infrastructure anchored on the GovCMS "Have Your Say" module, and convene a high-visibility national participation process to inform responses to national priorities.