Latest news

Patrick Weller and Michelle Grattan discuss the Dilemmas of Cabinet Government in Times of Covid-19

Welcome to our latest Democracy 2025 podcast. Patrick Weller, Emeritus Professor at Griffith University and an international authority on Prime Ministerial leadership has co-authored a new book entitled “Comparing Cabinets: Dilemmas of Cabinet Government” with Rod Rhodes and Dennis Grube. The book examines the challenges confronting the operation of cabinet government in Australia, Britain, Denmark, the Netherlands and Switzerland and is published by Oxford University Press just in time for Christmas! In this podcast Patrick and Michelle Grattan (Chief Correspondent at the Conversation and Professorial Fellow at the University of Canberra), join Mark Evans to discuss the dilemmas of cabinet government in times of Covid-19.

Listen now

Biden calls Summit just when democracy is at the crossroads

Mark Evans and Gerry Stoker evaluate current challenges posed to liberal democracy during the pandemic and identify pathways to renewal.

Read more

Australian democracy under pressure

Mark Evans provides an update of the state of democracy in Australia in the aftermath of the publication of International IDEA’s 2021 State of Democracy Report in the Asia Pacific.

Read more

Saving Democracy

Mark Evans and Gerry Stoker review the findings from Democracy 2025’s Saving Democracy crowd sourcing initiative to be publish by Bloomsbury Books in early 2022.

Read more

Mark Evans and Mark Kenny evaluate the prospects for democratic change

Mark Evans joins Mark Kenny on the Democracy Sausage podcast to discuss achieving change in Australia’s policy & political landscape, plus Keir Starmer’s struggles as British opposition leader.

Listen now

Senate Inquiry into Australian democracy accepts Democracy 2025’s recommendations

On 19th February the Senate Inquiry into nationhood, national identity and democracy tabled its final report. The Report accepts Democracy 2025’s recommendations for a permanent independent Democratic Audit of Australia and the revitalisation of civics education.

Read more

Update on the State of Australian Democracy

Professor Mark Evans is interviewed by Oliver Yates and Charlie Caruso from “Independents Can” on what the latest evidence from Democracy 2025 tells us about the strengths and limits of Australian democracy.

Read more

Public Engagement and its Impact on Parliament

On 26th March, Professor Mark Evans presented the opening and closing sessions of the International Parliamentary Engagement Network’s workshop on Public Engagement and its Impact on Parliament.

Read more

How to rebuild trust in government

On 22nd April, Professor Mark Evans presented at the Mandarin Live/WPP conference Communicating to get the right outcomes on a panel discussion on How to rebuild trust in government.

Read more

Health Expertise and Covid-19 – Managing the Fear Factor

Mark Evans and Michelle Grattan assess the role of experts in the Australian government’s effective response to the Covid-19.

Read more

How can we clean up politics?

Mark Evans and Gerry Stoker map out an agenda for cleaning up politics.

Read more

What role should the public service play in democratic governance?

Mark Evans and Gerry Stoker assess the role that a reformed public service could play in strengthening democratic practice. See: Improving the Public Service Experience: the search for public value.

Read more

How can we better connect citizens with their democracy?

See Mark Evans and Gerry Stoker’s thoughts on Institutionalizing new forms of citizen voice through various participatory mechanisms.

Read more

Why long-term thinking is key to democratic strengthening.

See Mark Evans and Gerry Stoker on Future proofing democracy.

Read more

21 October 2020

D25 Director Mark Evans is awarded an IPAA national fellowship

Nine new National Fellows of the Institute of Public Administration Australia were today announced by National President, Dr Gordon de Brouwer PSM, at an event held at Parliament House, Canberra.

Read more

21 July 2020

Australians highly confident of government’s handling of coronavirus and economic recovery: new research

Australians have exhibited high levels of trust in federal government during the coronavirus pandemic, a marked shift from most people’s views of government before the crisis began, new research shows.

Read more

21 July 2020

After the crisis: what lessons can be drawn from the management of COVID-19 for the recovery process?

Mark Evans, Democracy 2025 and University of Canberra and Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra explore the lessons that can be drawn from the management of COVID-19 for the recovery process with Norman Swan and Mark Kenny.

Read more

20 July 2020

Is Australia still the lucky country?

Our new report on political trust in times of COVID-19, Is Australia still the lucky country, finds that for the first time in over a decade, Australians are exhibiting high levels of political trust in federal government (54 per cent from 29 percent), and the Australian Public Service (54 per cent from 38 per cent).

Read more

26 June 2020

Political Trust in Times of COVID-19

Mark Evans and Michelle Grattan explore differences in the management, experience and impact of the COVID-19 crisis in the company of three leading British academic thinkers and members of the Trustgov project at the University of Southampton.

Read more

24 June 2020

How can we save democracy in a post COVID-19 world?

Have your say through a new international crowdsourced project calling for ideas on how to strengthen democratic practice and identify pathways to reform.

More information

3 June 2020

Why the ACT needs a participatory budget post-COVID

Open democracy is about explaining our political decisions and making them transparent.

Read more

19 May 2020

Podcast: role of the APS in a post-COVID-19 world

In the latest Democratic Fundamentals, hosts Mark Evans and Michelle Grattan discuss the challenges and opportunities for the APS as the world eases restrictions. Featuring guests Renée Leon and Peter Shergold.

Listen to the discussion

3 April 2020

Democratic Fundamentals podcast: Political Trust and Coronavirus

Democratic Fundamentals podcast: Political Trust and Coronavirus. In this special podcast Professor Mark Evans discusses Australian democracy with Ian Chubb AC AO and Michelle Grattan AO, the panel dissects the Australian trust in government, compared with other modern democracies around the world. Drawing on the world values survey, the report notes the sharp focus on the quality of democratic governance, especially in the time of global crisis caused by coronavirus.

Listen to the discussion

3 April 2020

Launch of Democracy 2025’s new report

Democracy 2025's latest report, How does Australia compare: what makes a leading democracy? Two paradoxes for Australian democratic governance, investigates how Australian attitudes towards issues of trust and democratic practices compare both with other mature liberal democracies and nation states in our region. It draws on data from the World Values Survey, conducted in 140 countries by the world’s leading universities. The report is a collaboration between Democracy 2025 and the Trustgov Project, hosted by the University of Southampton, UK and the Kennedy School at Harvard University in the USA.

Read the report

1 April 2020

“The Isolated Political Class”, Australian Quarterly

In the April 2020 issue of the Australian Quarterly Mark Evans and Michelle Grattan observe that although Australia’s political class is perceived to be isolated from the citizenry it serves it does share similar views about democratic strengthening.

Read the report

13 December 2019

Don’t believe the stereotype: these 5 charts show our democracy is safe in the hands of future voters

A new, ongoing survey on how young Australians understand and imagine their democracy is already challenging long-held stereotypes.

Read the article »

16 October 2019

How Australian federal politicians would like to reform their democracy

Watch Dr Helen Haines MP, Tanya Plibersek MP, David Sharma MP, Professor Mark Evans, Michelle Grattan and Professor Gerry Stoker discuss the findings from How Australian federal politicians would like to reform their democracy at Parliament House on 16 October. The video was produced by our digital partner, contentgroup.

Watch the discussion »

16 October 2019

The Conversation

Revealed: how Australian politicians would bridge the trust divide

Read the article »

5 September 2019

Liberalism and Australian Democracy: Lessons from History – A talk by Dr David Kemp

In August, MoAD hosted a free public talk by the Hon. Dr David Kemp, Chairman of the MoAD Board, who reflected on the contribution of liberalism to Australia’s democratic story and asks what we can learn for the future.

The public talk is part of the Democracy 2025’s Future Democracy series, was held in the House of Representatives Chamber in the spiritual home of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House.

Listen to the talk »
Read the transcript »

5 September 2019

New D2025 report: APS deliberative jury

An Australian Public Service (APS) deliberative jury was convened at Old Parliament House in February to consider the question, ‘What key elements of democratic trust are broken and what needs to change to create a trusted APS?’ The jury’s recommendations are outlined in the latest report by Democracy 2025.

Read the report »

In the media

6 March 2019

ABC Radio, The Focus

28 February 2019

2ser 107.3

28 Feb 2019

Radio Adelaide

25 February 2019

The Conversation

25 January 2019

Content Group

9 December 2018

2SER 107.3

5 December 2018

The Conversation

5 December 2018

The Guardian

4 December 2018

Sydney Morning Herald