The Australian government is a parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarchy. The leader of the popularly elected majority party or coalition is designated as prime minister, and serves as head of government. Scott Morrison, the head of the Liberal Party, became prime minister in 2018 after successfully challenging Malcolm Turnbull for the leadership. Morrison’s ascension continued a pattern in which prime ministers failed to serve full terms due to “leadership coups,” which have drawn criticism for failing to reflect the will of the electorate. Morrison won a new term as prime minister when the Liberal Party and its coalition partner, the National Party, won a free and fair election in 2019.

A governor-general, appointed on the recommendation of the prime minister, represents the monarch of the United Kingdom (UK) as head of state. The powers of the monarchy are extremely limited. David Hurley was appointed governor-general in 2019.

The bicameral legislative branch consists of a 151-member House of Representatives and 76-member Senate. Lower house members are elected through a ranked-choice ballot, and serve three-year terms. Senators are elected through a ranked-choice ballot and serve staggered six-year terms.

The Liberal-National coalition won 77 seats in the House of Representatives in the May 2019 election, earning a one-seat majority over all other parties. The Labor Party won 68, while the Greens won 1. Independents took the remaining 5 seats.

Forty seats in the Senate were filled in the same contest. The Liberal-National coalition won 19 of the seats up for reelection, while Labor won 13, the Greens won 6, and 2 were won by independents. Turnout for the election stood at 91.9 percent.

Australian electoral laws and procedures are generally fair and impartial. The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC)—an independent federal agency—coordinates all federal elections and referendums, draws seat boundaries, and keeps the electoral rolls. Voting is compulsory, and a registered voter’s failure to vote may result in a small fine, which if unpaid can increase and ultimately lead to a criminal conviction.

Australians may organize political parties without restrictions. Registration and recognition as a political party requires a party constitution and either one member in Parliament, or at least 500 members on the electoral roll.

Power rotates between parties frequently, traditionally alternating between the Labor Party and the Liberal-National coalition. The Greens and smaller left-leaning parties tend to ally with Labor, while rural-oriented and conservative parties often ally with the Liberals.

Political participation in Australia is largely free from undue domestic influence. The UK’s monarch remains the Australian head of state, but the monarchy’s power is strictly limited by the Australian constitution and legal precedent.

Concerns about foreign interference in politics, particularly from China, have persisted for several years. Chinese actors have allegedly funded candidates and parties, and a 2020 Australian Federal Police (AFP) foreign interference investigation named some Chinese consular officials in their warrants. The government banned foreign donations to political parties, independent candidates, and other political campaign groups in 2018. Additionally, the Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme, which came into force that year, requires people who engage in political activities, such as lobbying on behalf of a foreign government or other entity, to register publicly.

In September 2021, Attorney General Christian Porter revealed he had accepted an undisclosed sum from an anonymous donor to fund a portion of his legal fees for defamation proceedings against the ABC. Porter indicated that he was not aware of the donor’s identity, raising concerns about whether the donors “expected to get anything in return” for their assistance. Porter resigned from politics at the end of the year.

Political rights and electoral opportunities are granted to all Australians. However, the interests of women are inadequately represented. Only 47 seats in the lower house are held by women, representing 31.1 percent of the body; 40 of Australia’s 76 senators are women (52.6 percent). The opposition Labor Party employs an internal quota specifying that 40 percent of its candidates must be women; this quota will rise to 50 percent by 2025. The governing Liberal Party also aims for equal gender representation by 2025 but does not use a quota system, despite increasing calls to do so.

Women in Parliament have reported being intimidated and harassed by their male colleagues. A November 2021 report by Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins found one in three federal political staffers had experienced sexual harassment at work.

A series of high-profile sexual assault allegations emerged in early 2021, corroborating the commissioner’s report and highlighting the misogyny and physical endangerment women in politics face. In February, former Liberal Party staffer Brittany Higgins alleged she was raped by a colleague in Defense Minister Linda Reynolds’s office in 2019. Higgins also accused the Liberal Party of covering-up the story and leaking her personal information to journalists in an attempt to undermine her credibility. Reynolds called Higgins a “lying cow,” while the Labor Party accused Prime Minister Morrison of misleading Parliament after he failed to disclose that an internal inquiry into the allegations had been discontinued.

Also in February 2021, public broadcaster ABC published allegations that an unnamed senior minister had raped a fellow high school student as a teenager in 1988. Attorney General Porter identified himself as the subject of the allegations in March and commenced defamation proceedings against the ABC, which were later discontinued. Authorities declined to press charges against Porter owing to his accuser’s death by suicide in 2020, and the limited prospects of a conviction. Prime Minister Morrison declined to investigate the matter further. Porter, who denies the accusations, resigned from politics in December 2021.

Some voting restrictions—including the requirement that voters hold a fixed address and a ban on voting by prisoners serving long sentences—disproportionately affect Indigenous Australians. Draft legislation that was withdrawn from Parliament in December 2021 would have required voters to present photographic identification before voting in Federal elections, which critics claimed could result in deterring Indigenous voters.

Indigenous Australians are also underrepresented in Parliament. The lower house’s first Aboriginal man won a seat in 2010, and the first Aboriginal woman won a seat in 2016. The Australian government has considered reforms to strengthen Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s political voice, including a proposed representative body that would advise Parliament on policy matters that affect them.

LGBT+ representatives have served in Parliament since the 1990s, when Greens senator Bob Brown became the first openly gay member of the upper house. The first openly gay member of the House of Representatives was elected in a 2016 by-election.

Score Change: The score declined from 4 to 3 due to recent cases of sexual violence and a culture of misogyny experienced by women in politics.

The freely elected government is generally able to develop and implement policy.

C2. Are safeguards against official corruption strong and effective? 4 / 4

Laws against official corruption are generally well enforced, but the absence of a federal anticorruption body makes enforcement more difficult. All states and territories operate local anticorruption bodies, with Queensland creating the first state-level agency in 1989.

Prime Minister Morrison has faced increasing pressure from independent legislators and the nongovernmental organization (NGO) Transparency International to create a federal anticorruption body. Despite Morrison’s proposal for a Commonwealth Integrity Commission (CIC) in late 2018, no significant developments towards its creation occurred in 2021.

Government operations are characterized by a high degree of transparency, and political affairs are openly discussed in Parliament and in the media. Parliamentary records and commissioned reports are readily available. The Freedom of Information Act allows people to access a wide range of government documents, though some government agencies have been criticized for long delays and unnecessary refusals of freedom of information (FOI) requests.

The Labor-National coalition has been accused of disproportionately directing public funds to districts they represent. For example, in June 2021, the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) claimed that the Liberal-National coalition had allegedly misappropriated A$660 million (US$495 million) toward infrastructure upgrades ahead of the 2019 national election. The ANAO report found that none of the projects awarded (of which 77 percent were in Coalition-held seats) had been chosen through transparent means, nor were they selected based on their merit.

Though the constitution does not explicitly protect press freedom, journalists scrutinize lawmakers and the government, covering controversial topics generally without serious obstacles or risk of harassment or violence.

However, the AFP conducted controversial raids of the ABC Sydney office and the home of Sunday Telegraph editor Annika Smethurst in 2019 after both published stories based on leaked materials outlining military misconduct and the government’s spying powers. The ABC sued to block the review of the seized documents, though their case was dismissed in February 2020. However, in April 2020 the High Court of Australia ruled that the warrant relied upon by the AFP in the Smethurst raid was invalid, though it declined to prohibit the evidence produced by the search from use by prosecutors. The AFP did not pursue charges against Smethurst.

Members of the press have also been constricted by the use of judicial suppression orders while covering criminal cases. A judge in the state of Victoria issued a suppression order to limit reporting on the trial of Cardinal George Pell, an Australian Vatican official convicted of sexual assault in 2018. Victoria state prosecutors threatened nearly 100 journalists reporting on the Pell case with contempt of court charges in a 2019 letter. Some staff members of publications that covered the case received these letters even though they did not report on the case themselves. Prosecutors filed charges against 36 individual journalists and organizations in 2019, and a trial commenced in the Victorian Supreme Court in November 2020. In February 2021, prosecutors dropped all charges against individuals involved, allowing 12 media outlets to plead guilty to breaching the suppression orders. In June, the outlets were fined a combined AU$1.1 million (US $825,000).

In February 2021, the government passed the News Media and Digital Platforms Bargaining Code, which established a mandatory arbitration regime for digital platforms, such as Facebook and Google, to negotiate with and ultimately pay news outlets for using their content. The Code has been criticized for potentially weakening media diversity.

The constitution explicitly prohibits laws that would either impose or restrict religious expression, and individuals are generally able to express religious beliefs or nonbelief.

Academic freedom is generally respected. However, federal officials have in the past warned of Chinese attempts to monitor Chinese students in Australia, and to question academics in Australia whose views differed from those of the Chinese government. Some students have expressed fears of foreign surveillance, prompting them to wear masks to protect their identities while protesting Chinese government actions. Some universities receive significant amounts of foreign funding, particularly from China, which has further raised concerns over Beijing’s influence on curriculums and university governance.

Generally, people in Australia may freely discuss personal views on sensitive topics, though the government has passed several laws in recent years increasing its surveillance powers. A data retention law requires telecommunications companies to store users’ metadata for two years and has raised concerns about the government’s ability to track mobile and online communications. In 2019, the AFP disclosed that it accessed Australians’ metadata nearly 20,000 times and reviewed the metadata of journalists 58 times during its 2017–18 reporting period.

The 2018 Assistance and Access Act requires technology companies to provide law enforcement agencies access to encrypted communications, on grounds that include preventing terrorism and crime. Civil rights groups criticized the new law’s broad reach, relative lack of oversight, and steep fines for companies that do not comply. Vault Systems, an Australian provider of cloud services, warned in 2019 that multinational companies were increasingly housing their data in other countries because of the legislation.

Additionally, in 2019 the High Court ruled against Michaela Banerji, who sued the government for her dismissal from the Department of Immigration and Border Protection in 2013 in connection with a pseudonymous Twitter account she used to criticize government policies on immigration and the treatment of detainees.

Public figures, including politicians, regularly sue journalists or members of the public for defamation for publishing unfavorable stories or other content about them, particularly online. For example, in April 2021, Minister of Defense Peter Dutton was awarded A$35,000 (US $26,200) in damages and legal costs in a defamation case against refugee activist Shane Bazzi who called Dutton a “rape apologist” on Twitter. Bazzi appealed the decision in December.

Freedom of assembly is not explicitly codified in law, but the government generally respects the right to peaceful assembly. There are some limited restrictions meant to ensure public safety, and some incidents of police using excessive force against protesters have been reported. In March 2021, demonstrations were held across the country against misogyny and sexism in response to the Higgins and Porter allegations of sexual misconduct within Parliament.

A series of violent protests against vaccination mandates and lockdown restrictions occurred in the country’s two largest cities, Sydney and Melbourne, in the second half of 2021. Analysts claimed the presence of far-right extremist groups amid the demonstrators likely provoked the violence.

NGOs are generally free to form, function, and receive funding. A 2018 bill intended to limit foreign interference in the political sphere also sought to limit donations to certain charities from foreign entities, which raised concerns that it would severely impact the ability of NGOs to function. However, after pressure from the Labor and Green parties, the bill was amended to specify that it does not apply to charities and advocacy groups.

Workers can freely organize and bargain collectively, and trade unions actively engage in political debates and campaigns. However, strikes are only allowed when negotiating new union agreements, and may only pertain to issues under negotiation. In 2017, a High Court ruling prohibited organizations that had previously violated orders from the Fair Work Commission from holding strikes during negotiations. The court described the right to strike as a “privilege.”

In September 2021, the Melbourne offices of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) were stormed by protestors demonstrating against a two-week ban on construction work during that city’s sixth lockdown.

The Australian judiciary is generally independent. However, a lengthy investigation in 2019 by independent media outlet Crikey revealed that the Liberal-National government consciously worked to install individuals affiliated with the Liberal Party—including former candidates, donors, and party members—to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT), a body that reviews the merits of administrative decisions by government agencies.

In March 2021, Jacqueline Gleeson was appointed to the High Court of Australia, the highest court in the country. Gleeson is the daughter of a former chief justice of the High Court, which prompted some concerns about fairness and impartiality in judicial appointments. Members of the judiciary, particularly in the higher-level courts, tend to lack diversity, and many appointed judges come from prominent legal families.

The right to due process is generally respected. Defendants and detainees are presumed innocent until proven guilty and can only be held for 24 hours without being charged for a crime, with exceptions for terrorism cases.

People living in rural areas, and in particular Aboriginal people, face significant barriers to accessing the justice system. Judges, lawyers, and prosecutors must be flown into remote communities, providing little time to prepare cases or be briefed by clients. Courtrooms are often in ad hoc, repurposed buildings, and lengthy case dockets are a prominent issue. Judges traveling these circuits work large caseloads due to understaffing and underfunding, which could impact their health and their court decisions. Significant case backlogs cause individuals to wait years for their cases to be heard, which can place some, like those who have experienced domestic violence, in further danger.

Authorities shifted court proceedings to be held online during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has led to increased availability of court and registry services and resources. The greater flexibility offered by virtual hearings and services has, to a degree, increased access to the justice system in rural areas.

Australia provides protection from the illegitimate use of force, and Australians have means to seek redress for harm. Prison conditions mostly meet international standards. However, conditions at numerous juvenile detention centers are substandard. Some children have instead been detained in adult prisons. In 2019, an ABC investigative program reported on the practice of placing minors in “watch houses,” maximum security facilities usually reserved for violent adult offenders.

The use of solitary confinement has become controversial, with the Victoria state ombudsman calling for the end of its use in 2019. The ombudsman noted that children and adolescents were sometimes placed in solitary confinement.

First Nations Australians continue to lag behind other groups in key social and economic indicators; suffer higher rates of incarceration; and report routine mistreatment by police and prison officials. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are placed in detention at a rate 22 times higher than that of non-Aboriginal children. Additionally, people with disabilities make up almost one-third of the prison population, and face harassment and violence in prisons.

Men and women have the same legal rights, and discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity is prohibited. In practice, women and LGBT+ people experience employment discrimination and harassment.

Religious exemptions within the Sex Discrimination Act of 1984 allow for the expulsion of students and dismissal of teachers on the basis of their sexual orientation. While this power is rarely exercised, this act has sometimes been used to discriminate. Prime Minister Morrison has faced pressure from rights groups to remove the exemptions, and from religious groups to retain and bolster them. In response, Morrison unveiled a bill at the end of 2018, aimed at protecting LGBT+ students from discrimination.

The Liberal-National government spent much of 2019 drafting a bill meant to limit religious discrimination in Australian society, which remained under consideration at the end 2021. LGBT+ rights advocates objected to the draft legislation, warning that the bill would allow health providers to deny treatment to LGBT+ patients for religious reasons.

Australia’s harsh asylum and immigration policies continued to be enforced in 2021. The government announced in October it would cease detaining asylum seekers in Papua New Guinea (PNG) by December, transferring the refugees there either to the other offshore detention facility in Nauru—which is characterized by poor living conditions, inadequate safety for women and children, and a lack of sufficient healthcare and education services—or to the Papuan government. As of the end of December, approximately 112 refugees were in detention on Nauru, and 105 were in PNG, though the government ended their tracking of data for asylum seekers there. Asylum seekers can wait years for their applications to be processed; in one severe case, a man seeking asylum from Sri Lanka who fled to Australia in 2009 was still being held in immigration detention through at least the end of 2020. The United Nations special rapporteurs on migrant rights criticized the lack of medical care on Manus Island and Nauru, warning that the detention of refugees there amounted to cruel and inhuman treatment. Despite this, Parliament repealed a law allowing offshore detainees to seek emergency medical care in Australia in 2019, ten months after it was enacted.

The coronavirus pandemic exacerbated the difficulties faced by asylum seekers and other temporary visa holders, who were denied access to the government’s welfare packages for those affected by the coronavirus. As a result, many temporary visa holders, including refugees, were forced to rely on food banks and charities to survive. Advocacy groups criticized their exclusion from the government’s coronavirus relief that placed temporary visa holders at greater risk of homelessness and destitution. In August 2020, Multicultural Affairs Minister Alan Tudge said the government would “make no apology” for prioritizing Australian citizens and residents over temporary visa holders in allocating welfare.

The government respects freedom of movement, and neither state nor nonstate actors interfere with the choice of residence, employment, or institution of higher education.

In response to the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 and 2021, some state and territory governments closed their internal borders at different times during the year. The process to obtain an exemption for traveling between states was difficult and often significantly delayed. Some people who rely on services including employment or health care across state borders, were unable to access these services due to the closures. In December 2020, the border between Victoria and New South Wales was closed with the public given just over a day’s warning, stranding many cross-border travelers who had visited family for the holidays. Some states with lower rates of COVID-19 transmission, particularly Queensland and Western Australia, maintained a hardline stance on internal borders throughout 2021, despite low transmission rates of the virus and nearly 80 percent of the population being fully vaccinated. Promises by state governments to reopen throughout the year were repeatedly delayed.

Score Change: The score declined from 4 to 3 because state governments continued to impose disproportionate and arbitrary COVID-19-related restrictions on movement during the year.

With an open and free market economy, businesses and individuals enjoy a high level of economic freedom and strong protections for property rights.

The government generally does not restrict social freedoms. In 2017, Parliament legalized same-sex marriage following a nationwide, nonbinding postal survey in which more than 60 percent of participants favored legalization. Same-sex couples have also won the right to adopt children at the state level, with the Northern Territory becoming the last state or territory to legalize LGBT+ adoption in 2018. Discrimination based on gender identity was prohibited under a 2013 amendment to the Sex Discrimination Act of 1984.

Gender-based violence (GBV) remains a national concern, particularly for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women. In addition, women who kill domestic abusers in self-defense are often jailed, with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women representing the majority of this incarcerated group. In 2019, the attorney general pledged that the government would pass legislation facilitating defendants’ ability to claim and submit evidence of self-defense in court. Following the brutal murder of a Queensland woman, Hannah Clarke, and her three children by Clarke’s estranged husband in February 2020, there were multiple calls to criminalize coercive control to combat domestic and intimate partner violence.

Abortion law is decided by state and territory governments. New South Wales was the last state to decriminalize abortion in 2019. In some states women have no access to abortion through public health systems despite its legality, forcing women in those areas to seek assistance from private providers.

Australians generally enjoy robust economic opportunities and freedom from exploitation. However, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people continue to face economic hardship; census data from 2016 revealed that employment rates in remote areas declined since 2006, impeding their upward social mobility.

In 2018, Parliament passed the Modern Slavery Act, requiring large businesses to be more transparent about potential slavery in their supply chains and to make efforts to address the problem. While the law has been largely viewed favorably, some critics have noted that it fails to impose penalties for noncompliance.