Australia's Role in Democracy Promotion
A ground-breaking public forum co-organised by CDI on ‘Australia’s role in democracy promotion’ has provided the new government with much needed ideas and insights, according to the Hon Bob McMullan, Australia’s Parliamentary Secretary for International Development Assistance.
The forum, which brought together all the main players in Australia’s efforts to strengthen promoting and enhance democracy abroad, was held at the Australian Institute of International Affairs (AIIA) on 14 March and saw spirited debate and discussion on how best to strengthen democracy in Australia’s immediate neighbourhood and further afield.
This event attracted an audience of over 100 and marked the first time that all the main Australian actors, including government and opposition members and representatives of both major political parties, had come together since the change of government to discuss Australian initiatives in this field.
In his speech to the forum, Mr McMullan announced a review of Australia’s democracy promotion activities as part of the new government’s broader re-examination of Australia’s international policies and programs.
The forum was designed to examine Australia’s current approaches and policies to democracy promotion, and look at ways in which these could be improved, both in our immediate Asia-Pacific neighbourhood as well as further afield.
In addition to Mr McMullan, other speakers included CDI Director Ben Reilly, who examined Australia’s approach to democracy promotion in an international context; Senator Marise Payne, the Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs, who gave an Opposition perspective on these issues; Michael Morgan and Linda Reynolds from the Australian Labor and Liberal parties who discussed the activities of their respective parties under the Australian Political Parties for Democracy Program; Michael Maley of the Australian Electoral Commission, who spoke about Australia’s long-standing support for international election activities; and Andrew Goledzinowski of the Department of Foreign Affairs, who looked at the growth of new international groupings in this area.
The Forum was chaired by Mr Tony Eggleton AO CVO, the chair of CDI's Consultative Council. Click on the the links below for more on this event, and we hope to post further papers and reporting on this page in the near future:
