Wasting away in Albaneseville

Trade-offs between power and longevity

In a number of forums since the 2022 federal election, I’ve noted that Australia has managed to avoid the authoritarian extremes afflicting other democracies. My book, Voices of Us, is a discussion of just that, and part of the reason I wrote it was capture that moment of hope.

A key to our relative success—two cheers for Australian democracy—is that we …