On 18 June 2025, the Robert Menzies Institute convened our 2025 Policy Dialogue at Queen’s College, University of Melbourne. The Institute brought together 30 leading academics, public figures, and policy experts from across the political landscape to discuss the ‘Conditions for a Successful Democracy’, using a historic lens to compare the challenges of the present to those our nation has overcome in the past. The day-long Dialogue was held under Chatham House Rule (where the words are noted but not the identity of the speaker) allowing for honest and respectful discussion from across the political aisle.

The day’s discussions produced a number of cutting insights into the comparative strengths and weaknesses of Australian democracy at a time of global democratic decline. These have then been combined with Sir Robert Menzies’s own extensive analysis of democracy, given as part of his famous Forgotten People radio broadcast series, to produce a timely policy paper, marking 125 years since federation, and offering some suggestions about what we can do to safeguard and revive Australia’s democratic culture for the next quarter century and beyond.

The paper is authored by the Institute’s historian Dr Zachary Gorman, and features contributions from David Kemp, Greg Melleuish, Tim Lynch, Chris Berg, Lorraine Finlay, and Aruna Sathanapally. It can be downloaded in full by following this link.