The Robert Menzies Institute’s annual policy dialogues are exercises in applied history, where we gather together Australia’s thought leaders to use the past to shed new light on pressing contemporary issues. Each dialogue is held behind closed doors and under Chatham House Rules, to allow a rare opportunity for frank and fearless discussion, which seldom takes place on the public platform. Participants are encouraged to strenuously debate and disagree, and the insights that these clashes of opinion reveal are then distilled into a policy paper publication, aimed at influencing the public discourse and leading decision makers.

Last year’s policy dialogue focused on the Conditions for a Successful Democracy, at a time when our political system faces a myriad of threats both domestically and globally, with clear parallels to the crisis of democracy Menzies dealt with in his 1942 Forgotten People Broadcasts. Participants included the likes of Frank Bongiorno, Lorraine Finlay, David Kemp, Lydia Khalil, Salvatore Babones, Greg Melleuish, Ramesh Thakur, Aruna Sathanapally, and more. Their contributions have been combined with Menzies’s own musings on democracy to inform the Robert Menzies Institute’s latest policy paper. Released to coincide with the 125th anniversary of Australian federation, it examines the strengths and weaknesses of our political system and culture after five quarters of a century.