CONSTITUENCY STATEMENTS
Ms BELYEA (Dunkley) (16:53): Over these past few weeks I've had an increasing number of conversations about the state of democracy in Australia. At the Langwarrin probus club I was asked what I thought about democracy and the current state of politics. More recently, I listened to students at the Committee for Frankston & Mornington Peninsula youth forum, who spoke candidly about their concerns for the future.
They are worried about rising polarisation, growing anger and the tone of public debate in Australia. Australia is the lucky country. We are fortunate to live in one of the world's strongest democracies, but I fear that our good fortune has made us complacent about engaging with and understanding politics and about the value of our vote.
That complacency is becoming dangerous. For me, this shift became clear when I was confronted and intimidated by a group of 12 men, from a fringe organisation, intent on preventing me from speaking openly with members of the community, a mother and her daughter. It was a stark reminder that the tone of politics in our country is changing and changing quickly.
Since then, that same hostility has amplified online, with hate and division spreading at an alarming rate. The erosion of respectful debate threatens social cohesion and raises serious concerns about the integrity of our public discourse. Freedom of speech is fundamental to our democracy, but it is not a licence for hate speech.
With freedom comes responsibility. The tone of our national conversation matters. It shapes how we treat one another, how we solve problems and how we participate in and sustain our democracy.
Democracy depends on engagement. It requires people to ask questions, to listen carefully and to disagree without being disagreeable. It is strongest not when everyone agrees, but when everyone believes they have a place in the conversation.
The young people I met reminded me that engagement is not the problem—disconnection is. They care deeply about fairness, about truth and about the future they will inherit. Across Dunkley people are telling me the same thing: they want respectful, grounded politics focused on what matters.
This is a moment to reject complacency, to engage with one another in good faith and to strengthen respectful debate, because being the lucky country is not guaranteed—it is something we must actively protect, together and always.