Australia’s status as an open democracy has been downgraded in a blunt assessment released this week by a global alliance of human rights organisations.

The CIVICUS Monitor assesses which countries around the world allow people and community organisations to exercise their rights to freedom of association, peaceful assembly and expression, and which countries violate these rights. The 2019 edition sees Australia’s rating fall from “open” to “narrowed”.

Campaigns Director at the Human Rights Law Centre, Tom Clarke, said the negative assessment sadly reflected the clear trend of Australian governments chipping away at our rights and freedoms.

“Restricting free-speech, prosecuting whistle-blowers, intimidating journalists for publishing articles about government wrong-doing, cracking down on peaceful protests about the climate crisis - all of these restrictive policies add up. We need to draw a line in the sand and say ‘enough’,” said Mr Clarke.

Mr Clarke said it was time to create an Australian Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms to ensure the decisions and actions of our governments are guided by the values of freedom, equality and compassion.

“Powerful politicians and their corporate backers don’t always respect the rights of individual people or communities. We need to create an Australian Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms to help level the playing field,” said Mr Clarke.