This year has borne out former prime minister Tony Abbott's prediction that "for some time to come, the delicate balance between freedom and security may have to shift". Government agencies can now access the metadata of every person, journalists can be jailed for reporting on matters of public interest and Australians can be banished after having their citizenship revoked. This has led one Liberal MP, Andrew Nikolic​, to suggest that the idea of protecting civil liberties in the context of national security has become "redundant".

Comments such as this reveal how far the Coalition has travelled since it took office in 2013. As a new government, it cast itself as the champion of basic freedoms, and lambasted restrictions on speech such as section 18C of the racial discrimination act. Any such pretensions have since been demolished by the government's own rhetoric and actions. It has moved on from section 18C to introducing laws that jail people for up to decade for disclosing information about intelligence operations that show a misuse of power.

Tony Abbott will recontest his seat of Warringah. But should he? Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

This shift by the Coalition is more than just an example of changing political priorities. Indeed, the same change has been evident in Labor, which has voted for every one of the government's national security measures. Something deeper and more troubling is at work.

This year I conducted a survey of the statute book to find out how often our politicians have passed laws that infringe upon democratic rights. The results were surprising and disturbing.