Defending & strengthening democracy

Where we stand

Democracy means more than voting once every four years. It requires open government, honest elections, independent scrutiny, freedom of speech and genuine opportunities for citizens to influence the decisions made in their name. Political power belongs to the people; governments, parties and public officials exercise authority on their behalf and must remain accountable to them.

Yet too many Tasmanians believe important decisions are settled behind closed doors, information is withheld without proper justification, and political agreements are driven by survival rather than principle. Consultation is too often treated as a communications exercise after the real decisions have already been made.

Transparency should be the default — information produced with public authority and public money should be available unless there is a clear and lawful reason to withhold it. Freedom of speech, religion, association, assembly, movement and peaceful protest must be protected, and every vote must count equally under a system that upholds one adult, one vote, the secret ballot and confidence in the electoral process. The right to participate in democracy should not require ordinary citizens to publicly disclose their names and home addresses simply to support the registration of a political party.

One Nation Tasmania will return power to the people. We will strengthen government transparency, restore meaningful accountability, protect the integrity of elections, improve public participation and ensure Tasmania's democratic institutions serve citizens rather than the political establishment.

The issues

Tasmania's system of government is broken. Decisions are too often made behind closed doors, accountability is weak and ordinary citizens are left without a real voice between elections.

At the 2024 state election, 6.31 per cent of ballot papers were informal — roughly one in every sixteen votes did not count — the highest rate in decades. The result produced a hung parliament in which the largest party won just 14 of the 35 seats and fell four short of a majority, forcing government to rely on ongoing crossbench negotiations.

Tasmania's Integrity Commission operates on a budget of only $3.73 million, a fraction of the funding given to equivalent bodies in Victoria and New South Wales, and has never held a public hearing in its fourteen years of existence. Chronic underfunding restricts the Commission's ability to investigate, expose and deter misconduct effectively. This weakens independent oversight of government and public officials, reducing accountability and public trust.

Under current Tasmanian law, the names and home addresses of ordinary party members who support a registration application are published in the Government Gazette and all major newspapers. This forces Tasmanians to publicly disclose personal details simply for exercising a democratic right, creating unnecessary privacy and safety risks.

The practical consequence is clear. Governments answer more to parties, bureaucracies and backroom deals than to the people who elect them. Tasmanians are left with less transparency, weaker oversight of public power and diminished confidence that their votes actually shape the decisions that affect their lives.

Our priorities

1. Open up government. Government information belongs to the public by default, and Tasmanians should be able to track major spending, contracts and decisions without facing unnecessary secrecy, delays or cost barriers.
2. Strengthen integrity and accountability. Tasmania's integrity bodies must be properly independent, resourced and empowered to investigate misconduct without political interference, while ministers and senior officials are held clearly accountable for results.
3. Give Tasmanians a direct say. Citizens should have a practical, well-safeguarded mechanism to place major issues on the public agenda through citizen-initiated referendums and plebiscites when Parliament will not act.
4. Protect election integrity. Elections must be secure, fair and free from fraud, foreign interference or improper influence, with rules that ensure every eligible vote counts equally and no unreasonable barriers are placed in the way of legitimate voters.
5. Protect personal privacy in party registration. Remove the requirement for ordinary Tasmanians to have their names and home addresses published when supporting a political party registration.
6. Make Parliament answer to the people. Consultation must happen early enough to influence decisions; Members of Parliament must stay connected to their communities and young Tasmanians must receive proper education in democracy and government so they can participate fully.

What this means for Tasmanians

For taxpayers: clearer information about public spending, contracts, major projects and whether government commitments are actually being delivered.

For citizens: a stronger voice through genuine consultation, petitions, parliamentary participation and a future framework for citizen-initiated referendums.

For voters: greater confidence that elections are fair, secure and protected from fraud, foreign interference and improper influence.

For journalists, whistleblowers and community advocates: stronger access to information and independent institutions capable of investigating misconduct without political interference.

For young Tasmanians: new focus in schools on Australia's democracy, freedoms and the responsibilities that come with living in a free society, to inform your participation in building a future everyone can benefit from.

For political party supporters: One Nation will work to change the legislation so you will no longer have to publish your name and home address simply to support a party's registration in Tasmania.

Democracy belongs to Tasmanians — government must never forget that it serves only with their permission.

What comes next

This baseline policy sets out where One Nation Tasmania stands on democracy, government accountability and the rights of Tasmanians to have a genuine say in how their state is governed.

We will develop detailed reforms to strengthen government transparency, integrity oversight, election security, citizen participation and parliamentary accountability. This will include further work on citizen-initiated referendums and plebiscites, electoral reform, stronger access to government information and protections for Tasmanians participating in the democratic process.

We will consult with Tasmanians, community organisations, legal and governance experts, journalists, integrity bodies and others with direct experience of how our democratic institutions operate.

If you have been shut out of a government decision, struggled to access public information, seen consultation treated as a box-ticking exercise, or have ideas for giving Tasmanians a stronger voice, we want to hear from you.