President's message | March 2026
Our desire for social cohesion must not come at the expense of talking about, and achieving, justice and human rights.
- Author: President Hugh de Kretser
Dear friends,
Strengthening our social cohesion
Social cohesion can mean different things to different people. It's commonly defined to mean things like: a shared sense of belonging and attachment, trust in each other and in our government and institutions, a shared vision and a willingness and ability to participate in it, and social mobility and reducing disparities in wealth and income.
Social cohesion, understood this way, is a good thing. It’s generally accepted that societies with higher levels of social cohesion are healthier, more resilient to external shocks and experience greater economic growth.
The critique of social cohesion is that it can be a loaded and coded term. Loaded because it sounds like a positive, unifying concept but can be used to mean conformity and assimilation. Coded, because when some people say social cohesion, they use it as an implied instruction not to talk about things that make people uncomfortable – like racism and other injustice.
Our desire for social cohesion must not come at the expense of talking about, and achieving, justice and human rights. A society where injustice is prevalent but not talked about or let alone addressed is not a socially cohesive one. Acknowledging and addressing injustice promotes social cohesion. Protecting human rights promotes social cohesion.
It’s clear that, while there are many positives in Australia compared to similar countries, our social cohesion has been declining. Measures show declining levels of trust in government, rising anti-migrant sentiment and rising racism and prejudice. Wealth and income inequality is widening. Few of the Closing the Gap targets to address Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander inequality are on track. There is a human rights divide between the cities and bush. Our public debates and our politics are becoming more caustic. Our media drives polarisation and feeds a harsher political cycle. Social media algorithms monetise division and outrage. Truth is being eroded. The antisemitic terror attack at Bondi, the Australian Day attack on Aboriginal protests and the alleged foiled terror plot to attack mosques, police and the parliament in Western Australia highlight the acute risks.
We need to ensure a society where all people can be safe and proud in their identity, faith and culture. We can do this by:
· building shared understanding and connection
· acknowledging the experiences of others – seeing and hearing with respect, looking for common ground and recognising our common humanity
· building a unifying vision of what it means to be Australian with human rights as an essential part of that, and
· strengthening our understanding and protection of human rights including through an Australian Human Rights Act.
It was a pleasure to discuss these issues and more when I delivered the Menzies Oration at Federation University in Ballarat last month.
You can read the full speech here.
You can listen to the full speech here.
Hugh de Kretser
President
