‘Only dictatorships pretend to be perfect’: Albanese gives fiery defence of democracy after US election

A fierce contest can be a good thing, as long as it's a contest about substance', PM tells global democracy conference in Sydney

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The prime minister who vowed before the last election to herald a kinder, gentler parliament" has now hailed Australia's rowdy, robust and combative style of political debate as proof of a functioning democracy, warning only dictatorships pretend to be perfect".

In remarks to a global democracy conference in Sydney a day after the United States returned Donald Trump to the presidency eschewing warnings about his autocratic style, Anthony Albanese suggested the adversarial tendencies of the Westminster political system were a virtue, not a flaw".

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