Anthony Albanese says young people’s view on democracy is ‘scary’

The Prime Minister has made a bold assessment on the state of democracy, signalling out one group of Aussies in particular.

Anthony Albanese has raised concerns about young people’s “scary” views on democracy, urging politicians to do more to rebuild the “faith and trust” in governments.

The Prime Minister made the comments while addressing a CEDA State of the Nation breakfast, where he said democracy was being eroded by a lack of transparency.

“We need to recognise that there is a breakdown in faith and trust and we need to not ever take democracy for granted. In some places in the world, it is in retreat,” he said.

“I think if you look at some of the surveys of young people about systems of government, it's a little bit scary, in terms of what system they think works better.”

Anthony Albanese says Australians should never take democracy for granted. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Without naming his predecessor, Mr Albanese said while Scott Morrison’s secret jobs scandal had made for a great punchline, the secrecy was a “serious issue”.

“I think that democracy is undermined by a lack of transparency,” he said.

Former High Court judge Virginia Bell has been tapped to lead a review that will consider Mr Morrison’s appointment from March 2020 to May 2021 to the health, finance, resources, home affairs and treasury portfolios.

He said the erosion of trust was ‘scary’. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

On his own actions, Mr Albanese pointed to the government’s intentions to introduce legislation to establish the federal corruption watchdog next week.

But he said ultimately restoring trust would need to go further, noting cultural change on pork barrelling following the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison era was required.

The budget, which will be handed down on October 25, will slash grant schemes created under the former government in a bid to eliminate “waste”.

“By the end, all of these funds were available … some of the funds that were made just on a whim,” he said.

“There are some tough decisions required and it required people in positions of power to give up some of that power and be accountable.”