Governor-General Sam Mostyn says students’ lack of civics education ‘terribly depressing’

Sam Mostyn says a lack of civics education among adults and young people is ‘terribly depressing’ and could become a problem when it comes to basics civic principles such as compulsory voting.

Governor-General Sam Mostyn. Picture: Universities Australia / X

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Governor-General Sam Mostyn says a lack of civics education among adults and children is “terribly depressing” and could become “a chronic problem”, as she worried about young people misunderstanding basics civic principles such as compulsory voting.

A recent ACARA survey found 28 per cent of year 10 students and 43 per cent of year 6 students met proficiency levels for civics and citizenship, including their understanding of the nation’s democracy, political systems and civic processes – the lowest levels since 2004.

“It’s terribly depressing. It reveals that less than 30 per cent of adults have an understanding of Australian civics, and for teenagers and younger it’s less than 20 per cent,” she told the Universities Australia Solutions Summit.

“We’re either using the wrong language or we have just given up on teaching and engaging innovatively with … what it means to have a democracy, what is a Westminster system of government, and why do we have this role called the governor-general with reserve powers, and the interplay with the federal executive and cabinet and the parliament.

“If we don’t pay attention to that, that is a chronic problem. That’s about finding ways to educate and elevate, which is why I think the Prime Minister asked me to be a visible Governor-General (and that) talking about caring for civics in institutions might be a kind of easy way to lift up that profile.

“But I’m under no illusion that I can change those numbers. It’s a system-wide issue about ‘do we really want to care about our civics?’. Because if we care about it, we’ve got to invest.”

Ms Mostyn said she gained insight into “what’s really happening and how (young people) think about the world” from some of the 25,000 primary and high school students who come through Government House every year on the schools program.

“I don’t think they care any less than any generation has cared,” she said, but added: “One of the things I worry about, that young people tell me, is there’s lots of lots of misnomers.

“When I talk about one of our greatest strengths is compulsory voting and an independent electoral commission, I get a lot of young people saying, ‘Yeah, I’d rather not have compulsory voting because I think it’s a breach of freedom of speech’.

“Now for me, there’s a fundamental gap in the understanding of why we have a compulsory system, and I have to remind people that it’s not a compulsory voting system … but we have a compulsory civic duty to show up.

“And so you start talking to young people about showing up as citizens and having a say in the way the country is going, and (tell them) you have a primary role to do that.”

Ms Mostyn said it was something universities might want to reflect on.