Civility and social cohesion in Australia
Building a more civil Australia, together.
Organisations across the country are already building social cohesion — in neighbourhoods, newsrooms, classrooms and councils. In 2026 the Menzies Leadership Foundation brought thirteen of them into one room to map that work and find where connecting it would make it stronger.
This site shares what the coalition's first phase produced, and invites you to add your work to the picture.
Why now
Social cohesion is on the national agenda.
A Royal Commission with strengthening social cohesion in its remit is under way. The national measure of social cohesion sits at its lowest level since the Scanlon surveys began in 2007. And effort is gathering across policy, philanthropy and community — mostly project by project, place by place.
Our working definition of civility keeps it plain: listening respectfully, speaking honestly, and staying engaged across our differences, even when it's hard. Building it is a whole-of-society task.
Australians who trust the federal government to do the right thing all or most of the time (Scanlon Institute, 2025).
Organisations in the coalition's first phase, from neighbourhood to national.
Working sessions between February and June 2026, building one shared map of the field.
The people involved
The partners
Thirteen organisations took part in the first phase, working at every level of the system — community foundations, national networks, federal policy, local government, media, research and practice.
Office for Social Cohesion, Department of Home Affairs
Andrew Heath — Director, Engagement
Visit website →Mparntwe Alice Springs Community Foundation
John Huigen — Executive Director
Menzies Leadership Foundation
Liz Gillies — CEO; Rohan Martyres — Director, Strategy and Partnerships
Visit website →ABC / 3AW
Russel Howcroft — Broadcaster
Facilitation and sense-making by Paper Giant. Each member approves their own entry before publication.
A shared map of the field
Four conditions, at four levels.
Across the first phase's interviews and sessions, the same four conditions kept surfacing: capacity, capability, trust and belonging — each showing up from the personal to the systemic. Together they make a working map: a way for very different organisations to see their work, and each other's, in one frame.
Select any cell to see what it holds.
The map
Start anywhere
Each cell is somewhere civility is built or lost. Select one to see what it means, and the kind of work that lives there.
A framework for collective action
Find your place in the work.
Social cohesion is a whole-of-society task, and every kind of organisation holds part of it. Choose the seat you sit in for a quick read on where you fit, and a question to start with.
The work needs four kinds of shared infrastructure: shared data and knowledge, coordination, project pillars, and amplification. Wherever you sit, there's a layer that needs you.
On the ground
Three place-based pilots
Alongside the coalition, MLF is backing place-based work in three communities — each testing what building the conditions for civility looks like in practice.
Ballarat, Victoria
Led by Ellen Jackson — Ballarat Foundation
The community foundation as local broker: building trust, relationships and a stronger sense of community agency, and connecting civility work already under way across the city.
Mparntwe Alice Springs, NT
Led by John Huigen — Mparntwe Alice Springs Community Foundation
Working through the local community foundation to test what the conditions for civility look like with Central Australian communities.
Tasmania
Led by Anna Powell — Collaboration for Impact
Place-based work across Tasmanian communities, exploring how the conditions for cohesion are built town by town.
Pilot leads approve these descriptions before publication. Links to each place's page to come from Purpose Made — Ballarat and Mparntwe as live dashboards, Tasmania as a point-in-time summary.
Outputs
Outputs of the first phase
An investment framework for civility and social cohesion
Written for funders: where a dollar lands in this field, four ways in, and what good funding looks like.
Read the working draft →Joint submission to the Royal Commission
The Menzies Leadership Foundation joined partners in a submission to the Royal Commission, whose remit covers strengthening social cohesion. MLF to supply: headline summary and a link to the submission.
What happens next
Add your work to the map.
The first phase built the map and the relationships behind it. The Menzies Leadership Foundation is now shaping how a wider group comes together around it.
If your organisation works on social cohesion, civility or belonging, tell us what you're doing and where it might connect — or simply register to hear what's next.
Register your interestMLF to supply: contact details / expression-of-interest link.