Across the world there’s been dismay at how Australians have seemingly welcomed the rise of authoritarianism to deal with the pandemic. Is there something in our cultural makeup or national history that’s enabled all of this? And are there parallels to other moments in our history?

To answer that question we turn to Dr Stephen Chavura — an historian and political studies lecturer — who has been shocked but not entirely surprised as to where we now find ourselves.

Dr Chavura teaches European and Australian history at Campion College. He has taught the philosophy of social science and political theory and several Australian universities. He has published in numerous journals including History of European Ideas, Journal of Religious History, and Australian Journal of Political Science. His most recent (co-authored) books are The Forgotten Menzies: The World Picture of Australia’s Longest Serving Prime Minister (MUP, 2021) and Reason, Religion, and the Australian Polity: A Secular State? (Routledge, 2019).

He is a contributor to The Australian and has also written for Spectator Australia and ABC Religion and Ethics.