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 organisations into one room to map that work and find where connecting it would make it stronger.
This site shares what the Civility Coalition produced in its first phase, and what comes next.
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 Civility Coalition members
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.
Menzies Leadership Foundation
Liz Gillies — CEO; Rohan Martyres — Director, Strategy and Partnerships
Visit websitePurpose Made
Tim Rosenlund-O'Brien — Evaluation Lead
ABC / 3AW
Russel Howcroft — Broadcaster
Facilitation and sense-making by Paper Giant.
Four conditions, at four levels.
Across the Coalition's first phase 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.
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.
Every organisation can make a difference.
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 what you can contribute, and a question to start with.
Wherever you sit, there's a layer of shared infrastructure that needs you.
The shared infrastructure the work needs.
Australia has no shortage of research, pilots, advocates and practitioners working on social cohesion. What's scarce is the architecture that connects and accelerates them. The Coalition named four kinds of shared infrastructure that hang together as one structure, and they are the backbone of the investment framework. When members were asked where they would put their energy, shared data and knowledge drew the most support: most organisations already do it, and want a better way.
One structure, not four separate themes: each layer rests on the one below it, and each carries a question the coalition is still working on.
Shared data and knowledge
Shared measurement and a live picture of who is doing what, where, and to what effect, so the field can see itself and tell its story. The foundation the other three depend on, and the first thing members said they wanted a better way to do.
Coordination
Pooled funds, shared governance and intermediaries that hold the work between organisations: who decides, who's accountable, and on what terms.
Project pillars
Communities setting and delivering their own agendas in the settings people already trust, backed by the capability, dialogue and connection work that supports them.
Amplification
Helping what works in one place travel to another, and making the case to governments and the public so that support grows for all of the above.
The investment framework sets out five ways funders can back this infrastructure, and what good funding looks like here.
Outputs of the first phase
An investment framework for civility and social cohesion
Written for funders: where a dollar lands in this field, five ways in, and what good funding looks like.
Read the working draftJoint submission to the Royal Commission
The Menzies Leadership Foundation joined partners in a submission to the Royal Commission, whose remit covers strengthening social cohesion.
Read the joint submissionStay involved for what comes next.
The first phase built the map and the relationships behind it. The Menzies Leadership Foundation is now shaping the next stage: online workshops following the Scanlon Foundation Research Institute's Australian Social Cohesion Summit, opening the conversation to a wider group of organisations.
If your organisation works on social cohesion, civility or belonging, we would like to hear from you: your thoughts on what is here, and whether you want to be part of what comes next.
Register your interestLink destination to be confirmed with MLF (Sarah Jenkins). Currently points to the MLF homepage.