To: The Prime Minister of Australia, the Attorney‑General, and Members of the House of Representatives

In a democracy, elected leaders and senior officials work for the public, not the other way around. With that power should come basic checks and balances, including clear standards of psychological fitness for people who hold Australia’s highest executive and security decision‑making roles.

We already expect strong medical and psychological standards from pilots, police, and many defence roles, because one person’s judgment can affect many lives. It is reasonable to expect similar, transparent standards for the people whose decisions can shape our national security, economy, and rights for generations.

We already care who can come into our home and set up our gas or electricity, because if they get it wrong people can get hurt. It makes sense to have at least as much care for the people making decisions about our whole country.

Around the world, psychological fitness assessments are widely used in high‑risk public safety roles, and some places are beginning to extend psycho‑aptitude testing to powerful legal roles such as judges and prosecutors. Yet there are still no comparable, clearly defined psychological fitness standards for those who hold the most powerful executive offices in our federal system.

This gap leaves our institutions vulnerable to individuals whose psychological characteristics may significantly impair sound judgment, impulse control, or ethical decision‑making. A modern democratic system should ensure that people who seek or hold the highest executive and security roles meet appropriate, independently assessed standards of psychological fitness for governance.

These standards are not about partisan politics or excluding people based on beliefs. They are about putting in place reasonable, professional safeguards so that those entrusted with the greatest power over our lives can demonstrate that they are fit to exercise that responsibility.

We therefore call on the Australian Government to:

• Create legislation establishing role‑appropriate psychological fitness standards for future holders of Australia’s highest executive and security offices.
• Set up independent assessment mechanisms, using recognised professional standards, to apply these tests fairly and consistently to future appointments and elections.
• Design these standards in line with Australia’s human rights obligations, privacy protections, anti‑discrimination laws, and accepted ethical rules for psychological practice.

Sign to support this: in a democracy the public sets the standards for its leaders, and psychological fitness should be one of them.