 Greetings from the Australian Embassy in Stockholm, and congratulations to International Idea on its 25th anniversary. It's great that colleagues in Australia can participate in this event, including the President of the Australian Senate, Scott Ryan. Australia is proud to be a founding member of International Idea, and we thank Idea for its ongoing efforts to promote and protect democracy and support free and fair elections around the world. We value International Idea's role in our region. COVID-19 is testing all of our institutions, from the global level to the local level. It's clear that democracies have to stand up against efforts by some actors to use the pandemic as an opportunity to erode democracy and advance an authoritarian agenda. Governments need to find ways to balance respect for civil and political rights with the safety of communities. Supporting gender equality and women's empowerment is also vital to strengthening democracy. Australia looks forward to succeeding Sweden as chair of the Council of Member States for International Idea in 2021, and taking forward this important work.