The prime minister who vowed before the last election to herald a “kinder, gentler parliament” has now hailed Australia’s rowdy, robust and combative style of political debate as proof of a functioning democracy, warning “only dictatorships pretend to be perfect”.

In remarks to a global democracy conference in Sydney a day after the United States returned Donald Trump to the presidency eschewing warnings about his autocratic style, Anthony Albanese suggested the adversarial tendencies of the Westminster political system were “a virtue, not a flaw”.

“A fierce contest can be a good thing, as long as it’s a contest about substance, about things that matter to people and issues that affect the country,” Albanese told the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, in a speech distributed in advance.

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“Sometimes this means things can be loud or unpredictable, sometimes the arguments are more sledgehammer than scalpel. When the stakes are high, passions run high. But these are not warning signs, they are vital signs. Proof of life and cause for hope. Because only dictatorships pretend to be perfect.”

As recently as July this year, Albanese repeated his desire for less aggression in politics, after vandals lit fires outside the office of Victorian Labor MP Josh Burns in what Burns called “a politically motivated attack”.

“We just need to be a little bit kinder and gentler in the way that we conduct our politics,” Albanese told the Fox FM radio network in Melbourne on 24 July. “We don’t want to go down the American road, which has seen real polarisation and just people being angry all the time. People can have disagreements, but can we do it respectfully.”

In his speech on Thursday night, Albanese called parliament a “proving ground for ideas and policies”, offering “the sternest possible test” of their strength and rigour.

He described democracy as “in every sense, a work in progress”.

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The prime minister did not refer directly to the US presidential election result. He spoke of “the corrosive forces of cynicism and division”, saying the strongest antidote to those and greatest argument for democracy was in governments demonstrating their capacity to “make a positive difference”.

“Delivering for people, proving worthy of their trust, living up to our shared values, and taking on the big challenges – even if the causes are complex and the solutions unknown,” Albanese said.

Addressing what is effectively a democracy club built around the British Commonwealth, he said no nation’s democracy was beyond improvement and while tradition could teach, unite and inspire, it was “not enough to sustain us” in an era of eroding trust in institutions, fragmenting media and unverified information.

When it comes to democracy, governments must make the people “partners in this task”, he said, showing “the humility to listen and explain and advocate, not just assert” and the courage and capacity to “push back against cynicism and extremism, division and disinformation”.

“In many ways, this has never been more difficult. But in every way that matters, it’s never been more important.”

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