The latest assessment of the rule of law around the world tells two stories about Australia. Just one of those stories will be familiar to Jews and residents of the nation’s crime capital: Victoria.

The most important message from the global rule of law rankings is not that this country’s overall ranking remains unchanged from the year before at eleventh position.

For Australians, the real significance of this report only becomes apparent with a little digging into the factors that contribute to that overall ranking.

This is when it becomes obvious that something has gone terribly wrong in this country’s performance in fighting crime and protecting freedom of religion.

This week’s rule of law index published by the World Justice Project has revealed a clear decline in Australia’s global ranking on these measures.

In 2015, this country ranked fifth in the world when judged on freedom of religion and belief, and seventeenth when judged by whether crime was effectively controlled.

But after two years of intimidation and violence against Jews, and a sharp surge in crime in Victoria, the entire country’s ranking on these measures has collapsed.

We now rank twenty-fourth on freedom of religion (down from fifth ten years ago) and thirty-fifth on controlling crime (down from seventeenth ten years ago).

The report does not identify the causes for this decline but they should be obvious to anyone who has watched this country’s ineffective response to surging crime and anti-semitism.

Just last week, I recounted in this space how the Palestine Action Group had persuaded the NSW Supreme Court to strike down a protest law enacted by that state’s parliament to prevent intimidation of Jews.

And despite calls from religious leaders, including Rabbi Benjamin Elton of Sydney’s Great Synagogue, there are still no signs of any move to protect religious freedom with a federal religious discrimination act.

Nor is there any sign that the federal government intends to make the changes recommended in July by Jillian Segal, its special envoy on anti-semitism.

Segal’s report is a ready-made pathway that could help restore this country’s standing in the eyes of the world.

With support from the federal government, she wants to review, and where appropriate strengthen state and territory legislation that addresses anti-semitic or intimidating conduct.

On crime, the WJP points to serious failures that will be familiar to Victorians.

Ten years ago, Australia ranked twelfth in the world when judged by whether the correctional system was effective in reducing criminal behaviour and violence.

We now rank twenty-fifth.

On order and security, our performance has declined from thirteenth in the world ten years ago to twenty fifth.

The same pattern is apparent when Australia is judged by whether people do not resort to violence to reddess grievances.

This measure takes stock of whether Australians are free from mob violence and intimidation.

Ten years ago, this country was ranked fourteenth in the world on this measure. We now rank twenty-sixth.

The consequences of the decline on these measures are having a direct impact on the community and business – particularly in Victoria.

Consider the facts unveiled on Thursday by the Australian Retailers Association.

The retailers made the point that Victoria accounts for 35 per cent of total retail crime across the nation. This state has 60 per cent more of this type of crime than any other jurisdiction.

The statistics tell the story: Victoria police recorded 82,152 incidents of retail crime last year – an increase of 27.6 per cent.

But in the twelve months to June this year, another 99,114 offences took place – which means this form of crime in Victoria grew by another 20 per cent on top of the previous year’s 27.6 per cent.

Compared to this, it hardly matters that Australia has retained its overall ranking of eleventh position globally and second, behind New Zealand, when the rule of law is measured in east Asia and the Pacific.

Yes it’s important this country has not succumbed to the erosion of freedom of expression that afflicts 73 per cent of world.

It’s also important that freedom of assembly and civic participation in this country have withstood the decline experienced in more than 70 per cent of the world.

But the significance of this report is that that the world has now been told that Australians are losing our freedom to practice religion without risking violence or intimidation.

On this measure, as well a crime, we are no longer the country we were ten years ago. Crime and religious discrimination have transformed Australia.

The extent of our failures on these key aspects of the rule of law have now been measured and published to the world.

The only good news is that those responsible for law and public policy now have a clear baseline for action.

The rule of index is published annually by the World Justice Project which was founded in 2006 as an initiative of the American Bar Association. In 2009 it transitioned to an independent non-profit organisation with offices in Washington, Singapore and Mexico City.

Its rankings are based on community surveys and expert assessments on eight main indicators and multiple sub-factors.

The key indicators are constraints on government powers, order and security, absence of corruption, regulatory enforcement, open government, civil justice, fundamental rights and criminal justice.

The one weakness of the report, which is available online, is that it only discloses some of the experts who contributed to the findings about Australia while others remain anonymous.