Two in three Australians are worried about national security and most believe the country is underprepared for the threats it faces, according to new research from the Australian National University’s National Security College (NSC).
The research found concern has increased steadily across three survey waves, rising from 42% of respondents in November 2024 to 50% in July 2025 and 64% by February 2026.
In July 2025, respondents rated several non-military risks as the most serious threats over the next decade, including AI-enabled attacks (77%), severe economic crisis (75%), disruption to critical supplies (74%) and disinformation (73%). The study said these were viewed as more serious than the prospect of a foreign military attack on Australia.
On six issues—climate change impacts, AI-enabled attacks, disinformation, foreign interference, economic crisis and critical supply disruption—between 85% and 89% of respondents considered the risk more likely than not to occur as a threat to Australia within five years, the NSC reported.
The research also found expectations of conflict were high. In July 2025, 68% of respondents said it was more likely than not that Australia would be involved in a military conflict with another country within five years. In the same survey, 45% considered a military attack on Australia probable within five years, and 43% said the consequences of such an attack would be catastrophic.
Terrorism concerns recorded what the NSC described as the sharpest movement across the research period, with the proportion rating it “serious” rising from 55% in November 2024 to 72% in February 2026, following the Bondi attack in December 2025.
On preparedness, the NSC said that in July 2025 fewer than one in five respondents believed Australia was “very” or “fully” prepared across each of the 15 threats surveyed. On most issues, respondents assessed Australia as only “slightly” or “moderately” prepared.
“In a time when our security landscape is changing, it would be wrong to assume that Australians are complacent. Most are concerned and want to know more,” said Professor Rory Medcalf AM, Head of NSC.
Focus groups conducted in November 2025 suggested many people wanted to contribute to national security but did not know how. In the February 2026 survey, 71% agreed that “all Australians can do more to make our communities peaceful and safe” in the aftermath of the Bondi terrorist attack; 32% agreed strongly, and 8% disagreed.
“We found that Australians draw a distinction between resilience in community spirit and resilience in capability, which they perceived as inadequate and under-resourced,” said Tim Wilford, Director, Community Consultations at NSC.
The consultation program ran between November 2024 and February 2026 and included more than 20,000 Australians across three nationally representative survey waves, eight deliberative focus groups, 100 written submissions, and discussions with close to 500 participants, according to the NSC.
