Australia’s security problem worsens as Russia invasion of Ukraine

Australians are feeling more unsafe after Russia has invaded Ukraine and attitudes towards China continue to harden, according to a new poll.

The Lowy Institute poll on international affairs found only 53 per cent of Australians feel safe or very safe, a 17 percent drop from last year, and a sharp decline from the period of 2005 -- 10, when that number hovered around 90 per cent.

More than nine in 10 Australians also said they were concerned about Russia's invasion of Ukraine, while 87 per cent said they were concerned about cooperation between China and Russia, who declared a no limits partnership earlier this year.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine also topped the list of security concerns, with 68 per cent of the 2,000 people surveyed saying Russia's foreign policy poses a serious threat to Australia's interests over the next decade.

More than 60 per cent of Australians also identified China's foreign policy, cyber attacks from foreign powers, climate change and the possibility of war between the US and China over Taiwan as immediate threats.

The distrust towards China continues to grow.

Last year's Lowy Poll found that trust in China had dropped to just 16 per cent, down from 52 per cent in 2018.

That figure has dropped even further this year, to just 12 per cent.

The findings show a growing sense of anxiety in Australia, according to the director of the Lowy Institute, Natasha Kassam.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has shaken the sense of security of many Australians. She told the ABC that it makes the possibility of a war in Taiwan more real.

For the past three years, the Australian public opinion has been affected by anxiety about China, and now the vast majority of Australians believe that China will pose a military threat to Australia in the next two decades. Ms Kassam said that many of those polled responded to those fears with a desire to muscle up in the region.

Strong support for the Australia-US alliance was shown by the strong support for the Australia-US alliance.

Some 87 per cent of Australians polled this year said they saw the alliance as very or fairly important, a nine-point increase from last year.

The poll showed that 63 per cent of Australians were strongly opposed to allowing the United States to base military forces in Australia, an eight-point increase since 2011.

More than half of those polled said defence spending should be increased, a 20 per cent increase since 2019.

Nearly half of those surveyed said that AUKUS and Quad would make Australia safer, while fewer than one in 10 Australians said the initiatives would make it less safe.

The majority of Australians want to increase defence spending, host the US military in Australia and support the plan to acquire nuclear-powered submarines, Ms Kassam said.

Most Australians worry that the alliance could cause a war in Asia, despite the fact that support for the alliance with the United States is at a record high. The poll showed that there was a rebound in faith in democracy, with 74 per cent of those polled saying it was preferable to any other kind of government a nine-point increase from 2019.

Of those surveyed, 18 percent said that a slightly more democratic government can be preferable in some circumstances to a slight increase from 2020, but still less than the figures typically reached in the decade before.

The poll also found that the gap between older and younger Australians on the importance of democracy seems to have disappeared with 70 per cent of those aged 18 -- 29 expressing a clear preference for democracy.