By Professor Rory Medcalf AM, Head, ANU National Security College
Amid global disorder, the is rising to the challenge of the times by providing a trusted platform for an authentically Australian national conversation on security, risk and resilience.
In March 2026, we delivered three major and mutually-reinforcing initiatives. We launched the , a massive two-year project to understand what the diverse and dispersed Australian public actually thinks about security.
Those findings provided the evidence base for our major biennial conference on 24-25 March, . This proved a highly inclusive, democratic and respectful national conversation identifying opportunities for a truly whole-of-nation approach to security, cohesion and preparedness.
And throughout the month of March, NSC also delivered weekly sessions of our expanded parliamentary program NS26, informing national security awareness and knowledge among 30 Federal parliamentarians from across the political spectrum – many of whom also joined our conference.
Together, these initiatives mark an evolution of the National Security College in its 16th year. Building on our core educational work, NSC is now positioned as a recognised hub for uplifting national capability across many areas, with a focus on helping to prepare Australia for an era of risks and shocks.
The Community Consultations revealed that the Australian public holds rapidly growing concerns about a wide spectrum of security risks, feels the nation is underprepared, and wants more open communication from government about the issues.
Australians have plenty of common sense and do not lack strategic awareness. Indeed, our surveys show that in 2025 the public was already anticipating precisely the kind of cascading impacts that our country is experiencing from the 2026 Iran conflict.
We also encountered positive messages about a public spirit of resilience, civic mindedness and a unifying priority of safe and peaceful communities – important news in the aftermath of the Bondi terrorist attack.
These conclusions arose from the most extensive public consultations on national security undertaken in this country, involving more than 20,000 Australians across three survey waves, eight deliberative focus groups, 100 written submissions and close to 500 conversations reaching every state and territory. We are grateful to the many Australians who entrusted us with their views, and to the ANU Social Research Centre for its close partnership on the survey and focus group work.
The findings are presented in three documents: a survey and focus group research report; , an engagement report; and , an academic study of indigenous viewpoints from across northern Australia and the Torres Strait. These are rich resources for governments, parliaments, experts, students and the general community.
More immediately, the reports set the scene for dynamic and constructive discussions at the 24-25 March conference, held on campus at the Lowitja O’Donoghue Cultural Centre. With more than 450 delegates and 90 speakers from all around the nation, the conference demonstrated the distinct contribution of ANU as a convener of evidence-based policy dialogue in alignment with its national mission, a point underscored by Interim Vice-Chancellor Professor Rebekah Brown FASSA in her opening speech.
The conversation resonated widely. In the space of a week, the conference and Community Consultations reports generated 198 media items reaching an audience of 17 million. In her speech to the conference, Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett APM called our survey data ‘the pulse of a nation’.
It was a tangible vote of confidence in NSC and ANU that our conference speakers included leaders, officials and a multiplicity of voices from all levels of government, as well as civil society, industry and academia. More than 50 ANU students and alumni participated as full delegates, bringing intergenerational perspectives and informing their careers as future leaders.
The keynote address by Minister for Home Affairs, the Hon Tony Burke MP was a measure of the relevance of the conference to the breadth of his portfolio, including social cohesion as much as security. International speakers provided insights on resilience from partner nations such as Finland, Sweden, Japan and Singapore.
Australian Government Ministers, security agency heads and parliamentarians gave newsworthy speeches, but just as important were the panel discussions involving voices from non-government organisations, migrant communities, First Nations and Pacific partners Papua New Guinea and New Zealand.
The conference was also the launchpad for new initiatives, with NSC committing to taking forward its successful Community Consultations project through a longitudinal study and a call for expressions of interest in further academic research studies. Also announced were new research partnerships on social cohesion, a project on countering disinformation, a study into sovereign citizens as a source of security risk, and dialogues with the union movement and business sector, all under a new Resilience Forum being established at NSC.
None of the success of the conference and Community Consultations would have been possible in the absence of outstanding levels of effort, creativity and teamwork, across NSC, within ANU, among government partner agencies and our wider nationwide networks. This is a microcosm of the integrated national approach that can help Australia through difficulties ahead.
Security does not just involve recognising threats. It literally means ‘without care’, so it is also about putting threats in perspective to let people get on with life: managing anxieties by engaging confidently with risk. At NSC, all that we do is aimed at helping Australian people and institutions move in that direction, in a way that is based not on division, confusion and fear but on evidence, respect and trust.
