The report warns Australia’s social cohesion is under sustained pressure, with the Bondi Beach terrorist attack, the 7 October 2023 attacks on Israel and Covid‐19 acting as accelerants, intensifying pre-existing fractures in trust, legitimacy and public debate.

The report finds that online outrage, declining trust and foreign interference are no longer abstract social concerns – they are core national resilience challenges. It argues that social cohesion should be treated as a core pillar of national security, aligning leadership, policing, education, regulation and community investment around three objectives: protecting freedom while maintaining order, enabling disagreement without disorder and rebuilding a shared sense of belonging.

The report argues for practical steps that government, platforms, civil society and communities can take together to rebuild a culture in which disagreement is legitimate, debate is possible and institutions are trusted. It provides seven recommendations.

Key findings

• Australians’ trust in government, media and institutions has slipped, with grievance and disinformation filling the gap.
• The 'outrage economy' is now a strategic risk, with social media platforms rewarding speed, certainty and spectacle over nuance.
• Politically motivated violence risk is elevated and more complex, with faster and more individualised radicalisation pathways.
• Protest movements are more networked, less centrally led and more comfortable with confrontation, increasing public-order challenges.
• Foreign interference thrives in division and silence, with social fractures providing fertile ground for manipulation.