CONTESTED GROUND: Is Australia’s political discontent becoming a national security problem?

A dramatic political shift in Western Australia has put the major parties on notice and raised a much bigger question: what happens to Australia’s national resilience when voters stop trusting the institutions that govern them?

Hosts Phillip Tarrant and Major General (Ret’d) Dr Marcus Thompson examine the rise of populism in Australia and why growing political polarisation, cost-of-living pressures and economic frustration should be viewed through a national security lens.

They unpack the erosion of trust in government and institutions, the weakening of Australia’s traditional political centre and the risk that social division creates opportunities for foreign interference, information warfare and malign influence.

Finally, the pair look north to the Pacific Islands Forum, currently underway, and Australia’s increasingly contested strategic environment. With China seeking greater influence across the region, Taiwan remaining a flashpoint and several Pacific leaders absent from the forum, they discuss why Australia can no longer take its relationships in the Pacific for granted.

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