One in three Australian adults now dreads the coming years, marking a three-fold surge in profound future anxiety since the Scanlon Foundation first launched its social cohesion monitoring back in 2006, abc.net.au reported.
The landmark 20th-anniversary Mapping Social Cohesion study surveyed 10,000 adults. It paints a picture of a nation grappling with severe economic strain, shifting attitudes toward immigration, and a sharp decline in institutional trust.
Cost-of-Living Pressures Fracture Household Stability
Persistent financial anxiety dominates daily life for millions of Australians caught in the crossfire of rising interest rates and the Iran conflict. Mounting bills have forced households to make grim compromises on basic survival needs.
The survey reveals that 21 per cent of respondents could not afford medicine or healthcare, while 19 per cent went without proper household heating and cooling. Meanwhile, 13 per cent struggled to put meals on the table or keep up with rent and mortgage payments.
Young and middle-aged adults, particularly women and single-income households, bear the brunt of this hardship. When financial security crumbles, a person’s fundamental sense of belonging shrinks, driving communities toward isolation.
Political Disillusionment Reaches Record Highs
As household budgets stretch to breaking point, faith in the mechanisms of governance continues to erode. More than one in five Australians now believe the federal government will almost never do the right thing.
Dissatisfaction with the wider political apparatus has reached unprecedented levels. Nearly half of all respondents—48 per cent—indicated that Australia’s system of government needs major change or outright replacement, marking the highest level of systemic discontent recorded since the question debuted in 2014.
Anthea Hancocks, chief executive of the Scanlon Foundation, noted that while mainstream trust had historically remained relatively stable, strong anti-establishment sentiments among One Nation voters have pulled aggregate confidence downward.
Immigration Concerns Surge as Public Support Declines
Views on immigration have shifted dramatically in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The proportion of respondents stating that immigration levels are too high climbed to 59 per cent, setting a new record.
While a 64 per cent majority still agrees that accepting immigrants strengthens the nation, that figure represents a steep drop from the 78 per cent recorded in 2022. Nearly two in five respondents expressed concern that newcomers take existing jobs.
Beneath policy debates, overt hostility has begun to strain community relations. Amar Singh, who runs the food relief charity Turbans 4 Australia and is a former Australian of the Year, reported a sharp rise in racist slurs, online death threats, and physical assaults targeting Indian Australians, including an incident where an elderly man was attacked and stripped of his turban in a Perth shopping center.
Despite surging demand for charity services amid widespread financial distress, Singh emphasized that economic hardship offers no justification for bigotry. With social cohesion indexes remaining flat even as public pessimism deepens, Australia’s social cohesion remains resilient thanks to the strength within people’s neighbourhoods.
