First Nations’ perspectives on national security
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This report by Pascale Taplin is one output of a Community Consultations initiative by the ANU National Security College (NSC) and captures perspectives of First Nations people of northern Australia, including the Torres Strait, towards national security. The main 'Community Consultations Results Report' on Australian attitudes to national security, risk and resilience, draws on three nationally representative surveys (November 2024, July 2025 and February 2026 n=20,000+) and eight deliberative focus groups conducted in November 2025. Key findings from our nationwide consultations, including analysis of written public submissions, can be found in our companion 'Community Consultations Engagement Report'.
Executive summary
The following report summarises discussions with several First Nations people of northern Australia, including the Torres Strait, about their attitudes towards national security. Participants were broadly positive and favourably disposed towards considering issues of national security. Participants put forward a view that Australian national security and the security of their own communities and Indigenous nations are two sides of the same coin. Most participants say national security outcomes can be improved if the Australian Government and First Nations work together to enhance mutual accountability, and in this way build relationships of trust.
First Nations perspectives on national security
Shared security starts with country, community and trust
This report explores how First Nations participants in northern Australia, including the Torres Strait, understand national security through sovereignty, connection to land, community resilience, border realities and partnership.
The purpose of this report is to inform the ANU National Security College (NSC) Community Consultations project. The data and analysis presented here are based on discussions with 63 people about northern Australian First Nations’ attitudes to national security. These discussions included one-on-one
interviews and small group discussions with 28 First Nations participants from mainland northern Australia, and 25 people of the Torres Strait.
“ Secure Australia – it is our land.
It’s our land, but it's all of us, that are here today. We want to tell it to you, to give that [significant information] to you. And for you to come ngampani-ngampani kujarni-kujarni [so we help each other, we become allies]. I tell you something, you tell me something. So we go along the road, we walk on the road, footsteps”
Community Consultation participant25 August 2025
Key findings
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander attitudes towards national security
Key findings in relation participant attitudes towards national security are summarised below.
1
History and sovereignty
History underscores participants’ relationships with the Australian Government, their attitudes towards the security of the Australian nation, and, by extension, their own security as individuals living here. Any meaningful account of participant attitudes to national security will necessarily consider their perspectives on sovereignty.
2
Country is part of national security
First Nations peoples hold unique connections to land that some extend to a commitment to the defence of Australia. Participants consider national security a joint responsibility. First Nations people value their contributions to defence, and the economic and social resilience of Australia’s most remote areas. In the far north, including the Torres Strait, participants are cognisant that their occupation of remote communities plays an important role in Australian border security.
3
Border risks are lived realities
In the north, First Nations communities experience the porosity of active international borders. Participants from northern communities are concerned about illegal foreign incursions into their lands and seek improved partnerships between local communities and government agencies to enhance local surveillance and defence capabilities. Participants observe that their position exposes them to heightened risks associated with illegal movements of people, fishery resources, drugs, and weapons through their regions.
4
Trust in government is fragile
While many participants want to contribute more to Australia’s national security, their involvement is frustrated by fraught relationships with government.
5
Resilience is strong – but under pressure
Northern Australian First Nations communities are exceptionally socially resilient but navigate threats and vulnerabilities that put this resilience at risk. Participants described external pressures, including a changing climate and demographic change, which they say compromise their capacity to manage their communities and country and sustain their laws and cultures. Participants cast these pressures as key threats to the resilience of their communities.
6
The information environment
Participants consider a range of influences in the information environment to be potentially harmful, including social media, which some say is detrimental to community resilience and individual wellbeing. Many report that they understand risks associated with mis- and disinformation, but find it difficult to know who to trust.
7
Vulnerabilities
Some participants are concerned about a growing sense of disaffection amongst some of their countrymen, which they say leads to criminality and hyper-incarceration. Some worry this may leave vulnerable people susceptible to malign influence.
