Observation
Australians’ sense of safety, which reached record highs at the end of the 2010s, was deeply shaken at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, and again following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Since then, overall feelings of safety have only partially recovered, with six in ten (62%) Australians in 2024 saying they feel either ‘safe’ or ‘very safe’. This remains steady from last year, but 30 points below the high watermark of 2010 (92%).
It is notable that the proportion of people feeling ‘very safe’ has remained consistently very low since 2020. Today, barely any (5%) say they feel ‘very safe’, as compared to 2010, when four in ten Australians (42%) felt this way.