Observation
Although Australians remain highly supportive of the security alliance with the United States, there is persistent reluctance to support military action under ANZUS. The majority of Australians (68%) say ‘despite the alliance, Australia should only support US military action if it is authorised by the United Nations’.
Only four in ten Australians (40%) agree with the statement that ‘Australia should act in accordance with our security alliance with the United States if it means supporting military action in the Middle East, for example, against Iran’. This is an 8-point decline from 2013. Even fewer Australians (34%) would be supportive of ‘military action in Asia, for example in a conflict between China and Taiwan’. In 2013, a similar proportion of Australians (38%) said Australia should act in accordance with the alliance even if it meant supporting US military action in a conflict between China and Japan.