Australian higher education is internationally competitive, yet domestically strained and politically contested. This paper examines how Australians perceive their universities and how those perceptions connect to democratic resilience – the capacity of a democratic system to sustain informed participation, institutional trust, social inclusion and collective learning. Three findings are especially salient for democratic resilience.

Australia is experiencing declining support for major parties, rising electoral success for independents and minor parties, and increasing public concern about the responsiveness of its democratic institutions. This paper examines the implications of these shifts, including recent federal election trends, emerging public attitudes towards minority governments and historical examples of parliamentary adaptation.

This paper examines democracy as a resilient system, emphasising the role of applied analysis in shaping effective policy and programs, particularly in Australia. It proposes a practical agenda centred on three core strengthening flows of democratic resilience: trusted institutions, credible information and social inclusion.

This paper examines the relationship between income inequality and democratic resilience, focusing on how perceptions of economic disparity influence public satisfaction with public institutions. It finds that perceived inequality significantly affects attitudes toward the government, suggesting that addressing the disconnect between public expectations and government action on inequality could enhance democratic satisfaction.

Problem gambling is a major public health concern in Australia and internationally. This paper presents the first nationally representative data of the rates of online gambling participation beyond COVID-19. While overall gambling participation rates have decreased over the past 15 years, online gambling rates have exponentially increased in the same period.