As 2025 draws to a close, Australians are navigating a moment of profound transition. The year has been marked by shifting economic conditions, global instability, fierce debate over national identity, and a cost-of-living squeeze that continues to bite households from Broome to Bondi. While Australians remain optimistic by nature, a deep undercurrent of concern runs through the national conversation.

Based on reporting trends, public surveys, economic analysis and the themes dominating talkback radio, social media and dinner-table conversations, here are the 10 issues that worry Australians the most as 2025 is nearly over.

1. The Cost of Living Crisis

No issue has dominated 2025 more than the relentless surge in everyday costs. Food prices remain stubbornly high, rent is increasingly unaffordable, private health premiums have risen again, and utilities—particularly electricity—remain elevated despite government rebates.

The RBA’s cautious interest-rate cuts offered some relief, but mortgage repayments continue to strain families. For many Australians, the weekly grocery bill has become a reminder of how much harder life has become in just a few years.

Top concerns within this issue include:

• Escalating supermarket prices

• The impossible rental market

• Wage growth failing to keep pace

• Childcare and medical costs rising year after year

2. Housing Affordability and Rent Stress

If there is one shared anxiety across generations, it is the fear that housing is slipping permanently out of reach. Young Australians talk openly about never owning a home, while older Australians worry that their children and grandchildren will be lifelong renters.

Demand continues to outstrip supply in major cities, with some suburbs recording 50+ renters per inspection. Meanwhile, property prices surged again in late 2025, defying predictions of a downturn.

Key pressures:

• Chronic undersupply of new homes

• Construction sector inflation

• High levels of migration intensifying demand

• Investors re-entering the market as interest rates ease

3. High Immigration Levels and Infrastructure Strain

Australia’s population growth in 2024 and 2025 continued at a rapid pace, and while migration remains crucial for economic growth, many Australians feel the pace has exceeded the capacity of infrastructure.

Commuter trains are fuller, roads feel more congested, school enrolments are ballooning, and hospitals are struggling with wait times. The debate is less about migration itself and more about planning, pace and infrastructure failure.

This issue has become deeply political, shaping federal debates on housing, employment and cultural cohesion.

4. Economic Uncertainty and the Risk of Recession

Most Australians sense that the economy is at a crossroads. Inflation is falling but still present, wage growth is patchy, and global risks—from US political upheaval to China’s slowing economy—cast a long shadow.

Australians are particularly worried about:

• A possible US recession spilling over

• Rising business closures, especially in hospitality and retail

• Weak consumer confidence heading into Christmas

• Persistent energy and insurance cost increases

While economists debate the severity of the risks, households feel the uncertainty keenly.

5. Global Instability and the War in Ukraine and the Middle East

Australians have watched the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East with increasing concern in 2025, not only from a humanitarian standpoint but for their implications for fuel prices, regional security and global alliances.

The renewed US–China tension, especially in the South China Sea and over Taiwan, has further heightened worries. Australians fear that geopolitical uncertainty could disrupt supply chains, push up fuel and goods prices, or spark wider conflict.

Australians increasingly ask: Is the world becoming less safe? And what does that mean for us?

6. Climate Change, Natural Disasters and Insurance Costs

2025 brought another round of severe weather events—flooding in Queensland, bushfires in NSW and Victoria, and repeated heatwaves across the country. Australians are increasingly confronted by the reality that natural disasters are becoming more frequent and more intense.

But the cost of insurance has become the breakout issue this year:

• Northern Australia faces unaffordable or unavailable insurance

• Premiums nationally rose at the fastest rate in a decade

• Some homeowners received cancellations due to “climate risk zones”

For many, climate anxiety has shifted from the abstract to the hip pocket.

7. Health System Strain and GP Shortages

The healthcare system is under palpable stress. Emergency department wait times remain lengthy, aged-care facilities face staffing shortages, and bulk-billing—despite government reforms—has not returned to the universal access Australians once expected.

Rural and regional areas are hit hardest:

• Fewer GPs

• Longer specialist waitlists

• Maternity unit closures in smaller towns

Mental health services, too, remain overloaded, leaving many Australians unable to access timely support.

8. Crime, Youth Violence and Social Disorder

Australians have grown increasingly uneasy about rising youth crime in Queensland, carjackings in Melbourne, and high-profile violent incidents in Sydney. While national crime rates are stable overall, the visibility and intensity of certain crimes have heightened public concern.

The cost-of-living crisis is seen as a contributing factor, as is social media influence and lack of youth services in regional areas.

Communities are demanding:

• Tougher sentencing for violent offences

• More police visibility

• Investment in prevention and rehabilitation programs

9. Trust in Government and Political Polarisation

Public trust in government remains fragile. Many Australians feel disconnected from Canberra’s priorities, believing that both major parties are more focused on political manoeuvring than fixing real-world problems.

Key drivers of political frustration include:

• Perceptions of slow action on housing

• Divisive immigration debates

• Rising energy costs despite climate commitments

• Accusations of bureaucratic inefficiency

The failed 2023 referendum left lingering cultural divisions, and the political climate of 2025 is more polarised than at any time since the early 2000s.

10. Job Security and the Future of Work in an AI Era

In 2025, the rapid acceleration of artificial intelligence has reshaped industries from finance to media, logistics, customer service and even law. While productivity gains are celebrated, workers fear the long-term consequences.

Australians are asking:

• Will AI take my job?

• Will my skills still matter in five years?

• Will my kids need to change career paths before they even begin?

Layoffs at several major corporations, attributed partly to automation, intensified these anxieties.

Yet, there is optimism: new AI-driven industries, creative roles and tech-adjacent careers are emerging fast. The challenge is navigating the transition.

A Nation Looking for Stability, Security and Fairness

As 2025 nears its end, Australians are not defined by fear but by a desire for stability. They want a fair shot at home ownership, a healthcare system that works, a political class that listens, and certainty in a world that feels increasingly unpredictable.

The concerns gripping Australians today are complex—but they are not insurmountable. With strong leadership, honest national conversations and smart long-term policy, the worries of 2025 can become the foundations of a more confident Australia in 2026 and beyond.

• Next