This chapter examines how the Australian government has perceived the liberal international order (LIO) during the period 2021–2025 and explores the implications of these perceptions for its foreign policy behaviour. Drawing on leaders’ public statements and key official documents, we analyse Australia’s views across the three pillars of the international order: the power-based pillar, the institutional pillar, and the normative pillar. We argue that Australia’s enduring strategic anxiety has led it to adopt a largely defensive posture toward the existing order. As a result, Australia’s foreign and security policies are closely shaped by its assessments of the condition and resilience of each pillar of the LIO. When a particular pillar is perceived to be under strain, Australia seeks to defend it through military, institutional, or normative instruments. The intensifying U.S.-China strategic rivalry and the prospects of potential order transition have heightened these challenges for Australian policymakers, reinforcing the urgency of safeguarding the pillars that underpin the LIO.
