Australia is a well-fed and wealthy nation, in the middle of a region growing hungrier and hungrier – and a global food crisis could be the world’s next major security crisis.

A report by Future Directions International says Australia produces enough food for 60 million people, nearly three times its population, but is surrounded by countries where people are consistently hungry, or have no food security.

“There are a large number of people in our vicinity who don’t have enough food, and that could become a serious security issue,” Major General John Hartley, director of Future Directions International, and the former head of Australia’s Defence Intelligence Organisation, told Fairfax Media.

“We will see greater conflict between and within nations and we will see the movement of large numbers of displaced people across the world, driven by food shortages. Looking south to Australia, they see a large country, a developed country, with a small population, and it is a very attractive option.

“We don’t want to see large numbers of people coming to Australia illegally because there is no food in the place they are from.”