An “unprecedented conventional and non-conventional military buildup” in the Indo-Pacific has created a risky environment where “miscalculation is more ominous,” says Australia’s Defence Minister Richard Marles.
These comments have accompanied a new pledge by the Labor government to increase defence spending by an additional $50 billion (US$32 billion) over the next decade.
There will also be an immediate spend of more than $1 billion to accelerate the procurement of long-range missiles and targeting systems, as well as lethal autonomous systems.
In total, it means defence spending is set to rise to $100 billion a year by 2034, and will push the defence budget to 2.4 percent of GDP by 2033/34.
That means that while it is “important that Australia plays its global part ... the call for focus means we simply have to make a difficult decision to keep the vast bulk of our effort in our region.
10-Year Window to Build Up Defence Force
Australia’s national security and prosperity, he said, rested on “a stable, peaceful region, where the global rules-based order is preeminent and is respected.”Australia “no longer has the luxury of a 10-year window of strategic warning time for conflict,” the minister said, reiterating earlier assessments.
When questioned later about whether any assets could arrive within the next decade, he said, “None of this happens overnight.”
“But in preference to extending existing platforms today versus acquiring new platforms that we can have up and running in the next 10 years, we choose the latter, we choose the latter because it is that strategic problem we are trying to solve.”
An Australian Defence Force needs to be a key tool in ensuring that “Australia can resist coercion [and] to maintain our way of life in a much less secure region and world,” the minister said.
“To contribute to the region’s security, we must be able to project. To resist the coercion that would come from the disruption of the lines of communication, we must be able to project. And ... we must be able to do this in a way that denies any adversary the ability to operate against Australia’s interests.
The strategy warns that the risk of a crisis or conflict in the Taiwan Strait and South and East China Seas is increasing.
Bonuses, New Zealanders to Plug Defence Force Gap
Mr. Marles said the ADF needed an additional 4,400 personnel, and the government would introduce $50,000 “continuation bonuses” to encourage people to remain beyond their minimum service obligations.“It is not just a matter of maintaining the current numbers in the force. We need to grow the force … and to do that we need to be thinking about these avenues and this wider pool of people we can draw from,” he said.
“An obvious place to start looking is amongst AUKUS partners or Five Eyes partners. I think ... there are 600,000 [New Zealanders] who live in Australia right now.”
A further $1.4 billion for planned enhancements to defence facilities across Canberra will be redirected to operational bases in the north of the country such as RAAF bases in Darwin, Townsville and Pyrmont. Two planned navy support vessels will be cancelled, saving $4.1 billion over the decade.
Total government spending on the military is expected to reach $330 billion through 2033/34, which includes the substantial initial costs for the AUKUS initiative, which sees Australia acquire nuclear-powered submarines.
There will also be up to $76 billion spent on “undersea warfare” and large investments in space and cyber. These include autonomous aerial munition delivery vehicles, an uncrewed surface vessel and an “extra large autonomous underwater vehicle.”
“The growth from 2 percent to around 3 percent of GDP on defence is the largest growth since defence spending went from 2 to 5 percent between 1949 and 1953, when Australia [was] engaged in the Korean War,” the minister said.
