Queensland MP Says Australia Needs ‘A Hundred’ Missile-Equipped Ships in Defence Strategy

A veteran Queensland politician says the government’s got it all wrong unless Australia plans to fight penguins.

Bob Katter of Katter’s Australian Party during a press conference in the Mural Hall at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia on June 22, 2021. Sam Mooy/Getty Images

A Queensland MP is calling on the government to rethink its defence strategy amid recent events, including the circumnavigation of Australia by Chinese Communist Party (CCP) warships earlier in the year.

Bob Katter, whose Kennedy electorate sits in Queensland’s north, made the comments off the back of discussions with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Richard Marles.

Katter met with Marles to discuss a new amphibious army fleet to be stationed near Cairns, as well as funding for a ship lift to support navy repairs.

But the long-time MP also took the opportunity to speak out regarding Australia’s current defence position.

“We have a minuscule air force—barely one percent of, say, China’s,” he said in a statement.

“Our navy has arguably only 10 ships capable of defending our country. Patrol boats don’t count. They’ve got no serious armaments.

“Canberra has spent $40.2 billion on patrol boats and drones that don’t carry a single missile. Not one of them can hurt anyone. What are they even for?”

Katter also expressed concern about the comparative size of Australia’s navy in comparison with the CCP fleet that circled just off Australia’s coast.

“The Chinese flotilla that did laps around Australia earlier this year was a quarter of the size of our attack fleet in the navy,” he said.

“What does that tell you?”

Katter called on the government to significantly expand Australia’s navy.

“A hundred ships. That’s your bare minimum. A hundred vessels loaded with serious missile systems and effective delivery mechanisms ... That’s what we need: a missile shield at sea, backed by onshore mobile artillery and a real guerrilla army on land.”

Katter says Australia would not be equipped should the need to go to war arise, and wants a stronger focus on the north of the nation, which he sees as a likely attack point.

Chinese People’s Liberation Army-Navy Renhai-class cruiser Zunyi, and Fuchi-class replenishment vessel Weishanhu. Courtesy of the Australian Department of Defence

“Unless we are going to be battling the penguins of Antarctica, maybe we should cast our eyes north to where the threat is more likely,” he said.

The 80-year-old MP, who was born in his electorate, says Australia is at risk of repeating the mistakes of the past.

“To go to war now is not only inconceivable but a catastrophic failure of defence planning that echoes the same fatal mistakes made in World War II,” he said.

“In the Second World War, our three armies were sitting in the Libyan Desert while the Japanese prepared to invade.

“Whether it was dereliction of duty or outright stupidity, it was the most damning judgement on a government in this country’s history.”

Katter describes it as a sobering tale of being ill-prepared for war.

“They knew we were about to be invaded, and they sent two forward scout groups to meet the threat—3,000 young men and the 49th Battalion,” he said.

“Half of them had never fired a rifle in their life.

“Our air force was so under-equipped it was a joke; the Wirraway had machine guns on the wings and no chance of taking on Japanese Zeros.”

Funding Concerns

Katter’s comments come amid calls from the U.S. government for Australia to boost defence spending.

U.S. Defence Secretary Peter Hegseth says Australia needs to raise its defence spend to 3.5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).

Australia’s current defence spend is around 2 percent of GDP, or $56 billion, with plans to expand spending to 2.35 percent by 2034.

A recent report found that Australia’s defence spending had stagnated over the past decade, in part truncated by the nation’s growing inflation.