2024-04-17
The Albanese Labor Government has launched another lengthy report concerning Australia’s military, which changes almost nothing but manages to hand billions more to a defence establishment that continually fails to deliver.
The Albanese Governemnt has announced a staggering $330 billion spend on Defence over the next decade, the vast majority going into the same white elephant projects such as nuclear submarines and (very) future frigates that have been burning through public funds for years.
Today’s announcement follows multiple other reviews from the Defence Strategic Review, The Enhanced Lethality Surface Combatant Review and the Defence Industry Development Strategy, now the Integrated Investment Program and the National Defence Strategy.
None of these has challenged a Defence leadership that has overseen failure after failure and each one has promised more public funds into a broken system.
Greens Defence Spokesperson Senator David Shoebridge said: “This latest review fails to deal with the giant AUKUS-sized-elephant in the room that has eaten up Defence’s budget and imposed the extra cost of less stability and the peace in the region.”
“With every major weapons platform retained regardless of their efficacy, if there is a tough decision here I cannot see it.
“No major procurement decision has been reversed here, no serious feathers have been ruffled in any of the services, which is clear evidence of weak political leadership.
“If more reports and meaningless catchphrases made us more secure then Minister Marles would get a gold star.
“Tiny initiatives on more defensive weapons are all that is possible when so much of the budget is soaked up on 20th-century platforms like nuclear submarines, frigates and attack helicopters.
“This is a major missed opportunity to refocus our defence spending to a much more affordable, less aggressive and more achievable direction that is aimed at defending Australia rather than threatening our neighbours,” Senator Shoebridge said.