Richard Marles (Corio, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for his question and acknowledge his commitment to the defence industry of South Australia. Last night's budget had a central pillar, which was our nation's security, investing in the key military capabilities to keep Australians safe. There was a $9 billion commitment over the next four years to establish the pathway by which Australia will acquire nuclear powered submarine capability, making us just the seventh country to be able to operate these platforms, and giving rise to the single biggest leap in our military capability since the end of the Second World War. What that will do is give pause for thought for any adversary seeking to project power against Australia or our interests. There's a $4.1 billion commitment to increasing our strike capability, which will see, for example, an increase in Army's strike range from 40 kilometres to more than 300 kilometres in the next couple of years, while at the same time establishing an industrial base in this country which will manufacture missiles. There's an investment of $400 million in the retention and the growth of our Defence Force personnel because we understand that at the heart of our defence is our people, and we simply have to make the ADF a better place to work.

What all of this will do is implement the AUKUS agreement and the Defence Strategic Review. It will see, over the next four years, defence spending growth in accordance with the trajectory that we inherited from those opposite. But over the next 10 years, it will see defence spending grow by an additional 0.2 per cent of GDP above the trajectory that we inherited from those opposite. That means that we plan to spend, over the next 10 years, 0.2 per cent more of GDP on defence than those opposite provided. This is not spending for spending's sake, because right now we are seeing in the world the biggest conventional military build-up since the end of the Second World War right here in our region, and that, combined with a much greater economic connection to the world, has greatly complicated our strategic circumstances. In a rational world defence spending is a function of strategic threat and strategic complexity, and we have both in full measure. We are rational people running a rational government which is making a historic commitment to the defence of our country.

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