Bob Baldwin (Paterson, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Defence Science and Personnel) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The release of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s Defence budget brief for 2009-10 irrefutably confirms that the Defence minister is engaged in what can only be best described as gross mismanagement of the Defence budget. The Defence white paper was spun as a panacea document. Goodness knows we waited long enough for it. Yet after all that time, it was delivered with the least comprehensive Defence budget papers of the past decade. I quote from the ASPI report:

There is a glaring absence of substantive information on funding, investment and reform.

In the 2009-10 budget, there is a commitment to increase real Defence spending by a maximum of three per cent annually out to 2018 and by 2.2 per cent from 2017-18 to 2029-30. The coalition government guaranteed a minimum three per cent annual real growth. Yet the numbers are not what they seem. Defence’s total funding of $26.6 billion in 2009-10 shows an increase of 14.9 per cent largely because of the $1.4 billion commitment to support our forces in Afghanistan. However, the increase in 2010-11 is only 1.45 per cent to $27.028 billion. After that, the funding level falls even further: $27 billion in 2011-12 and $26.337 billion in 2012-13.

The ASPI report suggests that there may be some small element of good news contained in the muddled and disjointed white paper and companion reviews—that is, military numbers continue to grow. Indeed, that is good news, but then why is it that the Rudd Labor government is cutting the number of available places on the widely popular gap year program from 700 to just 600? The coalition government’s policy was always to increase the size of the program from the initial 700 to 1,000 available places. Additionally, internal Defence sources have advised that the Army will be slashing 1,000 continuous full-time positions that the reserve personnel currently fill purely as a cost-saving measure. How can the Defence minister justify the loss of these positions when there is an ongoing shortage of military personnel?

In addition, 50 per cent of regular army members in reserve units will be cut, severely limiting the continuation training of reserves. The reserves have done a lot of heavy lifting for the ADF in the past decade, particularly within our often volatile northern approaches. This is yet another attempt by the Rudd Labor government to reduce the $188 billion worth of debt at the expense of our military personnel.

In conclusion, the incompetence of the current Defence minister has been revealed time and time again. It is directly and irrevocably harming Australia’s Defence forces. How can the outstanding men and women in the ADF—and for that matter in the Australian public—have confidence in the future direction of Australia’s defence forces when the white paper and the budget papers are so scant on detail and so silent on what is to occur and what things will cost? This is just another smoke and mirrors campaign, resulting in a white paper that has no substance or credibility. The Australian people deserve a fulsome and detailed explanation of where their tax dollars are being spent. (Time expired)