Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I absolutely reject the assertion in the supplementary question that the defence budget has been trashed; it has not. We have budgeted for over $100 billion for defence across the forward estimates. It is the case that compared to like countries such as the US, the UK, France, Canada, Italy, Germany and Japan, Australia continues to rank second on a military expenditure per capita basis, with only the United States spending more. We have a very significant investment in defence. We expect that the investment we are making will still see Australia listed as No. 13 in world defence expenditure and continue to be highly ranked in terms of per capita expenditure. It is just not right to make the assertions that the senator does in asking his question.