David Johnston (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

Can I quote the author of the words 'unsustainable mess', the most respected commentator on defence economics and policy resourcing, Mark Thomson, from The Age:

A very good budget for defence.

He went on to say:

I was on the record saying that the budget Labor gave [in 2012] left things in an unsustainable mess. What we're seeing here is the first stage of the repair job.

Tuesday night's budget delivered on some very important election commitments. We said we would start on the road to two per cent of GDP for defence. We commenced that and Thomson has acknowledged that this is a strong and positive first step.

Thank you, Prime Minister Abbott; thank you, Treasurer Hockey and thank you—a real finance minister, may I say—Mathias Cormann. (Time expired)