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

I thank Senator Eggleston not just for the question but also for his contribution to 18 years of the public policy debate in this country. The Abbott government has already met a number of commitments made in our policy for stronger Defence announced in the 2013 election campaign. We are building on our commitment to Australians that we would build a strong and capable Defence Force. The first Abbott government budget set about triaging the haemorrhage of Defence funding caused by Labor, through our commitment to ensure, firstly, no further cuts to Defence spending.

We are doing the hard methodical costing and funding work that Labor never did, to complete the recovery with our commitment to boost spending to two per cent of GDP within a decade. This has been welcomed by our allies. During the Prime Minister's recent visit to the United States, President Obama himself noted:

I should note that Australia, under the Prime Minister’s leadership, is increasing its defence budget, even under tough times, recognising that we all have to make sure that we’re doing our fair share to help maintain global order and security.

This is in stark contrast to what our allies said about Labor's reckless cuts to the Defence budget to the tune of $16 billion. Former Deputy Secretary of State under the Bush administration, Richard Armitage, commented in 2013 that Labor was free-riding off US taxpayers and did not want to pull its fair share of weight when it comes to Defence spending. Senior US senator and former presidential candidate, John McCain, also noted at the time that it was not prudent for Canberra to cut its Defence budget so heavily. The constant and repeated cuts and deferrals under the shameful last six years has left Defence reeling and our allies concerned. (Time expired)