Deficit ‘cannot impact defence’

THE Morrison government’s huge budget deficit should not deter its commitment to national security with Australia’s strategic outlook challenged like never before, deputy Labor leader Richard Marles has warned.

China has been using the cover of coronavirus to flex its military muscle notably deploying warships to around Taiwan and South China Sea as nearby nations are distracted with combating COVID-19.

As recently as this week a Chinese warship began shadowing a Malaysian oil rigger in contested waters prompting the US to deploy two navy ships to conduct an impromptu patrol.

The US has also this week deployed two Triton high altitude intelligence drones to the region, similar to the ones it plans to sell to Australia.

It is this sort of brinkmanship Mr Marles, also the Opposition’s defence spokesman, said was why now was not the time for Australia to pull back from committed defence spending, as Treasurer Josh Frydenberg looks for cuts to fill the $360 billion economic black hole.

Mr Marles said yesterday

Labor would provide bipartisan support for already committed acquisition of major defence platforms and capabilities.

“Australia’s strategic circumstances are likely to get more challenging rather than less in the future,” he told News Corp Australia.

“Our defence forces are also being asked to assist with challenges at home, as we has seen with the recent bushfires and coronavirus.

“We believe our strategic circumstances should fundamentally shape how we spend in relation to the defence of our nation.”

Defence Minister Linda Reynolds last year ordered a strategic review of Australia’s national security as an update to the 2016 Defence White.

That review was completed and handed to her by her department weeks ago but is yet to go before cabinet’s national security committee as it grapples with the implications of COVID-19.

During the 2009 Global Financial Crisis, more than $50 million of stimulus packages had to be accounted for forcing a rewrite of the defence white paper doctrine of the day.

Coronavirus accounts for four times that figure.