Morrison talks up Govt’s security credentials

Australia’s Prime Minister has cast his Government as stronger on national security than the opposition after signing an agreement with the French Government to deliver a fleet of submarines.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison used a speech to Australia’s National Press Club on the eve of Parliament’s first sitting day of the year to detail his conservative coalition’s record on a diverse range of security issues including military spending, stripping extremists of citizenship, asylum seekers, contentious laws to prevent criminals using encrypted communications and domestic violence.

Earlier, Morrison and French Defence Minister Florence Parly signed a new agreement to deliver the first of a fleet of 12 submarines to Australia in the early 2030s.

Morrison said his Government was on track to boost defence spending to 2 per cent of gross domestic product — a level demanded by President Donald Trump of US allies — by 2020-21. When the centre-left opposition Labor Party was last in office from 2007 to 2013, defence spending fell to 1.56 per cent of GDP — Australia’s lowest level since 1938.

Morrison is also campaigning to block a bill that would allow sick asylum seekers in offshore centres to get treatment in Australia.

Morrison said the bill would “take control from the Government” and “unleash a world of woe”. He also said that he had “seen it before”.