Australia to boost defence budget by $32bn over the next decade
Canberra, Australia - Australia announced Wednesday it is increasing its defence budget by Au$50bn (Us$32bn) over the next decade and will also rethink Au$72.8bn in planned spending.
Under a new defence strategy, the government defence budget is expected to reach Au$330bn in the next 10 years, which also includes the initial coast for nuclear-powered subs under the AUKUS partnership - including the US, UK, and Australia - ABC News reported.
With new investment, Australia’s total defence spending will reach 2.4 per cent of GDP within the next 10 years.
Announcing the strategy, Defence Minister Richard Marles said the changes are designed to ensure that peace, security, and prosperity are maintained in the region.
“The inaugural National Defence Strategy sets out a clear and priority-driven approach to protecting against threats to Australia and our interests,” the broadcaster quoted Marles as saying.
He added that the main objective of acquiring nuclearpowered submarines under the AUKUS partnership is to protect trade routes.
The main intention of redirecting funds is to make the Australian Defence Force ‘more amphibious’, including by spending on the AUKUS submarine programme (Au$53-$63bn over the next decade) and on new longrange strike and targeting missiles, including Tomahawk missiles (Au$28-$35bn over the next decade),” said Marles.
Last month, Australia entered its largest single defence export deal to date of over Au$1bn (Us$664.5mn) with Germany to supply armoured vehicles.
Earlier, Australia also announced it was building the biggest navy since World War II while spending over Us$7bn to double the size of its fleets of major warships and modernise its navy.
In 2021, the US, UK and Australia announced the formation of AUKUS, a trilateral security treaty for the Indo-pacific region. It is primarily aimed at boosting deterrence against China, which they say is growing more assertive in the region.