Australia eyes record peace-time defense spending expansion

Australia will increase military spending by 53 billion Australian dollars ($38.1 billion) over the next 10 years under its 2026 National Defense Strategy (NDS), announced on Thursday.

Richard Marles outlined the strategy in a speech at the National Press Club in Canberra, calling the funding increase the “biggest peacetime increase” in the country’s history, News.Az reports, citing Xinhua.

He said the new NDS includes an additional 14 billion Australian dollars ($10.1 billion) in spending over the next four years compared with the previous 2024 strategy, and a total of 53 billion Australian dollars over the next decade.

The government stated that the increased investment will raise Australia’s defense budget to 3% of GDP by 2033 under the NATO methodology, which includes related expenditures such as military pensions.

Currently, Australia’s defense spending stands at 2.0% of GDP under a narrower calculation that excludes such adjacent costs. The 2024 National Defense Strategy had projected that spending would reach 2.4% of GDP by 2034 under that same narrower measure.

Marles said Australia is facing its “most complex and threatening strategic circumstances” since World War II, citing the erosion of international norms that previously limited the use of force.

He added that the government will pursue all available avenues to rapidly expand defense capability, including drawing on private capital.

He said the strategy “puts Australia on a path to strengthen our defense self-reliance, reinforces the industrial and national foundations of defense, and situates Australia firmly within a network of trusted regional and global partnerships.”

The spending plan includes 12 billion Australian dollars previously announced for upgrading shipyards in Western Australia to support maintenance of nuclear-powered submarines, as well as up to 5 billion Australian dollars for investments in drone technology.

News.Az 

By Nijat Babayev