Defence spending to climb by $53b over next decade
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The news: Australia’s defence spending is set to increase by $53 billion over the next ten years, as the federal government seeks to respond to intensifying global risks.
The context: The government will on Thursday release the 2026 National Defence Strategy, aiming to map out the defence capabilities the country will require to meet challenges facing Australia’s strategic landscape.
The investment includes a $14 billion increase in spending by 2030.
The government will state that the new funding will raise Australian defence spending to roughly 3% of GDP by 2033, using a new method to calculate the quantum which when measured using NATO’s methodology, includes defence-adjacent spending. The shift pushes the percentage of GDP on military spending closer to the 3.5% level that has been requested by US President Donald Trump.
Defence Minister Richard Marles will release the new strategy on Thursday during an address to the National Press Club in Canberra, which will state the access to private capital will be central to achieving the strategy’s key objectives.
The government intends to pursue “every avenue of increasing defence capability quickly”, Marles will say. This includes “off budget” spending programs for the ADF, through the use of private capital investments in major projects.
Labor will spend between $2 billion and $5 billion more on drones as part of the new strategy, prioritising local manufacturing, bringing spending on uncrewed and autonomous capabilities to between $12 billion and $15 billion over the next 10 years.
“National Defence Strategy 2026 affirms that Australia faces its most complex and threatening strategic circumstances since the end of World War II,” Marles will say.
“International norms that once constrained the use of force and military coercion continue to erode. More countries are engaged in conflict today than at any time since the end of World War II, and this is occurring across every region of the world.”
The sources: ABC, The Guardian, SMH, The Australian
