Hegseth's heckle
The PM has pushed back against US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth's call for Australia to lift defence spending significantly, but he may have little choice as conflicts flare up globally.
After Peter Dutton failed to get Australia’s level of defence spending on the agenda of the federal election campaign, it has re-emerged as a front-of-centre issue for Anthony Albanese.
Two weeks before he is due to meet US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Canada, the Americans have made things very awkward. In a meeting with Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles at the Shangri La Dialogue in Singapore, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth called on Canberra to lift its defence spending to 3.5% of GDP “as soon as possible”. That’s substantially more — approximately $40 billion per year more — than the 2.3% of GDP Australia is planning to spend by 2033.
In a world where NATO members are considering an agreement to spend up to 5% of GDP on defence, Hegseth argued it was only fair that Australia contribute more as well.
Marles initially said the government was willing to have a “conversation” about lifting expenditure, only for Albanese to later insist that Australia would “determine our defence policy”.
