Login
iscover
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has reaffirmed defence as one of his government’s core growth industries, ahead of the impending federal election.
To continue reading the rest of this article, please log in.
Create free account to get unlimited news articles and more!
The projected federal budget surplus for the 2019-20 financial year will support growth and investment in defence industries, the PM said, particularly through the Liberal Party’s planned naval shipbuilding projects.
He referenced the Liberal Party’s investment in Western Australia, which includes 12 offshore patrol vessels (OPVs) and 21 Pacific patrol boats.
"I want to see more jobs in our defence industries, where we are rebuilding our Defence forces," Prime Minister Morrison told a NSW Business Chamber briefing in Sydney.
Morrison also took aim at Labor’s track record of defence spending as a proportion of GDP, especially on shipbuilding. Currently, the Coalition estimates defence spending will grow to 2 per cent of GDP by the 2020-21 financial year.
The PM noted that under the previous Labor government, initially led by Kevin Rudd, Defence Force spending fell to its lowest levels since before the Second World War.
The Howard government, which preceded Rudd, expended about 0.02 per cent more as a proportion of GDP.
"Labor didn’t commission one ship when they were in government – not one," he said.
"Why? Because they couldn’t manage money. So they raided the defence budget to pay for all their other funds," he said.
The Labor party plans to create a ‘Strategic Fleet,’ informed by a task force, which is estimated to include a dozen vessels available to the government "in times of national need".
Also, the Labor Party recently committed to a series of investment projects in the defence industry. This includes allocating $105 million to defence industry infrastructure at the Australian Marine Complex at Henderson, and and a $10 million investment to support the creation of the Western Australian Defence Industry Support Centre.
