Defence Minister Richard Marles will use an address to the National Press Club on Wednesday to unveil the government’s new national defence strategy,and its rolling plan for military capability spending:a public version of its integrated investment program.
Defence Minister Richard Marles will address the National Press Club on Wednesday.Alex Ellinghausen
Marles has in recent weeks flagged cancellations,reductions and delays to defence projects,and warned “hard decisions” were required to prevent the $50 billion annual defence budget spiralling out of control.
“We feel like the sword of Damocles is about to drop on our heads,” Australian Industry and Defence Network chief executive Brent Clark said on Tuesday.
“There’s not enough money in the defence budget for everything the government wants to do.”
Clark predicted Marles would release a “very tough document” in the integrated investment program,and said that any land-based programs would be extremely vulnerable to cuts.
“Army will be brutalised,” Clark said,adding that he expected maritime projects to emerge relatively unscathed.
The government has announced while preparing to outlay $368 billion over 30 years to develop a fleet of eight nuclear-powered submarines.
“If my project was not linked directly to the defence strategic review,I would be a very nervous defence managing director,” Clark said.
Marles has reportedly clashed with defence officials who proposed spending on projects that did not align with the priorities of the defence strategic review.
The government last week named David Johnston as the new Defence Force chief.Alex Ellinghausen
The review,,said that the Australian Defence Force was no longer “fit for purpose” and needed to be reshaped from a “balanced force” that tries to do too many things to a more “focused force”.
The review found that the Australian military was not equipped for the “missile age” of modern warfare,calling for the speedy acquisition of long-range precision strike weapons.
In particular,the review found the army needed to be restructured to focus on “littoral manoeuvre operations by sea,land and air from Australia” rather than land warfare.
The government announced last year it would from a fleet of 450 to a single battalion of 129 vehicles,while from the country’s south to north in a major overhaul.
Marles told the Sydney Institute this month that the government was determined to deal with the issue of excessive defence “over-programming”,where allocated spending went beyond the scope of the defence budget.
“It does mean making hard decisions,” Marles said.
“It does mean taking some programs and not going ahead with them. It means re-profiling some;it means delaying others,re-scoping them.
“But unless we do that,the numbers don’t add up.”
Marles also said this month he did not accept the premise the army was being downgraded in favour of the navy.
“What this will see is a much more mobile army,an army that we can move around our region,” he said.
“We don’t see that the future is about fighting a land war on the Australian continent,we do see that what we need with our army is to be making our contribution to regional security.
“So in that sense,actually,we’re enhancing army’s ability to be more mobile.”
The government,who helped oversee the integrated investment program process,would be the new Defence Force Chief. He is the first naval officer in two decades to fill the role.
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