Australia Allocates Additional $53 Billion to Defence Budget Over Next Decade

# Australian Defence Spending Increase The Australian Labor government will spend an extra $53 billion on defence over the next decade. This includes new special investment programs to fund increases in military capability using private capital. The government will also create a new integrated investment program for military capability, boosting the current defence budget by $14 billion over the next four years.

Defence Minister Richard Marles will unveil the new national defence strategy on Thursday. He will speak at the National Press Club in Canberra. Marles will detail the integrated investment program during the address.

Additional defence spending is expected to be a key feature of the 12 May federal budget. The government will include new off-budget spending programs for the Australian defence force through private capital investments in major projects. Labor is spending at least $368 billion on the Aukus nuclear submarine agreement with the US and Britain.

4% of GDP by 2033. 03% of GDP. The additional spending on drones will bring total spending on uncrewed and autonomous capabilities to between $12 billion and $15 billion over the next decade. Labor will spend between $2 billion and $5 billion more on drones as part of the new strategy, prioritising local manufacturing.

Private financing and special investment schemes are expected to fund a landmark upgrade of the Henderson defence precinct in Western Australia. Spending of as much as $25 billion is expected in the next decade on the Henderson defence precinct upgrade, including private sector investments.

The Henderson defence precinct is expected to be used to build surface vessels and to dock and sustain submarines.

Labor announced a $12 billion downpayment on the shipbuilding facility in September.

Strategic Context in National Defence Strategy Richard Marles says 'National Defence Strategy 2026 affirms that Australia faces its most complex and threatening strategic circumstances since the end of World War II.

' Richard Marles will argue the new defence strategy recognizes that assumptions underpinning Australia’s national security for decades, including geographic distance and comparative military superiority in the Indo-Pacific region, are no longer valid.

He says Australia’s military capability and preparedness needs to better recognize increasingly adverse trends in the world, intensifying major-power competition between China and the US, and rapid military modernisation in the region happening without transparency or explanation.

Marles will say the government intends to pursue every avenue of increasing defence capability quickly.

US Demands on Ally Defence Spending US President Donald Trump demands that American allies spend as much as 3.

5% of GDP on their own defence.

NDIS Spending Amid Budget Priorities The National Disability Insurance Scheme is on track to cost $55 billion next financial year.

3% last year.