Pete Hegseth calls on Australia to lift defence spending amid ‘personnel crisis'
Defence Minister Richard Marles met with US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore last week to discuss the key priorities of the US-Australia alliance in the face of a potential Chinese offensive in Taiwan within the next two years.
'We have a personnel crisis in our military, and something needs to be done,' Ms Lambie said.
'That is the biggest problem you have with our national security right now, people don't want to join defence, and people do not want to stay in.'
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Senior ministers from Australia and Vanuatu have trooped to the top of an active volcano on the island of Tanna for a ceremony to celebrate a major new pact between the two countries. Foreign Minister Penny Wong, Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles and Pacific Minister Pat Conroy joined their counterparts from Vanuatu on the top of Mount Yasur to "initial" the landmark Nakamal Agreement ahead of formal signature by prime ministers next month. Australia is set to funnel some $500 million into Vanuatu over a decade under the pact, which will supplant a bilateral security agreement that was effectively scrapped by the Pacific nation after it was signed in 2022. While most of the details in the agreement are not yet public, Australia has labelled it "transformational", and Mr Marles said it reflected the two nations had a "shared destiny". 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There were some last-minute negotiations to secure an in-principle agreement ahead of the ministers' arrival, with officials from Vanuatu telling the ABC that both sides had to make some late concessions in order to secure the pact. Mr Marles would not be drawn on exactly what financial commitments Australia had made, but said the Nakamal Agreement "acknowledges our shared economic connection". He added it "makes clear that it is core business for Australia to be engaged in the human development of Vanuatu". It is also not clear if the arrangement will make it easier for Ni-Vanuatu to travel to Australia. Ahead of the agreement, Mr Napat declared he would not sign unless Australia agreed to introduce "visa-free" travel for his country's citizens, an arrangement which Australia has never introduced for any Pacific island nations. 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But federal government officials nonetheless hope the substantial commitments on security within the pact will help enshrine Australia's position as Vanuatu's top security partner. Dr Cain suggested the Nakamal Agreement would likely have greater staying power than the 2022 bilateral security agreement signed by former Prime Minister Ishmael Kalsakau, which first stalled in parliament before being effectively dumped by Mr Napat. "The process is the main difference — this has been signed off by both the National Security Council and the Council of Ministers, which did not happen in 2022," she said. "It also is being designated as much broader than simply a security agreement with commitments made across several domains, including climate resilience, economic development and budget support."
