Australia increasing defence spending in ‘national interest'
Shadow Finance Minister James Paterson says Australia should increase defence spending as it is in the national interest and not because 'American friends' asked Australia to.
US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth has urged Australia to lift defence spending to 3.5 per cent of GDP while participating in the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.
'I certainly think we should be increasing our defence spending; I am very proud of the commitment we took to the last election to do so,' Mr Paterson told Sky News Australia.
'We should increase our defence spending not because our American friends asked us to do so, but because it is our national interest to do so.'
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Don't miss out on the headlines from Stockhead. Followed categories will be added to My News. Hegseth sounds the alarm on China, urges Indo-Pacific to arm up Vection and DroneShield score fresh defence deals Harvest Tech keeps videos connected as it wins contracts If Pete Hegseth's message to Asia was meant to be subtle, someone forgot to give him the memo. Standing before a room of generals, ministers and defence strategists at Singapore's Shangri-La Dialogue last Friday, the US Defence Secretary didn't mince words. China, he warned, was 'credibly preparing' to invade Taiwan, and the region had to 'step up' before the future became a war zone. 'We do not seek to dominate or strangle China,' Hegseth said, 'but we will not be pushed out.' The Chinese delegation responded by calling the US the 'biggest troublemaker' in the region, and the tension there was unmistakable. Hegseth's call for a 'strong shield of deterrence' wasn't just aimed at generals, it was a note to the budget offices of Indo-Pacific governments. Australia, tucked firmly into the US's circle of friends, was also being nudged to firm up its position. Hegseth floated 5% of GDP as a starting point for defence budgets, and that kind of big money obviously needs somewhere to land. Vection scores as war games go digital For Australian companies that can offer technology to prepare for modern threats – whether that's better comms, AI, or secure simulation platforms – the next few years could be fertile ground. In the end, war may be uncertain, but preparation isn't. And tech that helps nations prepare smarter might just find itself centre stage, whether the battle ever comes or not. But defence contracts are hard-fought, highly regulated, and often slow to deliver. So when a company announces a fresh deal in defence, no matter the size, investors tend to sit up and take notice. Which is exactly what happened when Vection Technologies (ASX:VR1) announced a fresh $1 million defence contract on Monday. This Perth-born outfit is known for its work in XR, short for 'extended reality.' In plain English, that means it builds virtual environments that blend the digital world with the real one. This technology can be used in VR (virtual reality) training sessions for soldiers, 3D models of a battlefield, or even remote mission planning in a virtual room that looks just like the real thing. What used to be sci-fi is now very much on the defence department's radar. The latest deal was Vection's fourth contract with the same defence client (un-named), a clear sign there's trust building. More importantly, the client's hinted there's more work coming, so this might just be chapter one. Vection's INTEGRATED-XR platform is essentially a digital Swiss Army knife that combines AI, 3D visualisation, Internet of Things (IoT) and voice-command systems into one package. 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