Melissa Price: PM must be clear-eyed to security threat posed by China

West Australian

20-07-2025

The first duty of the Australian Government is to keep Australians safe and the nation secure.
This duty intensifies when the Government declares that Australia is confronting its most complex strategic environment in 80 years.
In large part this is because of the rapid expansion of China's People's Liberation Army, which our Minister for Defence has described as the biggest increase in military capability and build-up in a conventional sense by any country since World War II.
At such a time, you would rightly expect the Government to not just be talking about the threat, but to be working to make us as strong as possible, as fast as possible.
Regrettably, that is not what our Government is doing.
The Prime Minister has not budged on defence spending which not only limits our own strategic capability, but has the secondary effect of undermining the backbone of our security policy — our alliance with the United States.
The US has served as the guarantor of regional stability since WWII. This role hasn't been limited to our region, and it has been costly for the US taxpayer.
The US is currently US$37 trillion in debt and the conflicts in Europe and the Middle East have many Americans asking why America's allies aren't bearing more of the cost burden to guarantee their own defence.
This push from the Americans culminated in NATO countries last month committing to lift core defence spending to 3.5 per cent of GDP and a further 1.5 per cent of GDP on broader defence and security related investments by 2035.
The Trump administration has called on Australia to increase our own defence spending and is currently reviewing the AUKUS agreement.
I'm a believer in AUKUS and proud to have been part of the team as minister for defence industry who secured it. Obtaining nuclear submarines will serve as a significant deterrent to future attacks on Australia.
To ensure the continuation of this agreement, it is imperative we demonstrate that we are a credible ally. This means investing enough to operate and maintain these submarines, while not skimping out on other defence priorities.
The Coalition took to the last election a policy to increase defence spending to 3 per cent of GDP over the next 10 years and we are prepared to work in a bipartisan manner with the Government to deliver increased investment.
Like NATO we should also strengthen our sovereign industrial base and commit to greater funding to protect our critical infrastructure against attacks including cyber. As shadow minister for cyber security, I understand that cyber security is national security.
As the Government's last annual cyber threat report outlined, state-sponsored cyber operations are an ongoing concern.
These actors are engaged in intelligence gathering, interference, coercion and are working to gain a foothold within critical networks. Should the strategic environment deteriorate significantly, Australia could face major and disruptive cyber attacks.
This is an awkward fact for the Prime Minister to navigate with him last week in China. While they are our major trading partner, they are also the source of our consternation.
This was an important trip for the Australia-China relationship, but it could also send the wrong message to our US allies.
The Prime Minister should be able to walk and chew gum at the same time.
He should advocate for continued trade with China, which is vital for our economic prosperity, particularly here in WA, but he must be clear-eyed about our national security and call out unacceptable behaviour.
Reiterating where we stand will send an important message to the US as AUKUS remains under review.
This is assuming the Prime Minister's failure to meet with President Trump since the November election, his bizarre John Curtin Oration, and his resistance to increase defence spending haven't spoiled the deal already.
If not, there is still a lot of work to be done.
While we may not get our first submarines until the early 2030s, US and UK submarines are set to begin rotating through HMAS Stirling in 2027. Our readiness to host these submarines will be an early test and critical in signalling our commitment to AUKUS.
State and Federal Labor need to put their shoulder to the wheel to get that part of AUKUS right, otherwise we can almost kiss goodbye having our own fleet of nuclear submarines.
Australia is at a crossroads. It is past time the Prime Minister gets serious.
Melissa Price is the Member for Durack