Latest news with #ASPI
Sky News AU
a day ago
- Business
- Sky News AU
US asked Australia about boosting defence spending a day after Albanese backed Labor's investment in the department
The Albanese government has opened the door to the possibility of boosting its defence spending, after the issue was raised by the United States. Defence Minister Richard Marles met with his American counterpart Pete Hegseth at the Shangri Dialogue in Singapore on Friday. The pair discussed the Australia-US relationship and the goal of providing security and stability in the Indo-Pacific in a meeting Mr Marles said left him with a "sense of optimism". The deputy prime minister also said Mr Hegseth raised the issue of defence spending after the US had asked its NATO allies to raise their spending to 3 per cent of GDP. "I wouldn't put a number on it. The need to increased defence spending is something that he definitely raised and you have seen the Americans in the way in which they have engaged with all of their friends and allies asking them to do more and we can completely understand why America would do that," he told ABC's Afternoon Briefing. "What I made clear is that this is a conversation that we are very willing to have and it is one that we are having already... but we want to make sure that we are contributing to the strategic moment that we all face. "We have done a lot already. But we are absolutely up for having this conversation and we want to calibrate our defence spending to meet the strategic moment that we all face. "In a rational world, defence spending is a function of strategic threat. There is definitely strategic threat in the world today and we are rational people." Mr Marles' comments come after the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) on Thursday warned the government risks falling behind in its military preparedness amid rising global threats. In the report, its author and former home affairs deputy secretary Mark Ablong concluded "the failure of this year's budget to meet that responsibility will make all Australians less secure". "Without urgent, coordinated and well resourced responses to those challenges, Australia risks a brittle and hollowed defence force, diminished industrial sovereignty, and compromised national security in a volatile Indo Pacific region." Prime Minister Anthony Albanese responded to the report but brushed off the concerns, maintaining his government had invested in the department more than adequately. "Well, that's what they do, isn't it, ASPI? I mean, seriously, they need to… have a look at themselves and the way they conduct themselves in debates," Mr Albanese told ABC Radio Brisbane. "We've had a defence strategic review. We've got considerable additional investment going into defence — $10 billion. "ASPI regularly produce these sort of reports, you know, run by people who have been in a position to make a difference in the past as part of former governments."
Sky News AU
2 days ago
- Business
- Sky News AU
‘We're out of time': Leading defence investor and former Shark Tank judge Steve Baxter demands greater defence investment
A leading investor has urged for greater defence investment as a warning that Australia is 'out of time' weighs on the nation. The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) published a report on Thursday urging Labor to spend a larger chunk of the nation's budget to go into defence to 'reflect the reality of threats facing Australia'. Australia's defence spending constitutes about two per cent of the nation's GDP, putting the nation considerably behind allied nations such as the United States (3.5 per cent). The nation's lower portion of defence spending sparked concerns for former Shark Tank judge and tech and defence investor Steve Baxter who warned Australia needed to boost investment to better position itself amongst its allies. 'It would be very hard for us to act as a deterrent to China in any respect,' Mr Baxter said on Sky News' Business Now. 'We've always fought alongside and had the cooperation of larger allies. In World War 2 and pre-WW2 it was England and (post WW2) it's been the US. 'We have to be a good ally to assist in that deterrence and to do that we need to spend.' Pressed on whether China was the main adversary Australia faces, Mr Baxter dumped cold water on the prospect Australia faces similar threats elsewhere. 'They're the only one (we're) worried about,' he said. He also weighed in on the importance of attracting investors to the Australian market and referenced two major warnings in the Defence Strategic Review from March 2023. 'It said two things I think it got correct: It named China and then it said 'we're out of time',' Mr Baxter said. 'In the context of being out of time, that alluded to our strategic warning time being eroded and we no longer have 10 years - we have a lot less - to repair. 'What do you do in that context?' He urged the Australian government to 'supersize incentives' and called for bigger tax breaks than those seen with Early Stage Venture Capital Limited Partnerships and investment in businesses that qualify as an early stage innovation company. 'Instead of the 10 and 20 per cent incentives, if we think this is a really strategic problem and we're out of time, let's make that 50 or 100 per cent tax incentives,' Mr Baxter said. 'So, if we are out of time, we need to start acting.' The report from the ASPI said that while the Labor government 'claims to have made a 'generational investment in Australia's defence', that investment has been put off for another generation' as federal investment will not kick in until after 2029.
Sky News AU
2 days ago
- Politics
- Sky News AU
US General warns America's military capabilities will be 'challenged' if a war breaks out, in stark warning to Anthony Albanese after he dismissed ASPI report
The United States' military and its ability to defend not only itself but its allies has been called into question, while Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been forced to address his government's attitude towards defence. General Jack Keane, who served as the Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Army from 1999 to 2003, warned the US' military capabilities are not what they used to be and that it could be significantly challenged as the threat of war lingers. He also warned of the threat of war in the Indo-Pacific region and that the likes of China, North Korea, Russia and Iran have come together to form the "most significant and serious threat to the United States' interest" and its allies since the Second World War. General Keane recalled the 2022 Congressional Commission on the National Defence Strategy, which he contributed to, and how it concluded the US army and allies in the region would be "challenged" to win a war against China as its military capabilities currently stand. "After two years of examination, (we found) that based on current military capability... U.S. Military capability and allies in the region, that we would be challenged to win a war against China in the near term because of the erosion of US military capability," he told Sky News' The Bolt Report on Thursday. "Even though we're earnestly trying to repair that, we would be challenged to win and indeed, we could lose. "We have to move with a sense of urgency to create the kind of deterrence that we need. We're trying to prevent a war from happening. (Chinese) President Xi has told his military leaders, be prepared by 2027, and he has been threatening war every single year as well." In a statement of hope for the future though, General Keane said President Donald Trump's $150 billion pledge for defence would be "very significant" in solving glaring holes in America's military. "(It could) solve the fact that we don't have all the missiles we should have. We don't know all the long range weapon systems, all the air defence systems and others," he said. Earlier on Thursday, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) warned that the government risks falling behind in its military preparedness amid rising global threats. In the report, its author and former home affairs deputy secretary Mark Ablong concluded "the failure of this year's budget to meet that responsibility will make all Australians less secure". "Without urgent, coordinated and well resourced responses to those challenges, Australia risks a brittle and hollowed defence force, diminished industrial sovereignty, and compromised national security in a volatile Indo Pacific region." Prime Minister Anthony Albanese responded to the report but brushed off the concerns, maintaining his government had invested in the department more than adequately. "Well, that's what they do, isn't it, ASPI? I mean, seriously, they need to… have a look at themselves and the way they conduct themselves in debates," Mr Albanese told ABC Radio Brisbane. "We've had a defence strategic review. We've got considerable additional investment going into defence — $10 billion. "ASPI regularly produce these sort of reports, you know, run by people who have been in a position to make a difference in the past as part of former governments."
West Australian
2 days ago
- Politics
- West Australian
EDITORIAL: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's strategy of denial won't keep Australia secure
The Australian Strategic Policy Institute's report on national defence spending makes for sombre reading. 'We are confronted simultaneously by the rise of aggressive authoritarian powers, multiple conflicts around the world, persistent and evolving terrorism, foreign interference and the normalisation of cyberwarfare,' ASPI executive director Justin Bassi wrote. And yet, we are woefully under-prepared to respond to any potential crisis in the near to medium term. There are massive spending projects on the way, including acquiring new frigates, and nuclear-powered submarines through the AUKUS partnership. But the first of those ships and subs, essential as they are, aren't scheduled for delivery until well into the 2030s. Until then we risk being left with a 'paper ADF that lacks the readiness and size to meet near-term threats', according to ASPI analysis. We have a problem now, and a solution decades down the track will come too late. The report advocates for urgent acquisition of air and missile defence systems, long-range strike munitions, autonomous systems. Anthony Albanese's response to this warning was to dismiss it as a work of hysterical partisan hackery. 'Well, that's what they do, isn't it? ASPI. I mean seriously, they need to, I think, have a look at themselves as well and the way that they conduct themselves in debates,' he said. It seems his is a strategy of denial. ASPI, given its close connections to the ADF and the defence industry, is naturally hawkish, particularly on China. That doesn't make it wrong. Its warnings on China have been proved prescient by China's growing antagonism of Australia. Deliberate provocations earlier this year such as the circumnavigation of Australia by Chinese spy ships, and unannounced live-fire exercises in the Tasman Sea are designed as intimidatory shows of military might. Parades of ministers, including the Prime Minister, acknowledge we are living in 'uncertain times'. So Mr Albanese's refusal to take ASPI's warnings seriously is concerning. Much of the debate on defence spending gets caught up on a handful of numbers — what is the percentage of GDP we can or should be spending on building and maintaining our defence capability? But even bucketloads of money won't ensure our nation's security unless it is backed up with a cohesive and apt plan. There's little doubt that many of the issues highlighted in the ASPI report — including low morale affecting personnel recruitment and retention — are real. Successive governments have failed to come up with solutions. Australia's defence strategy has long been centred on the premise that if under threat, we can rely on the Americans to help us. US President Donald Trump, however, had made it clear he expects America's allies to take a greater stake in their own defence. That's a warning Mr Albanese doesn't have the luxury of dismissing so easily.
Epoch Times
2 days ago
- Politics
- Epoch Times
Defence Strategy Criticised as Hollow Amid Rising Indo-Pacific Threats
Australia risks being caught unprepared amid rising Indo-Pacific tensions, with a new report warning that the Albanese government's defence posture leans too heavily on long-term promises while ignoring immediate threats. The Australian Strategic Policy Institute's (ASPI) Cost of Defence 2025–26 report, released on May 29, delivers a blunt assessment of Labor's approach.
