Latest news with #SteveBaxter
Sky News AU
5 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
6 days ago
- Business
- Sky News AU
Australia is ‘below par' on defence spending
Beaten Zone Venture Partners Founder Steve Baxter says Australia is 'below par' compared to other allied nations in terms of defence spending. Canberra-based think tank the Australian Strategic Policy Institute released a detailed report today into our defence sector, calling on the Federal Government to lift its spending. The report asks whether our defence force is strong enough to act as a deterrent from adversaries like China, which recently conducted live-fire drills in the Tasman Sea. 'Australia's spending on defence is measured on GDP like many nations are … we are a 2 per cent, so we are quite below par,' Mr Baxter told Sky News business reporter Ed Boyd.
