Defence spending is currently at about 2% of gross domestic product (GDP), or around A$56 billion per year. The Coalition is reportedly eyeing an increase to 2.5% of GDP by 2029.
The Albanese government’s current spending plan is expected to reach 2.33% of GDP by 2034. And in this week’s budget, it is expected to bring forward some of its already announced $50 billion increase in defence spending.
Why do these percentages matter? US President Donald Trump has made it very clear he expects America’s allies to pay more on defence, at least 3% of GDP.
We asked five experts if defence spending should be increased, and if so, by how much. They agreed more money is needed, albeit with caveats.
One of the things brought up in the original article’s arguments was deterrence, which hey I guess is fair enough on a long-term time scale where the future is unknown and some kind of “real” warfare (not just peacekeeping / anti-terror type stuff) involving Australia isn’t impossible to think up. But deterrence (due to non-trivial military power) is only one way to cool off a potential conflict; as far as I know it’s not like we’re particularly worried about say New Zealand being at war with us – even on a long-term time scale – and it’s because we’re bros 👉👈