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US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has again called for an increase in the percentage of GDP defence spend by Western allies, following a similar rebuffed call in Australia last month.
Secretary Hegseth made the renewed call while jointly speaking at a NATO defence meeting in Brussels earlier this week.
At the meeting, Defense Secretary Hegseth and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte both stated an increase in defence spending targets by both the United States and NATO ally countries is essential to deterring threats posed by anti-Western aggressors.
“The reason I’m here is to make sure every country in NATO understands every shoulder has to be to the plow; every country has to contribute … at that level of 5 per cent (of each country’s gross domestic product) … as a recognition of the nature of the threat,” Hegseth said.
“(The goal is) deterrence and peace through strength, but it can’t be reliance.
“It cannot, and will not … be reliance on America in a world of a lot of threats where America is poised to help take on those threats.
“We need our allies to step up, as well as we stand alongside them … (through) those hard conversations.
“We need to be considering the threats we face in the world today, and (we need to) have that conversation robustly and constructively.”
A similar request made to raise Australia’s defence spending to 3.5 per cent by Hegseth at the Shangri-La Dialogue held in Singapore was rebuffed last month by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
“Look, what you should do in defence is decide what you need, your capability and then provide for it. That’s what my government’s doing,” Prime Minister Albanese said during a press conference at the time.
“Investing in our capability and investing in our relationships. That’s what we are doing. That’s what we will continue to do. We’ve provided an additional $10 billion of investment into defence over the forward estimates. We’re continuing to lift up, that adds up to 2.3 per cent of GDP is where defence spending will rise.
“What we don’t do is do what the opposition did during the election campaign where they announced an amount of money, they couldn’t say where the money was coming from and they couldn’t say what it was for. That makes no sense.
“What we need is things that defend us in real terms and that’s what we’ll provide.”
During a recent meeting with US Secretary Hegseth, Australian officials reportedly discussed opportunities to align investment to the security environment in the Indo-Pacific, accelerating US force posture initiatives in Australia, advancing defence industrial base cooperation and creating supply chain resilience.
In addition, US Secretary Hegseth also welcomed the conclusion of the Precision Strike Missile memorandum of understanding on production, sustainment and follow-on development – the US Department of Defense’s first long-range fire cooperation on foreign soil.
“The Americans have been very clear about wanting to see more from their friends and allies around the world. It’s a sentiment that we understand,” Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said, speaking at a doorstop interview in Singapore at the time.
“As I’ve repeatedly said, that’s a conversation we are totally up for in terms of the way in which we engage with the United States.
“And as I said, I think on Friday, in our bilateral meeting, Secretary Hegseth did raise the question of increased defence expenditure on the Australian side.
“Of course, we have already engaged in the last couple of years in the single biggest peace time increase in defence expenditure in Australia’s history. So we are beginning this journey. We’ve got runs on the board.
“And indeed, if we look at AUKUS, I mean, AUKUS is something which is seeing our defence expenditure increase – as it should, and so we actually are taking steps down this path. We will continue to have the conversation with the United States, and we understand and we’re up for it.”
