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Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has confirmed he will not increase defence spending to 3.5 per cent without thorough analysis, following a recent request from the United States.
Prime Minister Albanese made the comments following recent discussions between US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Richard Marles at the Shangri-La Dialogue held in Singapore.
US Secretary Hegseth is understood to have called for Australia to increase its defence spending to 3.5 per cent of its gross domestic product (GDP) as soon as possible, in line with US defence spend expectations announced previously for NATO.
“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,” Albanese said during a press conference earlier today.
“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 the recent meeting with the US Secretary Hegseth, 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,” according to Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles, speaking at a doorstop interview in Singapore this week.
“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.”
