A Coalition government would set a late-2026 deadline to rapidly build up military stocks and put Australia on a war footing amid growing warnings that a major conflict with China or Russia could erupt by 2027.

In an interview with The Australian Financial Review, opposition defence spokesman Andrew Hastie sharpened differences with the Albanese government over defence, accusing Labor of “struggling with inertia” by not boosting defence spending quickly enough to deal with looming threats.