Anthony Albanese says a Labor government will spend whatever is necessary on defence in an increasingly unstable world, while at the same time warning that measures to maintain faith in democracy and other domestic institutions are also vital to national security.

With the Morrison government planning a substantial increase in defence spending in the pre-election budget to be delivered on March 29, Mr Albanese will tell the Lowy Institute on Thursday that Labor also supports going beyond the Coalition’s original target of defence spending accounting for 2 per cent of GDP.