Anthony Albanese remains coy on how much Labor will spend on defence

Anthony Albanese is remaining tight-lipped about a critical issue facing the federal budget as he refuses to say how much it will cost.

Anthony Albanese has refused to say how much it will cost to shore up Australia’s military capability, saying he doesn’t want to “pluck a figure out in order to get a headline in a newspaper”.

With the government poised to make a series of major defence announcements, the Prime Minister faced questions about the associated hit to the budget at a press conference in New Delhi on Friday.

Australia’s yearly defence spending is already one of the biggest strains on the federal budget at $48.7bn and it is expected to rise above 2 per cent of gross domestic product in the near future.

The government has routinely named defence as one of the five biggest pressures facing the budget which it must figure out how to balance with the cost of vital public services such as the National Disability Insurance Scheme.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi have held a series of meetings this week. Picture: Punit Paranjpe/AFP

But Mr Albanese wouldn’t say just how much his government would spend on defence as he was asked about the cost of Australia’s plan to acquire nuclear submarines under the $100bn AUKUS security agreement with the United States and the UK.

“I said consistently that we will need a minimum of 2 per cent of GDP, but I expect that defence spending will increase,” he said.

“We’ve been saying that consistently.

“We need to make sure that we invest more in our defence. You don’t just pluck a figure out in order to get a headline in a newspaper. We’ll invest in what is needed.”

Mr Albanese joked with reporters that he didn’t want to give too much away before the next federal budget is handed down in May.

“I don’t want you to have nothing to do and put your feet up between now and the budget,” he said.

“We’ve made a range of announcements, so out of my concern for you, I would say that wait until you see what’s in the budget.”

Mr Albanese won’t put an exact figure on how much his government will spend on defence. Picture: NCA Newswire / Gaye Gerard

Mr Albanese is on a three-day trip to India where he has held significant bilateral talks with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi and declared the South Asian nation is a “top-tier” security partner of Australia.

India and Australia are both members of the Quad security dialogue along with the US and Japan, which is widely viewed as having been set up to respond to Chinese military expansion.

Next week Mr Albanese will fly to San Diego to unveil the nuclear submarines Australia will acquire under the AUKUS pact, with reports suggesting the government will also purchase several US Virginia-class submarines in the early 2030s as a stopgap measure before the nuclear vessels are built.

Australia is also set to release the landmark defence review which is expected to recommend a major increase to the nation’s military capabilities and trigger questions about how an already strained budget can handle the associated expense.

The Defence Strategic Review, led by former chief of defence Sir Angus Houston and former defence minister Stephen Smith, was handed to the government last month but it is yet to be declassified.

Originally published as Anthony Albanese remains coy on how much Labor will spend on defence