Morrison calls on PM Albanese to increase spending on defence in wake of China’s ‘gunboat diplomacy’

Former prime minister Scott Morrison has called on the Albanese government to increase Defence spending by at least 50 per cent after three Chinese warships conducted live-fire exercises off the Australian coast this week.

Former prime minister Scott Morrison has called on the Albanese government to increase Defence spending by at least 50 per cent after three Chinese warships conducted live-fire exercises off the Australian coast this week.

In an exclusive interview with The Saturday Telegraph Mr Morrison also condemned the “hesitation and passivity” displayed by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s response to China’s bullying “gunboat diplomacy”.

“We got to just over 2 per cent of GDP with our Defence spending and we must keep going further and be at least 3 per cent by 2030 and then further again,” Mr Morrison said.

“The rest of the world is waking up to this.”

Former prime minister Scott Morrison copped tough trade tariffs from China over his blunt criticism of the nation’s handling of Covid during his time in office. Picture: Martin Ollman

The 2024-25 budget saw Defence funding increase to $764.6 billion over the decade.

Mr Morrison said that he welcomed the government’s commitment to the AUKUS submarine deal, “especially by” Defence Minister Richard Marles, but warned “it can’t come at the expense of the rest of the Defence budget”.

Labor spending on Defence is just below 2 per cent of gross domestic product and has been marked by a swath of cuts, including two RAN mine hunters and an ANZAC class frigate.

Mr Morrison called on the PM to show leadership in the face of Chinese bullying and commit to Defence spending.

“It requires whole of government leadership, and that can only come from one place,” he said.

Former prime minister Scott Morrison has condemned Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s “hesitant and passive'” response to China’s warships firing live ammunition off the coast of Australia. Picture: Rohan Thomson/Getty Images

However that one place, Mr Albanese, was under increasing pressure yesterday with Opposition Leader Peter Dutton saying his time in the top job was “over” and that the “leadership race is on” to replace him.

Opposition defence spokesman Andrew Hastie said Mr Albanese had left the nation “flat footed” in his “weak leadership” over the Chinese flotilla in the Tasman.

“Our defence industrial base is leaderless,” he said.

In the aftermath of the bruising week where Mr Albanese’s response to the warship saga has been under the microscope — the government quickly announced it was forking out $313.5m on a maintenance contract for the MH-60R Seahawk helicopter fleet.

“It demonstrates our government’s commitment to providing the ADF with the resources it needs to keep Australians safe,” Defence Capability Minister Pat Conroy said on Friday.

TRUMP’S AUKUS GAFFE

British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer announced an increase in defence spending to 2.6 per cent of the UK economy rising to three per cent after the next election.

Mr Starmer met with US President Donald Trump, who needed to be reminded of the details of the AUKUS nuclear submarine deal between Australia, the US and UK. Australian politicians from both sides were quick to play down the fumble.

Mr Albanese said there were “a lot of acronyms in this business”.

“Donald Trump went on (and spoke) about the really important and positive relationship with Australia.

“That is consistent with the discussions that I’ve had with President Trump that included, of course, talking about Aukus, which we spoke about during our discussions.”