Australian election 2025: Labor attacks Dutton’s defence funding pledge

Peter Dutton is under fire after making a major announcement on defence spending but leaving key questions unanswered.

Peter Dutton has been unable to provide key details on his plan to fund a whopping $21bn increase in defence spending, with Labor pouncing on the announcement just 10 days before the election.

The Opposition Leader was in Perth on Wednesday to spruik the Coalition’s pledge to increase defence spending as a share of GDP to 2.5 per cent over five years.

The Coalition plans to further increase spending to three per cent “within a decade”, while Treasury currently predicts under Labor it would reach 2.4 per cent in 2027-28.

Looking at the ruggedised high-performance UHF Satcom antenna built by Blacktree, Mr Dutton remarked at how it could survive “up to a category five (storm), incredible”.

While the high-tech piece of Aussie engineering might be ready for wild weather, it’s unclear whether the Opposition Leader’s defence policy can with 10 days before the polls.

Coalition defence spokesman Andrew Hastie and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton spoke about the increased funding during a visit to Blacktree Technology at Belmont in the electorate of Swan. Picture: Richard Dobson / NewsWire

Mr Dutton could not say exactly how he would fund the increased defence spend, instead citing how the Coalition would not be going ahead with Labor’s planned tax cuts.

The Opposition said it would proceed with the 70 cent a day tax cut introduced in March by the Albanese government, which Mr Dutton claimed accounted for an additional $7bn per year over forward estimates.

That being said, Mr Dutton wouldn’t answer if that meant he’d pay for the increase through “repealing income tax cuts”, or if it would hurt his pledge to lower taxes.

Mr Dutton told the media “we will and truly deal with the expenditure side of it” and later that he’d have “more to say in relation to our costings before” the election next month.

He went on to add: “We’ll deal with it before the election”.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has called out Peter Dutton over the lack of details in how the Coalition will fund the increase in defence spending. Picture: Mark Stewart / NewsWire

Anthony Albanese seized on Mr Dutton’s failure to provide details was “extraordinary”.

“This is once again a media release in search of a policy, a media release in search of some detail,” the Prime Minister said in Collie, WA, the site of one of the Coalition’s proposed nuclear reactor plants.

“He is unable to say where the money would come from, except for saying, confirming that they will put up income taxes.

“But that doesn’t cover the amount that they’ve announced as well. So on top of that, there’ll be more cuts needed.”

He said other details of the policy were also missing.

“It’s extraordinary that you make this announcement with a very large figure in the tens of billions of dollars and you can’t say what you will use the money for. You can’t say where all the money will come from,” he said.

“This is an opposition that have not done the hard work, whether it’s defence policy, whether it’s nuclear policy, they can’t explain any of how it would actually roll out.”

Defence spokesman Andrew Hastie also faced questioning over another key defence issue during his press conference with Coalition leader Peter Dutton. Picture: Richard Dobson / NewsWire

The Opposition Leader is also under fire for resurfaced comments made by the Coalition’s defence spokesperson, Andrew Hastie, critiquing women in combat roles in the ADF.

In a seven-year-old interview, Mr Hastie told Sky News that “the DNA of a close combat unit is best-preserved if it is exclusively male”, in his experience in the SASR.

Mr Hastie backed the statements on Wednesday and refuted accusations he supported a change in recruitment policy that might exclude women from combat roles.

“I did say it, and I’m not going to disown what I said seven years ago,” he said.

Mr Hastie instead backed a high standard for applicants to the ADF.

“All combat roles are open to women … one thing we will insist on is high standards.

He went on to accuse Defence Minister Richard Marles of “playing politics with the ADF”.

Defence spokesman Andrew Hastie was also questioned on his support for women in combat roles in the ADF. Picture: Richard Dobson / NewsWire

“Richard Marles talks a big game … and he uses women in the ADF as a political prop, and I think it’s a shameful scare campaign that is running on this,” Mr Hasties said.

For his part, Mr Marles had equally stern words for the Coalition over its planned cash splash, labelling it a “pathetic whimper”.

”I just don’t think you can trust the Liberals when it comes to anything they say in respect of defence,” he told the ABC.

“There are some reports that the 2.5 per cent is a target, there’s no explanation of how they’re paying for this, where the money’s coming from, or really is there an explanation of where the money is being spent on?

“What we have here is not really a defence policy from the Liberals. It is a pathetic whimper.”

The Coalition’s pledge comes amid what both leaders have described as “uncertain times”, with ongoing wars in Europe and the Middle East, and continued threat from China.

It also comes during the presidency of Donald Trump, who reportedly appointed billionaire unofficial DOGE head Elon Musk to oversee a review of the AUKUS agreement.

President Donald Trump is a key factor in Australia’s defence policy. Picture: Pool via AP

Both Mr Albanese and Mr Dutton have backed the agreement, though both have claimed its future would be less certain if the other was elected next month.

Mr Dutton would not say whether his push for three per cent defence spending was a response to calls for such an increase of US allies by Mr Trump since January.

Under the NATO agreement, which Australia is not party to, but the UK and the US are, defence spending must be at or above two per cent – Mr Trump wants five per cent.

The Coalition have earlier said the increase would go to a range of measures, including pursuing a fourth squadron of F-35A fighter jets cancelled by Labor this year.