Australia invests $400m to build killer drone fleet

Australia is investing hundreds of millions of dollars into creating unmanned killer drones to boost the nation’s military capabilities.

Australia will inject hundreds of millions of dollars to build a fleet of AI-controlled killer drones as part of efforts to boost the nation’s military capabilities.

On Friday, Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy announced a further $400m to build and develop three new uncrewed drones as part of the federal government’s MQ-28A Ghost Bat program.

The funding injection takes Australia’s total spending on the project to nearly $1bn.

Mr Conroy said new boost will be “critical” to give the air force the capabilities it needed to protect Australia’s national interests.

“This is the first military aircraft to be designed, engineered and manufactured in Australia in more than 50 years and underscores the depth of innovation and expertise in our defence industry,” Mr Conroy said.

Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Under an agreement with the US, new drone technology will be shared between the two allies to help fast-track the weapons’ manufacture.

It will involve 55 Australian companies, with more than 70 per cent or $600m of funding already directed towards local industry, Mr Conroy said.

The announcement follows a review of Australia’s defence capabilities released last year that urged for a major overhaul of military spending, including continued development and acquisition of legal drones.

The new drones are expected to be tested at a demonstration exercise next year.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton welcomed the “huge” investment on Friday.

“There’s not only a sort of a domestic benefit, but this will enhance our global reputation, so I think it’s a great outcome and we support it very much.”

PM flies to Marles defence

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has swooped in to defend Defence Minister Richard Marles amid revelations the deputy leader was at odds with military heads over stalled funding and resourcing.

On Thursday, Mr Marles confirmed reports of escalating friction within the Defence Department and the ADF, claiming it had a “long way to go” until it achieved a culture of excellence.

“The Department of Defence, the Australian Defence Force, is on a journey and we are working very co-operatively with the senior leadership of the Department of Defence and the ADF in relation to that journey,” he told the lower house.

Asked about the issue on Friday, Mr Albanese called Mr Marles a “great defence minister” and paid tribute to the men and women in the ADF.

“What Richard Marles is saying and I know that the chief of the Defence Force is saying as well – and right through the Defence Force structure – is that we need to move away from what had occurred, the position we inherited, of so many projects being over budget and delayed, being years and years and years,” Mr Albanese said.

Richard Marles said he would make ‘no apologies’ for frictions in the Defence Department. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Opposition foreign affairs spokesperson Simon Birmingham called reports of tensions between Mr Marles and his defence chiefs “deeply concerning.”

“It is a serious problem the Albanese government needs to address rapidly, but it is also a problem of their own making,” Mr Birmingham told Sky News earlier.

“The Albanese government has put defence into a quagmire of endless reviews, it’s cut into the defence budget, it’s shown an inability to make critical investment decisions and it’s shown next to no confidence in defence personnel to deploy them and do the types of jobs they sign up for.”

Peter Dutton, Karl Stefanovic and Bill Shorten on the Today show.

Shorten: I ‘learnt my lesson’ on tax

Bill Shorten has shut down rumours that Labor will consider making changes to negative gearing, arguing he “learnt his lesson” during the 2019 election.

Labor leaders lined up this week to brush off questions about whether the party would consider making changes to property investment tax, feeding concerns the government would switch up its stance after it made last-minute changes to its stage 3 income tax cuts policy.

“No, seriously. On negative gearing – we’re not doing it. I did take a policy to restrict some of the aspects of it to the 2019 election. I have learnt my lesson,” Mr Shorten told the Today show on Friday.

“I take tax reform to the election and all we got at the end of it was Scott Morrison.”

Labor went to both the 2016 and 2019 elections promising to halve the 50 per cent capital gains tax deduction and limit negative gearing to new properties. The policies failed to convince voters and led to Scott Morrison’s surprise victory in 2019.

Mr Shorten’s sly dig at the former prime minister teased a rare smile out of Liberal leader Peter Dutton.

“Is Pete smiling?” Today show host Karl Stefanovic gibed.

“Well, Scott ought to be,” Mr Dutton responded.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese deflected questions about whether Labor had plans to revisit the contentious plan to wind back the scheme. This came after Senators Jacqui Lambie and David Pocock – who hold a crucial swing vote in the upper house – argued that they wanted negative gearing on the table as part of action on the housing crisis.

Australia not sending weapons to Israel

Mr Conroy said Australia was not exporting military weapons to Israel amid reports the defence department had stalled several overseas requests to send military aid overseas.

The ABC has reported that several applications sent by Israel to Australia’s defence department’s weapons export regulator have gone unanswered by the government since the Israel-Hamas war broke out.

When asked about the status of military export requests on Friday, Mr Conroy said the claims were “wrong” and argued the country was not sending military weapons, such as bombs, to Israel.

“We do not export military equipment at the moment to Israel,” he told ABC Radio National.

According to reports, Israel requested drone systems and other military technology from Australia to bolster its defence against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in the north.

Mr Conroy said there was a system that dealt with applications for every country that sought to buy military weapons from Australia pending permission from the defence department.

“At the moment, we will be exporting commercial equipment (to Israel) I know from commercial vendors,” he said.