ALP ‘open’ to boosting defence budget

Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy has moved to bolster Australia’s defence credentials ahead of Anthony Albanese’s first meeting with Donald Trump at the G7 summit in Canada.

Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy addresses the 2025 ASPI Defence Conference in Canberra on Wednesday. Picture: Australian Strategic Policy Institute

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Pat Conroy says Labor is “open to having a conversation” about increasing defence spending and escalated attacks on a taxpayer funded think tank over assertions that funding had fallen under Anthony Albanese, in the strongest indication yet t he government will boost military investment.

Amid mounting pressure for Labor to meet US demands for Australia to increase defence funding to 3.5 per cent of GDP, the Defence Industry Minister said Canberra would set its own defence policy through regular reviews rather than pulling an “arbitrary figure out of the air”.

Mr Conroy’s remarks come as Republican congressman and co-chair of the Friends of Australia Caucus, Michael McCaul, said an increase in defence spending would send a “strong message” to China, and as Beijing attacked ­Defence Minister Richard Marles for spreading accusations the country posed a threat.

In an extraordinary spray, Mr Conroy told an Australian Strategic Policy Institute conference on Wednesday that a report on defence spending released by the think tank just last week had “falsely concluded” that funding was lower under Labor than the Coalition.

Declaring that Labor had overseen the “biggest increase in Defence funding in peacetime since World War II” worth an additional $57bn, Mr Conroy criticised the Cost of Defence report’s warning the defence force was not prepared for near-term conflict and signalled a willingness to discuss a spending boost.

“You’re entitled to your own views, but not your own facts,” Mr Conroy said. “The fact is that the government is providing Defence with the resources it needs to deliver the National Defence Strategy, which was not the case when we came to office.

“As the Prime Minister said, we will invest in the capabilities we need. We are open to having a ­conversation about increasing ­defence funding.

“But unlike the Coalition, which during the campaign promised to increase spending without providing a skerrick of detail, we will invest in the defence of the nation and the safety of Australians with care and diligence in a way that is best for Australians.

“That is why it’s important to say that claims of a business-as-usual approach that is hollowing out the ADF just don’t stack up.”

Ahead of Mr Albanese’s first meeting with Donald Trump at the G7 summit in Canada, where he will seek tariff relief and a recommitment on the AUKUS s pact, Mr Conroy sought to burnish Australia’s defence credentials.

“We are increasing defence spending by $57.6bn over the next decade compared to the trajectory we inherited three years ago,” he said. “This is the largest increase in defence spending since WWII, with $10.6bn of that increase over the next four years.”

Responding directly to Mr Hegseth’s request to the Defence Minister to increase Australia’s defence spending to 3.5 per cent of GDP at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, Mr Conroy said funding levels would be reviewed through the National Defence Strategy. He also said while “more urgent” capability needs could be looked at anytime, typically spending was decided during the biennial review: “That is our focus – (namely) Defence making a case for all capabilities and needs, and the government funding it, rather than plucking an arbitrary figure out of the air and then working out how you spent that money.”

Australian Defence Force chief David Johnston said defence spending was an “important subject” and he was providing the government with “frank advice” for its next review of defence funding.

“Yes, you’ve heard what Secretary Hegseth said at Shangri La, and our own national debate, similarly, has been dealing with this question,” he said.

“But I would say Defence is fully expending its budget at the moment. That’s a good thing.”

In a discussion of Australia’s conflict preparedness, he said the nation needed to consider the prospect of conducting military operations from home soil.

“Perhaps, finally, we’re having to reconsider Australia as a homeland from which we will conduct combat operations,” he said.

Acting Defence Department secretary Matt Yannopoulos said it would take as long as five years to meet Washington’s request.

The ­defence budget stayed at about 2 per cent of GDP in the March federal budget.