Doing enough: Anthony Albanese leaps to his own defence

Anthony Albanese has hit back at a fresh claim by the Trump administration that his government is not investing enough in defence, declaring the budget ‘received the overwhelming support’ of Australians.

Anthony Albanese with Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek and Labor MP Zhi Soon in Sydney on Friday. Picture: Richard Dobson

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Anthony Albanese has hit back at a fresh claim by the Trump ­administration that his government is not investing enough in defence, declaring the budget Labor took to the May election “received the overwhelming ­support” of Australians as he ­talked up spending on health, wages and paid parental leave.

The Prime Minister would not say whether he feared Australia would face extra tariffs from the US if he did not increase spending on defence, after the US President threatened to double tariffs on imports from Spain for refusing to join other NATO nations in agreeing to lift yearly defence ­investment to 5 per cent of GDP.

“I’m not going to comment on things between Spain and the United States. What my job is (is) to look after Australia’s national interests,” Mr Albanese said.

After White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt on Friday (AEST) urged Asia-Pacific ­allies to increase ­defence spending in line with NATO nations, the Prime Minister said “we have lifted our spending”.

When asked whether he would stick to limiting the planned increase in defence spending to 2.3 per cent so he could prioritise investment in programs such as Medicare and the NDIS, Mr Albanese said he would ensure Australia had “the capability that we need”.

He said that, “in addition” to increasing spending on defence, the government was investing in paid parental leave and backing higher wages and superannuation payments.

“The increase in the minimum wage is all about the agenda that we took to the election that ­received the overwhelming ­endorsement of the electorate,” Mr Albanese said on Friday.

“We are providing for our defence investment, including $57bn of additional investment. I have said very clearly, we will invest in the capability that Australia needs.

“What we do is we put forward our budget. We took it to an election, it received the overwhelming support (of voters).”

The White House sent a firm message to Australia that it was not doing enough on defence spending, as it urged America’s partners in the Asia-Pacific to match the new effort made by NATO members.

In an outcome seen as a major win for the US President, NATO members this week committed at The Hague to investing 5 per cent of GDP “on core defence requirements as well as defence and security-related spending by 2035 to ensure our individual and collective obligations”.

Ms Leavitt said: “Our allies agreed to invest 5 per cent of their GDP annually in defence because President Trump demanded it. This will be the most significant … enforcement of NATO’s collective defence in the history of the NATO alliance. And as a result the United States of America will carry less of the burden and our NATO allies will be stronger than ever before. President Trump made this change possible.”

Asked what the expectations were for Asia-Pacific nations, including Australia, she responded that “if our allies in Europe and our NATO allies can do it, I think our allies and our friends in the Asia Pacific region can do it as well”.

“But as for our specific relations and those discussions, I’ll let the President speak on those,” she added.

Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth had previously urged Australia to lift defence spending to 3.5 per cent of GDP “as soon as possible” – a message that was conveyed to his Australian counterpart Richard Marles on the sidelines of the Shangri La Dialogue in Singapore in late May.

Pressed on Mr Trump’s cancelled meetings with world leaders, including Mr Albanese, after the President left the G7 summit in Canada early, Ms Leavitt said the US President was responding to an international emergency in the Middle East.

“I think many of those world leaders understood the situation happening in the Middle East and the urgency and the need for the President to get back to Washington to monitor that situation,” she said. “And obviously that was the right call considering the success of not only the operation on Saturday night but also the ceasefire that the President has since brokered.”

Charles Edel, the inaugural Australia chair at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said Australia needed to boost defence spending to counter China. “The threat Beijing poses to the stability of the region demands a more robust response from all nations interested in preserving a favourable balance of power,” Mr Edel said.

“That means greater efforts, greater resources, and greater commitments by Australia, by Japan, by New Zealand, by South Korea, and also by the United States.

“For America’s allies and partners in the region, sovereign decisions about resource allocation will not be made on the basis of what America demands. But leaning into defence should be a natural response to the deteriorating security environment, and an urgent matter of national interest.”

Opposition defence spokesman Angus Taylor said Australia needed to lift defence spending to 3 per cent of GDP, arguing the Albanese government was not funding the recommendations from its own Defence Strategic Review.

“That includes making sure that we have the missile manufacturing capacity we need in this country, making sure we’ve got those new technologies, drone and counter drone technologies that are essential in the modern world,” Mr Taylor said.

“Hardening our northern facilities at a time like this. Funding the Henderson sub facility, which is going to be so crucial to AUKUS.”