Election 2022: Labor’s $1.2bn plan to put a rocket under defence tech

Labor is vowing to create a $1.2bn defence research agency to deliver national security technology breakthroughs with AUKUS partners the US and Britain.

Labor’s defence spokesman Brendan O’Connor. Picture: Sky News

Labor is vowing to create a $1.2bn defence research agency to deliver national security technology breakthroughs with AUKUS partners the US and Britain.

The promised advanced strategic research agency would be modelled on the US Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency, which invented the internet, GPS, the computer mouse, and the technology behind the Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk stealth aircraft.

The plan, to be unveiled by Labor leader Anthony Albanese on Thursday, would aim “to fund pivotal research in breakthrough technologies for national security”.

Mr Albanese said the agency would work closely with DARPA and its newly created UK counterpart, the Advanced Research and Invention Agency. He said the government had failed to prioritise such research, “leaving Australia vulnerable to strategic technological surprises”.

“After almost a decade of neglect under the current Liberal government, there has been a lack of strategic defence and national security-focused sovereign research, funding and projects,” he said in a joint statement with Labor’s defence spokesman Brendan O’Connor.

“ASRA would ensure cutting-edge research from public sources, such as universities and industry, and classified research from industry and other government agencies – such as CSIRO – are supported and co-ordinated.”

He said ASRA would also leverage private investment to ensure the development of sovereign capabilities, with a priority on commercialising prototypes. Research and development spending has fallen as a percentage of GDP under the Coalition, from 2.11 per cent in 2011-12 to 1.79 per cent in 2019-20.