Hobart Airport upgrade part of Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s $270bn defence step up
Hobart Airport will be upgraded, while smart sea mines will be deployed off the coast and ships and tanks armed with energy weapons as part of Australia’s ten-year defence plan, after a dramatic warning from the PM.
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HOBART Airport will be upgraded as part of Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s $270 billion defence force step up.
Energy weapons, more commonly known as lasers, will also be put on ships and tanks as part of the ten-year defence strategy launched yesterday.
Smart sea mines will be deployed tactically off the coast of Australia to prevent attacks by sea.
PM’S DRAMATIC WARNING ON POST-COVID WORLD
Hypersonic weapons that can fly faster than the speed of sound will be developed, as well as an independent satellite network that will become “critical” to the ADF’s “war fighting effectiveness”.
A new underwater surveillance system is also being developed.
In a major speech on Thursday, Defence Minister Linda Reynolds will say the $270 billion plan will produce a “far more potent ADF” and an “increasingly capable and vibrant sovereign Australian defence industry”.
“This review found that our security environment has deteriorated far more rapidly and in ways we could not have predicted four years ago,” she will say.
“Our region is now facing the most consequential strategic realignment since the end of World War Two.”
Australia could no longer rely on ten years’ warning for any major conventional attack and must “shift gears” to respond, she will say.
As part of the plan, Hobart Airport and storage facilities in Tasmania will be upgraded and expanded to support increased defence force and civilian long range operations in the Southern Ocean.
There will be a push to involve local contractors, suppliers and tradies in the airport upgrade.
Independent Member for Clark Andrew Wilkie criticised the plan, saying Australia shouldn’t try to “outgun” China or “continue to cuddle up to Washington”.
“It is a significant failure of Australian foreign and security policy that governments think they must choose between the US and China,” he said.
“We would be better off with a more independent foreign and security policy based on Australia’s national interest and the maintenance of good relations with both countries.”
“Meanwhile Australia’s genuine and pressing investment needs are not being addressed, like dealing with climate change, repairing our run-down health and education systems, and ensuring everyone has a roof over their head.
“That’s where the cash needs to be really splashed.”
Peter Jennings, head of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute think tank, said the plan was “necessary” with China being more “assertive” and North Korea’s military modernisation.
But he said the government would need to inject more than $270 billion to secure all the equipment it wanted.
He said coronavirus had made the government realise it couldn’t just focus on “building the perfect force for the second half of the 2030s and into 2040”.
“They’ve gone all out in this statement to increase the hitting power of the existing defence force and to do things in pretty short order; 12 months to 24 months to add more to the deterrent capability of the force,” he said.
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