Pay Your Money & Take Your Pick: Defence Spending Choices for Australia
Release of an Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) Policy Report on Defence Spending.
The Hon. Alexander Downer, MP, Minister for Foreign Affairs, today launched the ASPI report “Pay Your Money & Take Your Pick: Defence Spending Choices for Australia”.
The report looks at what sort of defence force Australia can afford at differing levels of defence spending.
The author of the report Dr Mark Thomson said:
“All too often the defence spending debate gets hung up on how much is being spent on defence without looking at what is being delivered for the money. This report aims to remedy this by examining five alternative options for future defence spending.”
“Our approach has been to look at the military capabilities and tasks that can be afforded at various levels of defence spending – from a modest 1.3% of GDP up to a robust 2.5%.”
” At the lower end of the spectrum we looked at what cutting real defence spending back to levels we would have been at without the White Paper funding increase. We found you get a defence force that is less capable than today’s but still able to undertake a credible range of tasks. Its Achilles heel is that our relative military strength would erode as regional countries continued the modernisation of their forces.”
“At the top end of the options we found that 2.5% of GDP would allow us to develop a power projection capability built around two aircraft carriers and a much expanded Army and more capable Air Force and Navy. This would significantly boost our standing as an ally and enhance our ability to play a role in the region.”
“There is no ‘right’ answer to how much to spend of defence, instead we have choice to make between difference military capabilities, and between defence spending and other alternatives.”
“We have stopped short of identifying a preferred option – our goal has been to provide an information resource to promote a more focused debate on defence spending. In doing so we have developed options that highlight the trade-offs and choices that can be made.”
The report was prepared by Dr Mark Thomson, ASPI Budget and Management Program Director.
To find a copy of the report go to ASPI’s web site: http://www.aspi.org.au