Australian defence spending rose sharply as a share of gross domestic spend (GDP) during the last century’s two world wars and to a lesser extent during the Korean and Vietnam wars. There were much smaller rises during the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. The recent low point was 2012-13, at about 1.6 per cent of GDP, in the aftermath of the global financial crisis.
The 2016 Defence White Paper, with its decades-long focus, proposed higher spending, and this was lifted again in the 2020 Defence Strategic Update released in early July. In launching the report, Australia’s Defence Minister, Linda Reynolds, noted spending on defence was part of the federal government’s efforts to help the economy recover from the COVID-19 crisis.
"The Government’s focus on encouraging onshore suppliers is a form of industry assistance not available to many other sectors.”
In the 2020 financial year, Defence funding is set to be $A42.2 billion. That’s just over 2 per cent of GDP...MORE
