Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced an A$38 billion (US$27.9 billion) expansion of the military, which he said would be the biggest increase in the country’s defense forces since the Vietnam War.
The government is planning to lift the number of uniformed personnel in the Australian military to about 80,000 — an increase of 18,500, or by nearly one-third — by 2040, Morrison told a news conference in Queensland yesterday.
It would be the “biggest increase in the size of our defense forces in peacetime in Australian history,” he said.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The government “has always been clear-eyed about the threats and the environment that we face as a country, as a liberal democracy” in the Indo-Pacific region, he said.
The announcement comes as global geopolitical tensions grow, including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the potential for Chinese aggression toward Taiwan.
Australia must hold a federal election by May 21. Lagging behind the opposition Labor Party in opinion polling, Morrison has attempted to turn the electorate’s attention to economic and national security issues.
This is the second major military spending announcement in the past week, after Morrison pledged at least A$10 billion on Monday for a new naval base on the country’s east coast to house a future fleet of nuclear submarines.
Australian National University professor Mark Kenny said that while the increased spending is a clear reflection of the strategic threats facing the country, voters are likely to be cynical that the announcement is being made shortly before the beginning of an election campaign.
“If this is such a compelling idea, such a compelling need, why wasn’t it a compelling need at the beginning of this term or before any of the past three elections?” Kenny said.
While the increase could be the largest in decades, the troop size would likely be less on a per capita basis, leaving Australia with a smaller army than Singapore, Australian National University professor John Blaxland said.
“Let’s not kid ourselves, this is from a very low base,” he added.
In a major foreign policy speech yesterday, opposition leader Anthony Albanese also committed to increasing spending on Australia’s defense forces should the Labor Party win power, including a focus on enhancing the country’s cybersecurity.
“Labor will ensure that [the Ministry of] Defence has the resources it needs to defend Australia, as well as deter potential aggressors,” Albanese said.
In months, Lo Yuet-ping would bid farewell to a centuries-old village he has called home in Hong Kong for more than seven decades. The Cha Kwo Ling village in east Kowloon is filled with small houses built from metal sheets and stones, as well as old granite buildings, contrasting sharply with the high-rise structures that dominate much of the Asian financial hub. Lo, 72, has spent his entire life here and is among an estimated 860 households required to move under a government redevelopment plan. He said he would miss the rich history, unique culture and warm interpersonal kindness that defined life in
AERIAL INCURSIONS: The incidents are a reminder that Russia’s aggressive actions go beyond Ukraine’s borders, Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said Two NATO members on Sunday said that Russian drones violated their airspace, as one reportedly flew into Romania during nighttime attacks on neighboring Ukraine, while another crashed in eastern Latvia the previous day. A drone entered Romanian territory early on Sunday as Moscow struck “civilian targets and port infrastructure” across the Danube in Ukraine, the Romanian Ministry of National Defense said. It added that Bucharest had deployed F-16 warplanes to monitor its airspace and issued text alerts to residents of two eastern regions. It also said investigations were underway of a potential “impact zone” in an uninhabited area along the Romanian-Ukrainian border. There
The governor of Ohio is to send law enforcement and millions of dollars in healthcare resources to the city of Springfield as it faces a surge in temporary Haitian migrants. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine on Tuesday said that he does not oppose the Temporary Protected Status program under which about 15,000 Haitians have arrived in the city of about 59,000 people since 2020, but said the federal government must do more to help affected communities. On Monday, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost directed his office to research legal avenues — including filing a lawsuit — to stop the federal government from sending
A Zurich city councilor has apologized and reportedly sought police protection against threats after she fired a sport pistol at an auction poster of a 14th-century Madonna and child painting, and posted images of their bullet-ridden faces on social media. Green-Liberal party official Sanija Ameti, 32, put the images on Instagram over the weekend before quickly pulling them down. She later wrote on social media that she had been practicing shots from about 10m and only found the poster as “big enough” for a suitable target. “I apologize to the people who were hurt by my post. I deleted it immediately when I
RSS