Tony Abbott has become Australia’s 28th Prime Minister, leading the Coalition back into government. During the campaign, Abbott pledged to increase defence spending as part of a 10-year plan for the nation. Other elements of this plan included restoring the full private health insurance rebate and cutting the size of government.
Abbott has opted for continuity in the defence portfolio, appointing West Australian Senator David Johnston as Minister for Defence, with the Member for the Queensland seat of Fadden, Stuart Robert, taking up the role of Assistant Minister for Defence, shadow positions they held in opposition. Meanwhile, Victorian Senator Michael Ronaldson has been appointed Minister for Veterans Affairs with MP Darren Chester of Gippsland appointed as Parliamentary Secretary.
The Coalition has flagged its intention to extend the life of Australia’s troubled Collins Class submarines, to proceed with the acquisition of Joint Strike Fighters (JSF) and to re-evaluate plans to buy unmanned drones. These promises are part of a broader defence policy that also rules out further military spending cuts.
Hey, big spender
As the Commonwealth’s budgetary position improves, the Abbott government is aiming to restore growth in defence investment.
The Coalition has stated that there will be no further cuts to defence spending under their leadership, boasting that within a decade defence spending will be two per cent of GDP. The Coalition’s position is that Australia’s military forces should always be at least as capable as they were when the Howard government left office in 2007.
After years of well-documented global economic turmoil, contributing to five record budget deficits, the Coalition will need to look for savings in every area of government, including the huge defence bureaucracy, which has grown rapidly in recent years.
However, any savings the Coalition finds from rationalising the defence bureaucracy will be reinvested in greater military capacity and frontline capabilities. This was also the plan as outlined under the Strategic Reform Program that seems to have been superseded by budget cuts to the department over the last few years.
White Paper plans
The Coalition has vowed to publish a defence White Paper with costed, affordable ways to meet Australia’s defence objectives within the first 18 months of government.
One issue that this White Paper will consider is a greater presence of the nation’s military forces in Northern Australia, especially in resource-rich areas with little or no current military presence. The White Paper will examine the need for an upgraded surveillance capability for the region. The Coalition have backtracked from a commitment to acquire three large surveillance drones, such as the US Global Hawk or Triton, at a cost of more than $1 billion.
During the 2010 election campaign, the Coalition described the drones as essential to regaining control of Australia’s borders. However, there is now a feeling that there may be better ways of achieving this. The government will re-evaluate the need for unmanned aerial surveillance vehicles in the new defence White Paper.
Within the Coalition’s plans is a pledge to make decisions within the first 18 months, the government aims to ensure there is no capability gap ahead of the purchase of new submarines to replace the ageing Collins Class boats. The Abbott government remains committed to ensuring that work on Australia’s replacement submarines will be done in South Australia. But it wants to keep the current Collins Class boats in the water longer.
The Abbott government remains committed to the Lockheed Martin F-35 JSF, although the Prime Minister has indicated this commitment may not be absolute. Abbott has said continuation of this policy would be subject to the advice of the Chief of Defence.
The decision on committing to the remaining aircraft to make up the planned 100 JSFs will be made when the capability development program is completed, and delivery and production schedules and costs are known.
Fixing the Department
The Coalition will appoint a high-profile team to undertake a first-principles review of the structure of the Defence Department and all its major processes.
The focus of the review will be on achieving more streamlined and less bureaucratic decision-making. Key aims will be to bolster ministerial control, reduce waste, speed up decision-making and restore authority to the commanders responsible for delivering war-fighting capabilities.
The Coalition is expected to reform the Defence Materiel Organisation (DMO) in the hope of employing commercially-experienced procurers with an understanding of commercial principles and risk.
The government’s review of the Department of Defence will consider further options for reforming the DMO, including proposals for establishing it as a more independent agency, driven by cost-benefit procurement assessments.
The ADF gap year program introduced by the Howard government proved successful in attracting more women to the ADF and in bolstering the Army Reserve generally. In 2008-09, 74 per cent of participants transferred to either the full-time or part-time service.
The Abbott government will invest $113 million to re-build the ADF gap year program in the hope of progressively increasingly numbers until an average of 1,000 places per annum is made available in the program.
