In July 2020, the Australian Government announced a significant budgetary effort for its military as part of an update to its Defense White Paper published four years earlier, which already included a significant increase in the country’s military budget.
For example, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison spoke of a 40 percent increase in military spending over the decade, which should amount to 166 billion euros. The amount was then deemed necessary, in particular to continue ongoing programs to increase the strike capabilities of the Australian forces through the purchase of AGM-158C LRASM anti-ship cruise missiles. [Long Range Anti-Ship Missile, d’une portée de 370 km] and development of hypersonic weapons, development of space assets, strengthening of underwater surveillance and cyber defense.
“We want the Indo-Pacific to be free from coercion and hegemony. We need a region where all countries, big and small, can freely engage in dialogue with each other within the framework of international rules and standards, Mr. Morrison said, without referring directly to China.
Since then, some programs have been abandoned in order to launch other, more ambitious ones. Such is the case with the purchase of 12 Shortfin Barracuda submarines from the French naval group, which was canceled after the announcement of a strategic alliance with the US and UK. [AUKUS] to order eight nuclear-powered ships. However, the bill promises to be painful…
Mr Morrison has already announced a $10 billion investment to build a second submarine base on Australia’s east coast, with site choices to be made between Brisbane, Newcastle and Port Kembla. “It would also allow regular visits to US and British nuclear submarines,” he said.
But this capacity building also requires an increase in the size of the Australian Defense Force. And on March 10, Mr. Morrison indicated that their number would increase from 60,000 to 78,500 by … 2040. That is 30%. To this end, an A$38 billion plan will be implemented.
“Our world is becoming increasingly uncertain, so it’s important that we take action now to protect our people and our national interests in the coming decades,” said Morrison, who is unsure whether he will hold his ground after the next legislative election. which will take place next May.
“You cannot flip a switch to increase the size of your army, navy and air force overnight. Developing the skills we need to face the threats of the future takes time, so we need to start now so that we can teach the basic skills and gain experience,” the Australian Prime Minister explained.
In fact, it’s better to do it early…as Australian forces are hard to come by. In 2019, while the Defense White Paper already talked about an +8% increase in their workforce, they only managed to find 600 more recruits than the expected 1,730. As noted in a study by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, these recruitment difficulties mainly affect the Royal Australian Navy. [ASPI]. The latter really emphasized that it is not uncommon to see how ships remain on the pier due to the absence of sailors.