ASPI Endorses Australian Focused Defence Strategy

Media Statement - 28 November 2002

Labor welcomes the release today by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) (New window) of its strategic and security policy review.

The ASPI review endorses Labor's argument for a policy centred on the security of Australia and the region and rejects the attempts by the Minister for Defence to focus our defence effort on global operations in support of the United States.

Labor calls on John Howard to endorse the strategy set out in the ASPI review and the White Paper and to pull his strategically confused Defence Minister into line.

Labor has consistently argued that the best way for Australia to protect its national interests, and discharge its global responsibilities, is to ensure the defence of the nation and to foster peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region.

The Bali bombing was a stark reminder that Australia's national interests are best served by focusing on the security of the nation and our region.

The ASPI review follows press reports of Cabinet's recent rejection of the Hill expansionist view and their rejection of the Minister's bid for more than $1.5 billion in additional money to fund it.

The ASPI review rightly notes that almost all the additional capabilities the ADF needs are already in the Defence Capability Plan.

Australians just need the Government to actually deliver the projects on time and on budget, something it is clearly struggling to achieve.

ASPI describes the greatest long-term defence challenge as "more effective reform of Defence".

ASPI has also highlighted the Howard Government's record of bungling and political interference in Defence, citing numerous examples of financial and project mismanagement (see attached).

The Howard Government's mismanagement of Defence

The ASPI review highlights the failure of six years of so called reforms in Defence under John Howard:

"More effective reform of Defence is the most urgent long-term defence policy challenge the Government faces" (page 47)

"Defence reform is not just a matter of fiscal probity – it's a matter of long-term strategic necessity" (page 46)

The ASPI review identifies a series of problems that highlight the Howard Government's mismanagement of Defence:

• The Government's decision to abandon the tender process and buy torpedoes that are too heavy for the Collins class submarines has forced Defence to raid $200m from other projects to cover a cost blow-out. As a result of the Government's interference taxpayers will pay $450m for torpedoes that do not fit our submarines. (see page 42)
• Despite allocating funding the Government has not ensured that essential electronic warfare protection and long-range weapons have actually been delivered for our F/A-18s and F111s. It was recently revealed that the Government has spent $200m on the long-range AGM-142 missile but it will take at least nine years to fit it to the F111. (see page 35)
• The Government rushed into a decision to buy the US Joint Strike Fighter, without any thought to how Australia maintains its air combat capability until the likely delivery date beyond 2015. Our existing F/A-18s and F111s will struggle to fly past 2010. Any interim capability to fill the gap will be prohibitively expensive, with ASPI estimating the cost at an additional several billion dollars. (see page 44)
• The $1.4 billion frigate upgrade project started three years ago is already running more than two years late and some ships will now be upgraded with just eight years left of their 35 year service life. (see page 46)
• The management of Defence finances remains a mess, with its financial statements qualified by the Audit Office and no explanation as to why it has $835m cash in the bank while not enough is being spent on ammunition. (see page 43)

As the review notes, before looking for new Defence projects to fund the Government should concentrate on actually delivering what is already in the Capability Plan. (see page 36).

The ASPI review provides a clear analysis that Australia's defence capability is most at risk from the failure of the Howard Government to manage Defence effectively.