Coalition backs away from $1.5 billion surveillance drone policy

Updated

The Coalition has moderated its plans for several major Defence projects, including backing away from a policy to spend $1.5 billion on long-range surveillance aircraft or drones.

In April, Opposition defence spokesman David Johnston said the Coalition would use drones to help spot and turn back asylum seeker boats.

He laid out a $1.5 billion policy to buy seven drones and have them in the air by 2017-18.

But today, Senator Johnston and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott have released the Coalition's defence policy, which states only that it will "consider closely the need for unmanned aerial surveillance vehicles".

Tony Abbott says the Opposition is stating its "support in principal" but is not making a specific commitment.

"We are conscious of the fiscal position, we are also conscious of a developing strategic situation and a developing availability of equipment," he said.

"What was the best possible purchase a few years ago may well not be the best possible purchase today."

The new policy also gives the Coalition room to move on the air force's Joint Strike Fighter program, saying if the Defence leadership believes they are still the best aircraft for the nation's air combat requirements, it will go ahead with the purchase of 72 of the planes.

The program has been plagued by delays and questions over the aircraft's capabilities.

Collins Class submarine will be 'subject to review'

The Opposition has also pulled back on signals it wants to replace the troubled Collins Class submarine as soon as possible, saying it will now be subject to a review.

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"If we can extend the life of Collins, if we can do a full and proper costing and analysis of Collins, that will take the pressure of the new submarine program," Senator Johnston said.

"We think that with some proper commercial expertise into this space we can assess how long we need to have Collins for and what we need to spend on it."

The latest Defence White Paper in May revealed the Government had decided to focus on two design options for a replacement, either a completely new Australian design or an "evolved' Collins Class.

At the time, Senator Johnston railed against the Collins Class, saying "I wouldn't want to go back near Collins if it was the last thing on Earth that we had to do, I think Collins has been a very expensive disaster".

At today's policy launch, Mr Abbott again stated there would be no further cuts to the Defence budget under a Coalition government, and has repeated his ambition to raise Defence spending to two per cent of GDP within a decade of winning office.

The Coalition policy also promises a new Defence White Paper within its first 18 months of government.

Topics: government-and-politics, liberals, federal-elections, federal-government, defence-and-national-security, australia

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