Malcolm Turnbull sticks to Tony Abbott's defence spending pledges in long-awaited white paper

Updated

The Turnbull Government will commit to spending 2 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) on defence within a decade in its long-awaited white paper.

Key points: Defence spending to equate to $40 billion

Money to be spent on big-ticket items like next fleet of submarines, new RAAF planes

Paper will also detail Government's approach to South China Sea tensions

After several delays and re-writes, the highly anticipated Defence White Paper will finally be publicly unveiled by the Prime Minister on Thursday in Canberra.

The document outlines the Government's military and strategic vision and billions of dollars in spending to modernise the Navy and update Australia's ageing Collins-class fleet of submarines.

The ABC has confirmed 12 new submarines will form the centrepiece of the white paper.

Despite budgetary pressures, the Turnbull Government will stick to former prime minister Tony Abbott's commitment to spend 2 per cent of GDP on defence by 2023, the ABC has learnt.

It is understood a significant proportion of the spending will be on big-ticket items such as the next fleet of submarines, new RAAF planes and replacing the Army's armoured vehicle fleet.

The white paper will also detail the Federal Government's position on growing diplomatic tensions in the South China Sea, as Beijing continues its rapid military expansion in the contested waterway.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull today confirmed the planned spending, which equates to about $40 billion.

Mr Turnbull said the paper was fully costed and followed significant cuts to the defence budget carried out by the former Labor government.

"Under Labor, defence spending as a share of GDP dropped to its lowest level since 1938," he said.

"What we are committing to our defence resources — or defence resourcing — are dollar amounts and they are dollar amounts focused or determined to deliver the capabilities that we need.

"It does have the result of a higher level of spending on defence.

"We do live in more challenging times and it certainly will reach that 2 per cent of GDP level."

Labor's defence spokesman David Feeney said the Opposition would support increasing spending, as long as it was fiscally responsible.

"The challenge has always been for the Defence White Paper to set out that trajectory, and to do it in a way that it can become a bipartisan commitment," he said.

"The 2 per cent has its origins in Labor Party policy and it's something we'll support so long as it can be set out in a way that is real and tangible."

Regional neighbours are expected to closely examine the language the Australian Government uses in references to the territorial dispute in the South China Sea.

Australia's last Defence White Paper was released by Julia Gillard in 2013, and Mr Abbott promised to update the document within 18 months of being elected.

Topics: defence-industry, defence-forces, federal-government, turnbull-malcolm, abbott-tony, australia

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