Anthony Albanese insists Australia is contributing its fair share on defence spending as the Trump administration pressures allies to ramp up funding.
Ahead of a trip to New York that may result in the prime minister meeting with US President Donald Trump, the federal government has unveiled a $12 billion funding pledge to build the Henderson Defence Precinct in Perth.
“Australia has always pulled our weight,” Mr Albanese said on Sunday.
“We pay our way, and we contribute to our alliance each and every day.”
The “down payment” on the defence hub will help prepare Australia for its future nuclear-powered submarines as the Trump administration reviews the trilateral AUKUS deal and puts pressure on its allies to boost defence spending.
Defence Minister Richard Marles would not comment directly on reports US Secretary of State Marco Rubio would honour the pact between the US, the UK and Australia, but was confident the Trump administration viewed the deal favourably.
“In all the conversations that I’ve had, there has been an enormous sense of positivity about the role that AUKUS can play for the United States,” he told the ABC.
Australia’s defence spending is roughly two per cent of gross domestic product, but the US is pushing the nation to bump it up to 3.5 per cent.
Mr Marles said the government was focused on the “dollar amount” rather than the “range of different measures” for accounting for spending as a percentage of GDP.
“Today is a $12 billion commitment of new money over the decade,” he told reporters in Perth.
“That is a significant amount of money, and it’s taking our level to almost $70 billion relative to what we inherited over three years ago.
In total, it represented the “biggest peacetime increase in Australia’s defence spending” in history.
Mr Albanese will fly to the US next week for the United Nations General Assembly, where a face-to-face meeting with President Trump may be on the agenda.
The $12 billion will amount to a down payment for Henderson, with independent planning and advice indicating it will consume about $25 billion over the decade.
The initial funding will go to kick-starting early works while more detailed planning and designs are finalised.
It will underpin the construction of ADF surface vessels, starting with Army landing craft and then the local construction phase of Australia’s future general purpose frigates.
Facilities will also be built to support surface combat vessels and docking capabilities for conventionally-armed but nuclear-powered submarines from the early 2030s.
The undertakings will clear the decks for delivery of Australia’s first Virginia-class submarine.
Opposition defence spokesperson Angus Taylor welcomed the $12 billion earmarked for the Henderson precinct but said it was overdue and far from an “early investment”.
“On the government’s timeline, this investment will not go far enough to support the rotation of US and UK submarines until late in the decade, if not longer, when threats could arise far sooner,” he said.
WA Premier Roger Cook praised the investment in his state’s economy.
“This represents over 10,000 local Western Australian jobs, both in construction and the ongoing work around continuous naval ship building here in this precinct, and is a huge opportunity for us,” he said at a press conference with federal ministers.
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