With the coalition now poised to win the upcoming election, it is time to look at Mr Abbott's policies regarding defence. Apart from him saying they will spend more on defence, I am unaware of any defence policies of the coalition.
Unfortunately Defence doesn't get the priority it should from the general public, even though all of us here believe and know it should, people today seem to be far more concerned about policies that relate to Health, Education, NDIS, etc, etc. Defence (apart from border security, eg, 'stopping the boats') doesn't seem to be high on people's list of 'top 10' issues.
At least Abbott has pledged to spend more on defence, well that's a good start isn't it?
Up until Abbott's announcement last weekend that Defence spending will increase to 2% of GDP within 10 years both sides of politics had said it was their 'goal' to get to 2%, a 'goal' is just a desire, so at least someone has actually said 'yes' it will be 2%, will it be delivered?, well that's another question, but at this stage it is a commitment.
Maybe Rudd has done a 'me too' since then about getting to that level of spending too, but I haven't heard it, maybe he has, I don't know.
As far as published LNP policies on defence, yes I would agree there is very little detail, which doesn't surprise me, as we know in the lead up to elections, both sides have the capacity to say 'me too' to hose down differences when one announces something new or different.
On the Liberal Party website they have said they will speed up acquisition of a Global Hawk/Triton type capability (which I think was in place before Def Min Smith announced that Triton was back on the table), there is talk of not allowing a gap in Submarine capability, etc, and the main point that I see, is that they will produce a new White Paper within 18mths.
So unless they make some major changes soon after coming to Government (assuming they win) we may not see any significant shift in direction till the new White Paper, which I'd assume would be due late 2014 or early 2015.
And talking of White Papers, when Rudd produced the ambitious 2009 WP, (including 12 new Subs, 8 new Frigates, 20 OCV, etc) for a non-Labor voter, I was impressed, but did I believe for one minute that all would be delivered? No I didn't.
And by the time we get to the 'less ambitious' 2013 WP, I was less impressed. We have had cuts in Defence spending, the 20 OCV's have been deferred to the 'never never' sometime into the future, the possibility of a 4th AWD was killed off, the 8 Future Frigates are now just referred to as 'Future Frigates', no mention of '8' anymore, in fact earlier this year at a press conference with the UK Def Min, our Def Min Smith when asked a question by the UK Def Min said something along the lines of 'six, half a dozen' when referring to possible participation with the UK on the Type 26, in other words a
25% reduction in the Future Frigate fleet.
Yes the current Government is very very good at making big bold announcements of things that it plans to happen way into the future, the delivery on the other hand is very very questionable, in my opinion at least.
And last but not least, what has happened to the 2013 DCP? Is it still sitting on the Def Min's desk collecting dust? Has it been put in the bin?
We've had the new White Paper back in early May, we've had the Budget, we've had the updated Economic Statement which made some adjustments to Defence spending over the forward period of the Budget, but no new DCP, where is it?
Yes the Government is now in 'caretaker' mode with the Election only 10 days away, but why wasn't the DCP released prior to the election announcement? Or are they leaving it to the Libs to deal with it if they come to Government?
Not that I think the Lib's are the 'be all and end all' when it comes to delivering for Defence, but I'm certainly less than impressed with this current mob!
Anyway, just my personal observations and opinion, other's may no doubt disagree.
