Australia Plans For 'More Dangerous World' With £151 Billion Defence Boost

Australia’s prime minister has announced 270 billion Australian dollars (£151.2 billion) in additional defence spending over the next decade.

Scott Morrison warned the country will face a "more dangerous world" post-pandemic and will bolster its shores with long-range missiles and offensive cyber capabilities.

It comes after Australia announced last month it has been increasingly targeted by cyber attacks from a “sophisticated state-based cyber actor”.

As part of the defence boost announced on Wednesday, the country said it will invest in advanced naval strike capabilities, including long-range anti-ship and land strike weapons.

It also said it will buy long-range rocket artillery and missile systems to give its army an operational strike capability.

“Even as we stare down the COVID pandemic at home, we need to also prepare for a post-COVID world that is poorer, that is more dangerous and that is more disorderly,” Mr Morrison said.

The country also plans to develop and test high-speed, long-range strike weapons, including hypersonic weapons.

Mr Morrison also announced a renewed focus on Australia’s immediate region, although its military would be open to joining US-led coalitions in campaigns that were in the national interest.

He said the US is Australia's most important security partner and remains “the foundation" of its defence policy.

Mr Morrison warned Australia has not seen such economic and strategic uncertainty in the region since the Second World War, for reasons including "fractious at best" US-China relations.

He added tensions were rising over territorial claims between India and China and in the South China Sea.

“The risk of miscalculation and even conflict is heightened,” Mr Morrison said. 

“Regional military modernisation is at an unprecedented rate.”

Rory Medcalf, head of the Australian National University’s National Security College, said Australia is “getting serious about deterrence and the prospect of armed conflict in the Indo-Pacific region.”

“It was only a matter of time before the Australian government made a choice about the kind of defence force that we’re going to have in the 21st century with the rapid deterioration in the strategic environment in recent years,” Mr Medcalf said.

“The government has accepted that the Australian military needs to be able to attempt to deter armed conflict through its capabilities and to be able to fight in our region if we have to.”

Cover image: Combat Controllers from No. 4 Squadron based at RAAF Base Williamtown on exercise in Australian (Picture: Australian Department of Defence).