Australians Unsafe Thanks to Labor’s Half-Baked Naval Plan

Despite a nearly year-long wait, the Albanese Labor Government’s announcement Surface Fleet Review has been met with derision and concern by underwhelmed defence stakeholders, after nearly 18 months of budget blow-outs, project delays, and conflict between Labor’s beleaguered Defence ministers and the Australian Defence Force (ADF).

Sunshine Coast MP, Andrew Wallace, leads the Coalition as the Deputy Chair of the Parliament’s powerful intelligence and security committee, and its defence committee, which he chaired under the previous Coalition Government. He lamented the state of Australia’s defence readiness, pointing out that stakeholders, suppliers, and defence partners have lost faith in the Federal Labor Government’s ability to keep its word and to deliver.

“After nearly two years of crippling indecision and over 300 days since the Defence Strategic Review, Labor’s part-time Defence Minister has retreated on his war with the ADF to hold a fancy press conference,” Mr Wallace said.

“Australia is the world’s largest island nation, facing the greatest geopolitical pressures since World War II. Yet Labor have run the Royal Australian Navy aground for far too long.” Mr Wallace added.

“The cost of manufacturing is up. Vocational training is down. Defence recruitment is frozen and cannot even keep up with those Members leaving let alone growing our already too small Defence Force. Security checks have stalled, industry is in a holding pattern, and the confidence of allies, Members of the ADF and everyday Australians is at an all-time low,” Mr Wallace continued.

“This announcement is too little, too late. The last-minute, half-baked platitudes from Labor’s disengaged defence ministers show that this Labor Government just don’t take defence seriously, and that we can’t trust Labor to keep Australians safe.”

The previous Coalition Government invested a record $270 billion in national defence, with a bold and comprehensive plan to build, procure and upgrade vessels, vehicles, weaponry, and defence assets and to back Australian industry partners, including small and family businesses across regional Australia. This included the launch of AUKUS – a multi-faceted defence, security and industry arrangement to protect Australians and secure their future.

This record investment came after the Rudd and Gillard Labor Government slashed $18 billion from defence to its lowest level since 1938 – a mistake the Albanese Government seems intent on repeating.