New Lowy Institute Analysis says Australian Government must restore focus and funding to defence

Fixing Australia’s incredible defence policy by James Brown and Rory Medcalf, warns that Australia’s defence capacities remain underfunded and this will have serious consequences for both the nation’s strategic edge in the Indo-Pacific and the US alliance.
 
'Australia's military edge in its neighbourhood is slipping and the new Abbott government faces tough decisions in defence policy’, said Lowy Institute Military Fellow and report co-author James Brown.
 
‘It must either increase funding to pay for a modernised military or consider drastic cuts to defence capability’ he said.
 
Despite the best bipartisan intentions to the contrary, defence capacities remain seriously underfunded.   
 
Lowy Institute International Security Program Director and report co-author, Rory Medcalf, said: ‘There is a clear disconnect between Australia's expansive strategic interests in an increasingly complex environment, and the low political priority that has been attached to defence policy and funding. The country's political leaders need to level with the public about the defence challenges and choices ahead.'
 
Brown and Medcalf argue that the government needs to start restoring defence spending soon. Failing that, they say the government will need to consider such controversial and risky cuts as temporarily freezing the salaries of civilian and military staff, reducing the Army's planned fleet of armoured vehicles, reducing fighter aircraft and flying hours, building fewer future submarines, and shrinking the Defence Materiel Organisation (DMO).
 
The Analysis recommends that the government's planned defence white paper needs to be a first–principles review that critically assesses the balanced defence force structure which has essentially remained unchanged for the past 60 years. It also advocates that the Abbott government take the initiative in shaping the trajectory of the US alliance.