Once again the Morrison Government is silently cutting critical funding from our ADF, with the revelations today that $6.1 billion has been cut from Defence’s capital budget.
After announcing it would spend $62 billion as part of the 2016 Defence White Paper, there are reports today that the Morrison Government has cut 10 per cent from Defence’s capital investment program over the five years from 2016-17.
Analysis of Defence’s Budget Statements show that in every year since 2016-17, the Government has stealthily revised down these estimates – and then spent even less on Defence capital investment than the downwardly-revised estimates.
This means a $6.1 billion total cut in actual investment compared to the amount originally budgeted over the five years to 2020-21.
Raiding Defence’s budget is becoming symptomatic of the Morrison Government, after reports last month confirmed the $200 billion Integrated Investment Program – a program to deliver critical defence capabilities – was being used to pay for a blow out in operational costs such as ICT and staff wages.
Today’s revelations show that our ADF will see $6 billion less in defence capabilities – this is critical equipment and materiel and it represents fewer opportunities for Australia’s defence industry.
The Morrison Government is failing to deliver on Defence projects and the ADF is suffering as a result.
The Defence Minister needs to front up and explain this significant cut.