Australia to raise defense spending to 3% of GDP by 2033

PHOTO CAPTION: Illustrative file photo — Australian Army snipers are seen during the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) joint training exercise, July 26, 2022. (Photo by Royal Australian Air Force Corporal John Solomon via U.S. Defense Visual Information Distribution Service (DVIDS))

By Christine Chen (Reuters)

SYDNEY  -  Australia on Wednesday said it would raise defence spending to 3% of gross domestic product by 2033 from about 2% currently, in response to the most "complex and threatening" circumstances since World War Two.

The expansion would be achieved through an additional A$14 billion ($10 billion) in expenditure over four years and A$53 billion over the next decade, the government said.

Australia has been looking to develop its defence capabilities amid concerns over rising global geopolitical tensions and China's tussle with the U.S. for influence in the Indo-Pacific. 

The Trump administration in the U.S. has called on Canberra to lift defence spending to 3.5% of GDP.

Australia's centre-left Labor government will outline the spending in the Integrated Investment Program due to be released on Thursday, with the biennial National Defence Strategy.

"Australia faces its most complex and threatening strategic circumstances since the end of World War Two," Defence Minister Richard Marles is expected to say in a speech in Canberra on Thursday to launch the latest strategy.  

"International norms that once constrained the use of force and military coercion continue to erode."

"The result is that we are now seeing the biggest peacetime increase in defence spending in our nation's history."

Australia's defence spending currently sits at around 2% of GDP.

The government has already committed an additional A$50 billion in spending over the next decade to reach 2.33% in 2033-34. 

Taken together, it means Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's government has committed an additional A$117 billion in spending over the next decade.

The government said the money would be spent on "capabilities that increase the ADF's (Australian Defence Force) ability to deter and respond to current and emerging threats, while also investing in the longer term to build a more self-reliant ADF."

Australia will pay for the expanded expenditure through bigger defence appropriations and accessing private capital, Marles is expected to say.

($1 = 1.4000 Australian dollars)

 (Reporting by Christine Chen in Sydney; Editing by Kate Mayberry // REUTERS)