The federal Coalition says it would spend $3bn for 28 fighter jets to add a fourth squadron to the country’s F-35 fleet – but it won’t reveal where the money is coming from.
The election pledge means Australia would end up with 100 of the F-35s if the Coalition wins the upcoming poll.
The opposition home affairs spokesperson, James Paterson, wouldn’t reveal on Sunday whether the $3bn would be additional money or redirected from elsewhere in the Defence budget.
“I’m not going to announce our costings on your program today, nor am I going to announce our defence policy on your program,” Paterson told ABC TV’s Insiders. “This is the first commitment. You will have more to hear from us.”
Paterson added: “We’ll be outlining all of our expenses in the campaign as normal, all of our costings, at the normal time, in the normal way. This is a downpayment on our commitment to increased and faster defence spending.”
The Albanese government in 2024 moved to delay the acquisition of extra F-35 jets under the Joint Strike Fighter program following the release of a wider defence strategy.
The $3bn savings would go towards prioritising funding for Aukus and the acquisition of long-range strike, targeting and autonomous systems, Labor suggested at the time.
Jennifer Parker, an expert associate at the Australian National University’s National Security College, said while it would be “ideal” to have another squadron of F-35s, it shouldn’t be a priority for the ADF.
“We need to step away from these flashy announcements about fighter jets and warships and have a greater look at … the overall pinch points for Defence that we can address quickly,” Parker said on Sunday.
She questioned whether the opposition would be able to deliver its commitment within five years as pledged.
“It’s not clear we could get on the F-35 production line in any meaningful timeframe.
“I would say there are higher priorities in the next five years including space-based communications, integrated air missile defence, replenishment for the navy [and] the list goes on.”
after newsletter promotion
The Coalition’s defence spokesperson, Andrew Hastie, told Sky News on Sunday that Labor had cut, delayed or reprioritised more than $80bn of defence spending and the Coalition was looking to increase funding. He said the F-35 announcement was a “downpayment”.
“Aukus is a massive, multigenerational endeavour … and if we don’t account for the cost, structural pressure that that will put on our defence budget, well, other capabilities will be cannibalised – and Labor have not accounted for it.”
Last year the government said it would commit an extra $50.3bn for Defence over the next decade, even after taking into account cuts such as the $3bn for the fighter jets.
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, said on Sunday the opposition needed to provide details on how it would pay for the additional F-35 squadron.
“I’ve seen the headlines but I haven’t seen the detail,” he told Sky News.
“This is the same guy [Peter Dutton] who hasn’t signed up to the $50bn in extra investment that we have found in a responsible budget to invest in our capability in defence. I don’t think he’s thought through what it means for the personnel part of the story, the broader costs of this, beyond the planes themselves.”
Article by:Source: Krishani Dhanji
