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| HMAS Tobruk & an LCM8 during HA/DR operations |
By Zachary Keck
Newly released budget documents show sizable increases in Australia’s defense spending in the coming years.
Australia’s defense spending will rise by over 6 percent in real terms in the coming year.
Earlier this week, the new Australian government released its first federal budget for FY 2014-2015. The defense budget indicated that the government is trying to fulfill its pledge to boost defense spending to 2 percent of GDP over the next ten years.
As reported by Jane’s, “Australia’s defense spending for the 2014-15 financial year will rise by AUD2.3 billion (USD2.14 billion) to AUD29.3 billion, a real increase of 6.1%.” Jane’s also noted that this would constitute a .1 percent increase in defense spending as a percentage of GDP, from 1.7 percent to 1.8 percent. However, these real spending increases will stagnate over the next two years before rising again starting in FY 2017-2018.
Read the full story at The Diplomat