Tag Archive for: "defence economics"
Cost of Defence 2015 launched

On the morning after the Federal Budget I posted a version of the above graph along with some basic numbers describing what’s going on. Today, my final analysis of the budget is launched. Not much …

Budget 2015: a good one for Defence

At first glance, the 2015 Budget was a very good one for Defence. Funding will grow to $32.1 billion next financial year, representing a 4.2% real year-on-year increase. And the much-heralded 2% of GDP target finally …

Naval deconstruction: RAND’s shipbuilding report

Commissioned in September 2014 under a $2.5 million contract, the RAND report Australian’s Naval Shipbuilding Enterprise: Preparing for the 21st Century was released on 16 April 2015. The government says it’s developing an ‘enterprise-level Naval Shipbuilding …

The push for a submarine tender

The government doesn’t seem to understand the words it has been saying on submarines. It has committed to a ‘competitive evaluation process’ for the future submarine project—a term not used in defence circles—and some seem …

Whither 2%?

A lot has happened since September 2013 when Tony Abbott promised to boost defence spending to 2% of GDP ‘within a decade’. The economic outlook has deteriorated, government revenues have fallen, and the Senate—like many …