The current debate on Defence funding, sparked by our 29 May report The Cost of Defence: ASPI Defence budget brief 2025–2026, and a subsequent US request for Australia to spend more, has swung between a …
Australia’s strategic risk has increased significantly, and the government needs to increase its defence spending to match it. Defence spending is the premium for Australia’s defence insurance policy—it underwrites Australia’s protection from external threats, with …
The Australian government’s dispute with the United States over the level of defence spending has distracted our media and public from the core issue. The main driver of increased defence spending should not be requests …
On 29 May, ASPI released its annual defence budget briefing, The Cost of Defence. Introducing the report, ASPI executive director Justin Bassi reflected on its aim of ‘strengthening Australia’s long-term security, prosperity and sovereignty’ and its …
ASPI’s Cost of Defence 2025–26, published yesterday, revealed that Australia risked trailing its peers in the region, Five Eyes and Europe unless the government promptly found additional money for defence. It acknowledged that the government …