Page 23 - Australian Defence Magazine July-August 2021

JULY-AUGUST 2021 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
DEFENCE BUSINESS 23
DEFENCE BUDGET 2021: BUILDING AT HOME
The headline figure for this year is $44.62 billion in funding for Defence and the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) this year, a 15 per cent jump from last year’s $38.7 billion. This puts Defence spending as a percentage of GDP at 2.1 per cent.
KATHERINE ZIESING | CANBERRA
IF THE MINISTERIAL release attached to the Budget is to be taken as gospel, defence is a sure bet during a COVID chal- lenged world. The political narrative this year is firmly centred around delivering on the $270 billion investment announced last year by the Prime Minister under the Force Structure Re- view (FSR) and Defence Strategic Update (DSU).
POLITICAL PERSPECTIVE
“In 2020, the Australian Government delivered on its com- mitment to grow the Defence budget to two per cent of GDP,” Minister for Defence Peter Dutton and Minister for Defence Industry Melissa Price said in a joint statement. “The 10-year funding model... builds on this by providing Defence with a total funding of $575 billion over the de-
cade to 2029-30. This includes $270 billion investment in the capability and potency of our Defence force.”
Given that the government announced in April that the remaining 80 personnel left in Afghanistan are being drawn down, the ADF is looking closer to home in its Bud- get investments.
Much of the funding profile is locked into long term pro- grams but there is some new money in the works.
A $59.2 million investment in Operation RESOLUTE to support the whole-of-government effort in protecting
ABOVE: New sustainment contracts have been announced since the last Budget – scan the QR code for full coverage.
DEFENCE