Abbott promises better deal for defence

25 Sep 2012, 11:09 am   -   Source: AAP
Tony Abbott will outline the defence strategy of a future coalition government on Tuesday. (AAP)

Tony Abbott will outline the defence strategy of a future coalition government on Tuesday. (AAP)

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says defence will get a better deal under a coalition government and a return to annual three per cent funding increases.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has promised a much better deal for defence that includes a return to annual three per cent budget increases, but only when affordable.

In a speech to the RSL national conference in Sydney on Tuesday, Mr Abbott noted that the Howard government had increased spending on defence by 48 per cent in real terms over 11 budgets from 1996.

Under the Rudd and Gillard governments, defence spending had fallen to its lowest proportion of gross domestic product since 1938.

Labor seemed determined to reduce Australia from a middle power to a small power, Mr Abbott said.

"All governments say they have no higher priority than national defence, but only some take this pledge seriously," he said.

Australia needed the military capacity to deter threats, project force and work with allies, the opposition leader said.

"For the coalition the bottom line is that our military forces should always be at least as capable as they were when the Howard government left office," he said.

Its aspiration as the "commonwealth's budgetary position improves" would be to restore the three per cent real growth in defence spending that marked the final seven years of the Howard government.

Mr Abbott pledged a coalition government would publish a new defence white paper within 18 months.

It would contain costed, affordable ways to meet Australia's defence and national security objectives.

As well, his government would make a decision within 18 months on the next-generation submarines to ensure there was no capability gap between retirement of the older Collins boats and the arrival of new vessels.

A coalition government also would make firm decisions about acquiring the Joint Strike Fighter within 18 months.

In line with past election promises, a coalition government also begin the process of acquiring Global Hawk unmanned aircraft to conduct surveillance of Australia's resource rich north west.

In a clear pitch for the veterans' vote, Mr Abbott promised to properly index defence superannuation in his government's first budget.

That's a measure long sought by former defence personnel but long resisted by Labor and the Howard government as unaffordable.

Mr Abbott put no price on the measure, but said if it was inadequate to lift civilian pensions by the consumer price index, it was even less fair to apply solely that index to those who had risked their lives for Australia.

"Loyalty goes both ways," he said.

"The very least we can do is pay ex-servicemen and women a retirement benefit that increases in line with the increases of ordinary pensioners."

Mr Abbott said Labor failed to honour its pre-election commitment to a fair deal for defence pensioners and had recruited its parliamentary allies to vote down coalition proposals that would hold the government to that promise.

"It's now abundantly clear that the only way to give a fair go to veterans is to change the government," he said.

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