There'll be no defence peace dividend, even as operations in Afghanistan wind down and the defence force enters a period of reduced activity, Defence Minister David Johnston says.
Senator Johnston says operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, East Timor and the Solomons have vastly improved Australian Defence Force (ADF) capabilities and interoperability with US allies has never been better.
But defence needs to ensure hard won operational lessons were learnt and applied in future operations and in planning, especially in counter-insurgency, he said.
"But we cannot afford to be complacent. The world remains an uncertain place," he told an Australian Strategic Policy Institute dinner in Canberra.
More than ever, Australia needed a defence force that was properly resourced and equipped for a range of missions, from humanitarian assistance to peacekeeping to counterinsurgency to high-end war fighting.
"It follows that this is not a time to harvest a peace dividend or to assume that Defence can be lowered as one of our national priorities," he said.
A peace dividend is a term for funds that become available in a country's budget when it is at peace.
Senator Johnston said defence would be a priority for the coalition, which aims to lift defence funding to two per cent of gross domestic product in the coming decade.
"To reach that two per cent figure, we need to start growing the defence budget as soon as broader economic circumstances permit. This will be a significant challenge," he said.
Senator Johnston said the government was committed to reforming defence.
"That does mean trimming the bureaucracy but more importantly this process will seek to achieve a more streamlined decision-making process," he said.
