DSR
The Albanese Government’s response to the Defence Strategic Review (DSR) has clearly decided on how the next war will be fought. To quote General H. R. McMaster, “we have a perfect record of predicting future war and that record is zero percent” and this Government arrogantly believes that they can beat these odds.
Today's announcement, made just a day before ANZAC day, is a heartless blow to the people serving in Australia's Army. It seems that in exchange for some flashy rockets, the Government is willing to put the lives of our soldiers at risk.
Rather than hedge on acquiring a variety of capabilities, the Government has made a lopsided decision to invest in capability that will only address a narrow set of circumstances.
“The Albanese Government has failed to provide the public with an answer as to what the narrow type of war scenario they are investing in, will look like and, who it will be against,” said Senator Van. “To take such a risky, ill-advised step to hollow out Australia’s defence is unheard of and the public deserves to understand why”.
The Government has taken a hypocritical stance in their response to the DSR by saying they have learnt the lessons from Ukraine by acquiring HIMARS.. HIMARS is a short-range artillery and even if we acquired the Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) in the future we still won’t have the range to interdict enemy ships in contested Sea Lanes of Communication (SLOCS) from Australian territory.
The war in Ukraine has shown us that we must be prepared for any situation. This means we must be able to protect our sea lines of communications and other vulnerable but geostrategic areas in the region. Under Albanese’s leadership this would make this impossible.
This means we will have to land troops in parts of the regions to deploy the HIMARS and other long range strike capabilities. World War II taught us the lessons from not protecting our troops deployed across the region.
“Defences Minister Marles and Prime Minister Albanese have fundamentally failed to learn the correct lessons from the war in Ukraine – likely due to them failing to reopen the embassy, despite all our partners and allies doing so,” said Senator Van.
The Albanese Government is hanging our soldiers out to dry. The decision to ‘modernise’ Army by optimising it for amphibious operations but cutting the equipment and vehicles from Army needed to protect them once they disembark will undoubtably cost Australian lives if we go to war.
“Make no mistake this decision is by far the worst defence decision made in the last 50 years” said Senator Van. “The cut to Land 400 Phase 3B will mean approx. 2,000 soldiers won’t be protected mounted under armour.”
SME’s have now waited 12 months without any direction on this project and now the Government has announced that they are again kicking the can down the road by conducting another review into Army’s fleet to report back later this year. Essential to Australian sovereignty is having a sovereign defence industry made up by a healthy ecosystem of SMEs contributing to our local industry. By creating such an uncertain and poor environment for Defence SME’s the Albanese government is gutting local industry.
The Albanese Government’s weak attempt to spread misinformation on previous investment decisions by the coalition is simply false. To quote Marcus Hellyer's ASPI Cost of Defence 2022-23 on the March 2022 Coalition Budget: "Spending grew substantially under the coalition government. In its first year in office in 2013–14, Defence spending was $26.1 billion. In the recent 2022–23 Budget it’s $48.6 billion. That’s nominal growth of 86%. In real terms it’s still a very hefty 55%.
Senator Van is available for comment and interviewing.
Senator Van is a vocal advocate for improving relationships with our neighbours in the Indo-Pacific region. He has a Master of International Relations degree from Monash University and is currently pursuing a Master of Strategy and Security degree at Australian Defence Force Academy (UNSW).
Additionally, he serves as a member of the Defence Subcommittee and the Deputy Chair the Subcommittee on Foreign Affairs and Aid of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade
ENDS
