Commentary
“Mr Speaker, I am announcing tonight a schedule to increase Australia’s defence expenditure to three percent of GDP over the next 10 years.
“This is a necessary response to the Defence Strategic Review which the Albanese government commissioned, the recommendations of which we endorsed recently. It is a realistic response to the threats to our national security. The defence of the nation is the first duty of a national government; it is a duty that this financial commitment will help to fulfil.”
These were the words that Treasurer Jim Chalmers could have said in last week’s budget, but did not….