Introduction

In the May 06 budget the military budget went to the third most expensive part of the Government’s budget.  Australia now spends $17.9 billion on the military, which now surpasses the education budget at $16.3 billion by $1.6 billion!  The May budget guaranteed to have a 3% rise in military spending until 2016 which means an increase of 10 billion over the next ten years.

Education in Australia is provided for 3 million students, hundreds of thousands of teachers and schools, universities and other educational establishments.  The military have less than 40,000 personnel and Australia has no external threats yet they attract this extraordinary amount of spending well in excess of education spending. 

Why is the Australian Government spending so much on militarism when we have a skill shortage? 

Australia’s spending is skewed by the Australian-US military alliance, which requires Australia to be a junior partner in US aggression against states such as Iraq, and Afghanistan.  The range of countries that we may be called on to assist the US to attack would be from small-disorganised countries to China.  In order to participate in such madness the Government has to buy exorbitant military equipment, which does NOT suit our defence needs.  This level of spending will not Australia safer but poorer.

Australia has some colonial ambitions in the local region and sees places such as East Timor and the Solomons as its area.  Australia plans to have local countries firmly in the grip of Australian business so it will act like a ‘mini’ US in the South Pacific.

The Big Ticket Items

The big ticket items which the Government is spending our hard won resources on are:
Joint Strike Aircraft $15 billion
Air Warfare Destroyers and amphibious ships  $6 billion
Purchase of huge C-17 transport planes .  $2.6 billion 
This is more than the Government has allocated for vocational education over this year.

Tanks that are too heavy for our needs and now we have had to buy huge planes to transport them.  $550 mil

As well a significant increase in personnel which will bring the force up to a level of 30,000 army personnel and increases in the other sections of the Australian Defence Force.

The War Budget for Iraq and Afghanistan

The budget papers show the cost of the Iraq deployment, forecast to the end of the 2008-09 financial year, will have blown out to $1.6 billion.

The Government has set aside funding of $623 million over three years for its continuing operations. This includes nearly $400 million for operations in Iraq, $218 million for Afghanistan and $12 million for protecting the border against "unauthorised arrivals".

General Comments

Australia does not maintain open books on just what is spent on the military so these figures are what is publicly stated in the budget papers.  However, there are many millions hidden in other parts of the budget such as aid, technology and other departments.  As well there are commitments for equipment purchases which are in place now and do not appear in the budget.  We speculate that the real amount spent on the military exceeds $21 billion at a rate of about $60 million a day.

The Anti-Bases Campaign maintains that military spending in Australia should be reduced by 10% per year for over 10 years and the ‘peace dividend’ saved be directed to socially useful needs.  We campaign for increased spending on education, welfare health and aid to nearby countries.

A recent correspondent to the Sydney Morning Herald put it this way under the heading of “Australia should put the gun back in its holster”. (Aug 26 2006)

How shocking it is to see how willingly Australia's leaders turn to militarism to try to woo the electorate ("PM sounds the call for troops", August 25). How sad it is to see Australia turning into an imperialist power that can only find solace through war and mayhem.

To say that the only way failing nations can be saved is to send in fully armed troops with the intention of slaughtering all who dare to defy the ways of the West is obscene, to say the least.

Wouldn't it make far more sense to spend those billions of dollars targeted for militarist expansion on economic assistance to the states that are experiencing difficulties which may lead to their failure?