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Letter to The Hon. Stephen Smith M.P.
Name
Address
Town/City
State	ACT NSW NT QLD SA TAS VIC WA
Postcode
	The Hon Stephen Smith MP Minister for Defence PO Box 6022 House of Representatives Parliament House Canberra, ACT 2006 Dear Minister, Reduce Military Spending Australia's military spending has grown 50.2% in the past decade, reaching $32 billion 2010-11, and guaranteed to increase 4% to 5% annually for the next twenty years. In today's Australia, there is no reason for such massive military expenditure. Both the amount we are spending and what we buying with it seem to show regard for neither our actual defence needs nor for the nation's non-military threats, such as water and food insecurity. We faced serious natural disasters this year and have been told that more are on the way due to climate change and other environmental pressures, yet our preventative and preparatory efforts to deal with disasters are inadequate. Many Australians' housing, education, health and welfare needs are not being met while our resources are wasted on exorbitant and inappropriate military spending. We ask for an immediate halt to any more increases in military spending and a serious review of our defence needs. Your government needs to reassess now before the country is inexorably entrapped in contracts for weapons systems that we simply don't need, such as the proposed fleet of 100 joint-strike fighters (at $110 million each), 12 new submarines (totalling $30 to $40 billion) and 6 air warfare destroyers (totalling $8 billion). We call on you to cut military spending and divert that money to useful resources.
Yours sincerely,
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