Defence funding in MYEFO

30/11/11

The Gillard Government has systematically ripped so much money out of Defence that it is now an issue of national security, Shadow Defence Minister David Johnston warned today.

“This Government has never even been close to getting its economic forecasts right and there is a fictional cloud hanging over the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO) released yesterday,” Senator Johnston said.

Senator Johnston said every time the Labor Government gets itself into financial dysfunction it imposes another new tax or accounting smoke-and-mirrors to try and dig itself out and yesterday’s document proved nothing has changed.

“Defence already handed back $1 billion last year to treasury and in the forward estimates we are looking at another $4 billion over four years – this is coming a time where Defence is asked to do much more through the White Paper wish list with much less,” Senator Johnston said.

“The cost of Defence in Australia is going to get more expensive with the Government delaying projects and acquisitions – masquerading as savings - just to give the Government their notional surplus next year,” Senator Johnston said.

“In only four years Labor has turned $70 billion in the bank into $136 billion in debt, so my faith in them properly running and funding such an important portfolio like Defence is quickly evaporating.”

Senator Johnston said his home State of WA was getting fed up with paying for Labor’s economic vandalism because along with Queensland the two mining States were becoming the principal underwriters for Labor’s big taxing big spending policies.