Overall defence funding, 2023–24 Consolidated defence funding (including the Australian Signals Directorate) Funding $52.6 billion Growth on prior year 7% Real growth on previous year 1% Department of Defence government funding Funding $50.1 billion Funding …
Dominating the debate on Australia’s defence-capability development is a long list of expensive new weapons to buy. But there are two broader issues to consider: the likely cost of development substantially exceeding the Defence Department’s …
Identifying the industrial capabilities needed in Australia for military–strategic purposes and rectifying supply problems may seem mundane when regional tensions are rising and major decisions on the Australian Defence Force’s force structure hang in the …
Graeme Dobell’s brief history of ASPI’s Cost of Defence series over two decades reveals a fascinating tussle between Australia’s military–industrial complex and economic reality. That tussle is arguably more intense than ever, reflected in recent …
In early August, the Finance Department issued a revised set of guidelines for Australia’s federal departments and agencies to apply when assessing the economic benefit of procuring high-value goods and services. Given the intense controversy …
As the Australian government’s finances come under increasing pressure from the effects of Covid-19, so too might the scope for some forms of Defence investment in new capital equipment. That could pose difficult challenges for …
‘I’m also very confident in terms of the methodologies that have been developed and refined over the course of many of these projects and I’m very confident in the fidelity of the data that we …
At the November 2019 supplementary Senate estimates hearing for the Department of Defence, much was made of the number of jobs created among Australia-based companies through their participation in the joint strike fighter (JSF) global …
In response to Australia’s increasingly uncertain strategic outlook, there are now calls to boost defence spending well beyond the current target of 2% of GDP in what’s assumed to be a steadily growing economy. Taxpayer …
After almost four years in gestation, a Defence Industrial Capability Plan has emerged. Like the recently released Defence Export Strategy, the industrial capability plan is rich in aspirational targets and administrative detail. Less obvious are …
Having identified the key concepts behind estimating the economic impact of defence industry and the capital equipment projects that support it, I want to illustrate how those concepts play out in practice, with a focus …
A notable feature of recent debate about investing in Defence capital equipment projects has been the differing views of stakeholders on how that investment affects the economy—for example here, here, here and here. So, let’s …