‘Complete bunkum’: Birmingham challenges claims about ‘biggest increase’ to defence spend

Shadow Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Birmingham has called out Labor Minister Murray Watt for his claims the Albanese government has made the “biggest increase in investment” for defence as “complete bunkum”. Opposition leader Peter Dutton has made it clear the Coalition will trump Labor’s spending on defence at the next election. They plan to spend more than Labor’s projected 2.4 per cent of GDP on defence. “I heard Murray Watt making these claims about the biggest increase in investment that the country has ever seen under the Albanese government,” Mr Birmingham told Sky News Australia. “It’s just complete bunkum. “When the Abbott government was elected, Australia’s defence spending had sunk to its lowest level as a share of our economy since the 1930s – around 1.36 per cent of GDP. “It was the decision of the Abbott government, implemented by Tony, Malcolm and Scott, to restore and build that up to two per cent of GDP. “We oversaw the most significant increase in terms of Australia’s defence spending since the Second World War.”