The Mandarin-speaking panda hugger Rudd (aka Lu Kewen) is doing some serious smoke and mirrors. How so? This “plan” comes without defense spending increases. His predecessor John Howard increased spending 3% annually like clockwork for a decade.
I would agree. The Aussies are in for a turbulent ride in the next decade due to the emergence of China and India. A dozen Destroyers and a dozen non-nuclear Submarines is a joke. The country is an island for crying out loud. They should have a wooden wall mentality that would require more than what is being proposed. Plus as good as the F-35 appears to be, it is not a long range Interceptor. The new revamped F-15 would be better, leaving the F/A-35 for internal invasion repealing duty. Also cutting the small Aircraft Carriers is a mistake as well. Especially if they are serious about foreign deployments.
Also for a country with a small population compared to it’s neighbors, they really should be implementing a mandatory two year service for all 18 year old males. After that an eight year mandatory active reserve, followed by a twelve year inactive reserve. That is the only way they will have enough trained manpower if they had to go to war with either China, India, or Indonesia.
Plus they need tight military alliances outside of the US.