The next budget is coming out.
The bloated defence budget--going on toward $27B per year--does need a haircut.
Not because of the moronic spend-thrift nature of the labor government since they took power but because of the moronic spend-thrift nature of the entrenched defence bureaucracy (EDB).
The EDB except maybe for the Army, has gotten just about everything wrong.
-Giving away air-refueling tankers before an operational replacement exists. That is not only dumb but dangerous behaviour.
-Wishing that Australia can have new and high-risk Collins-class sub replacements at tens-of-billions of dollars, even though the idea is barking-mad.
-Giving away long-range strike of the F-111 on a lie.
-Buying the Super-Hornet on a lie.
-Spending money to upgrade half of the Super Hornets with obsolete jamming gear.
-The endless propaganda about needing the defective and overly expensive F-35.
-Not being able to do basic corrosion control on existing ships.
-Doing impulse buys of military hardware near the end of a budget year because that money can't be spent on existing faulty and delayed programs on the project-of-concern list.
-Having a gold-plated, and ineffective helicopter force-structure roadmap.
-Wanting to buy Air Warfare Destroyers and large amphibious flat-tops that are expensive, hard to find crew for and can't be protected because of a faulty air power and submarine roadmap.
-Fat on flag-ranks, senior executives, and civilian personnel. That is a lot of office furniture (executive style and otherwise).
-Being hostile to home industry.
-Black-listing contractors. This costs the nation in loss of valuable strategic and technical consultation.
-And a few other things.
Yes...poor Defence.
And Mr. Babbage implies that now the 2009 White Paper has "failed". But it was "failed" as soon as it was released.
3 comments:
You notice that there are never any cuts to the bloated public service, only equipment, stores, war stocks and front line personnel.
I wonder why?
not being able to plan a caribou replacement before scrapping them
Only had 40years
I'll be happier when Defence actually means something like defending our liberties and promoting common ownership of the wealth. That said, cutting Defence is better than cutting Medicare, which the Coalition was doing by stealth in their time running the capitalist State.
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