OK, I will play.
Comparing New Zealand and Australian Defence establishments:
New Zealand is carrying a large amont of federal debt. New Zealand's Defence force is living within its' means; getting best value out of refurbishing aircraft (Sea Sprite, and P-3 Orion to name only two). This Defence establishment does not have a spend-thrift mind-set.
Australia carries a large amount of federal debt. The Defence force is living beyond its' means with hope of many big-ticket platforms as if this were the Howard years. Even then when there were surplus budgets, the wish-list was still hard to believe. Today, that wish list is feeble-minded fantasy. Another anchor around the neck of the Australian tax payer are the brigades of rent-seekers that live in an alternate reality: $36B plus for a Collins sub replacement. $16B plus for the Joint Strike Failure. $10B plus for Air Warfare Destroyers. $3B plus for Amphibious flat-tops. A 5th column of an enemy-by-any-other-name called the Defence Material Organisation. 190 flag ranks. Too many SES.
Yes, go ahead. Compare the two Defence establishments.
9 comments:
But a saviour is coming!!
https://defencecareers.nga.net.au/publicfiles/defencecareers/jobs/efebfe52-611b-426c-ae79-a1800097891c/Information%20Pack%20(PDF%20Version).pdf
Eric, come now. In world terms Australia does not have a large Federal debt. We do have enormous Private debt (thanks to John Howard).
Anonymous; the Commonwealth is also liable for State debt according to the Australian Constitution and who knows the full extent of any unfunded Federal and State liabilities, which must also be embraced in any honest analysis of national financial health.
Both of the major political parties seem to be mindlessly pursuing defence planning along lines of the unaffordable mythical Force 2030 vision initiated by John Howard. This of course focuses primarily on support of mostly foreign-parented defence industry, not unlike uneconomic support of the Australian car manufacturing industry.
Multiple capabilities gaps created since the Howard era would not have emerged had proven platforms in service been progressively optimised, where cost-effective, and the savings in capital outlay and operating costs would have been huge.
Notice how both parties are still trumpeting increasing defence spending to 2 about percent of GDP, when affordable. That is just continuing economic deception as GDP does not reflect national spending capacity. Defence budgeting must be related to revenue as that is what the nation can afford to spend.
Eric, compare the sizes of the Australian and NZ economies:
NZ GDP: $159.71 Billion US dollars at current prices - 2011 (Source: World Bank)
AUST GDP $1.38 Trillion US dollars at current prices - 2011 (Source: World Bank)
John Howard left in 2007 in case you have not noticed.
Yes and everything has been a fiscal disaster since then due to a cabal of dirty Reds.
Anonymous; consider this bit from Wiki: "...Vertical fiscal imbalance in Australia is largely the product of the Commonwealth's takeover of income taxes in World War II and the High Court of Australia's striking down of many state taxes because they were classified as excises, which are reserved for the Commonwealth according to the Australia Constitution.' The Federal Government heads the Loan Council and is also liable for State debts.
Comparing overall Federal and State debts with Canberra controlled revenue would give a clearer picture of just what percentage is affordable for defence outlay, considering all competing national economic imperatives.
Both major political parties have been complicit in the unaffordable charade since about Year 2000 that has seriously weakened Australia's military capacity and preparedness through not progressively optimising proven assets in service to capitalise on initial taxpayer investment.
Political alignments aside, it is proper in my view to attribute accountability for flawed decisions to put pressure on those in Canberra who are ignoring economic reality. They seem to now be stepping up lobbying strategy to ensure their big ticket aspirations come to fruition.
"Eric Palmer said...
Yes and everything has been a fiscal disaster since then due to a cabal of dirty Reds."
Have you heard of a little event called the Global Financial Crisis Eric??? Was this somehow the fault of that "cabal of dirty Reds."??? No, ithe underlying causes behind it happened during the 'watch' of the 'other side'....or is that something that you just choose to conveniently forget?
Yeah and yet spending more tax dollars has not helped. Also note that the reds went after the mining industry, started a carbon tax and find new ways of paying people to breed. Great fiscal thinking.
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