Australian Facts and Figures
Australia is among the top military spenders per capita. This is not something to boast about! There are alternatives – for example, well resourced public schools with better facilities and smaller classes to educate the citizens of the future; more beds in our public hospitals with more nurses with better working conditions, a sustainable environment, and much more. All this would be possible if Labor and Liberal Governments would listen to the people and cut military spending.
General Facts
- We spend $32 billion a year on the military.
- That is $87 million a day.
- That makes us the 14th biggest spender on the military in the world.
- We are 6th largest per capita spender on the military in the world.
- Australian military expenditure equals and sometimes surpasses what we spend federally on education.
- Australian military expenditure is 9 to 10 per cent of Federal Government outlays.
- Australian military expenditure is guaranteed to rise by 4 to 5 per cent each year for 20 years.
Specific Facts
- Australia has spent $10 billion on the war in Afghanistan - $1 billion a year plus an additional $1.6 billion for extra armour.
- Australia is buying 3 Aegis air warfare warships at over $2 billion each.
- Australia has recently acquired a fleet of 24 Super Hornet warplanes for $6.6 billion.
- Australia is purchasing 100 Joint Strike Fighters at a cost of over $16 billion. This aircraft involves controversial, highly complex technology and is still being developed. In late 2009, when the Government ordered its first installment (14 jets totaling $3.2 billion), less than 3 per cent of flight testing had been undertaken.
- Australia cannot staff its existing 6 Collins Class submarines but the 2009 Defence White Paper pushed for 12 new submarines (estimated to cost $30 to $40 billion).
- Australia plans to be the first country in the South East Asian region to acquire cruise missiles (said to be more than $0.5 million each). Not only will this appear threatening to our neighbours but it will put us in breach of a nuclear non-proliferation measure to which we subscribe, the 1987 Missile Technology Control Regime.