‘Biggest shake-up in decades’ for Australian defence

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said today Australia faces the greatest strategic challenges since World War II as the government unveiled its response to the landmark defence review.

He said the Defence Strategic Review (DSR) will involve a major overhaul of the Australian Defence Force but is needed to make the nation more "self reliant".

Albanese said Australia must seek to shape the future "rather than waiting for the future to shape us".

"We confront the most challenging strategic circumstances since the Second World War both in our region and around the world.

"That's why we're investing in our capabilities and investing to our relationships to build a more secure Australia and a more stable and prosperous region."

"The recommendations of this review will underpin our work, bolstering relationships with our international partners and promoting peace, stability and prosperity in our region and our world."

"At its core, all of this is making Australia more self reliant, more prepared and more secure in the years ahead."

Speaking alongside Albanese, Defence Minister Richard Marles said Australia's current defence posture "is no longer fit for purpose".

He said the armed forces would be recast around six pillars.

"The first of those is Australia developing a nuclear-powered submarine capability and we made significant announcements about that last month.

"The second is to provide for a much longer range strike capability for our Defence Force, including through the manufacturing of munitions in Australian Defence Force to operate.

"The third is to better enable the Australian Defence Force to operate out of our northern bases.

"The fourth is to provide for a much quicker transition of new innovative technologies into the service and that is particularly with respect to pillar two of the AUKUS arrangement.

"The fifth is investing in the recruitment and the retention of our Defence Force personnel.

"And the sixth is to improve our defence cooperation with our neighbours in the region, particularly in the Pacific."

Marles also addressed the DSR would result in major cuts to projects for the army to pay for new long range air and sea weapons.

He insisted the Australian Army would be reshaped in future years.

"Ultimately, what the DSR recommends and what the Government is going to put in place, will give rise to an army with a much more focused mission, with a much more enhanced capability," he said.

Both Albanese and Marles said meeting the above priorities would mean a rise in defence spending.

"The cost of the DSR over the forward estimates will be around $19 billion," Marles said.

"Much of that is already provided for in the budget. But as a consequence of the DSR and the government's response to it, we're reprioritising $7.8 billion worth of programs to enable us to put a focus on the six priorities that I have described."

Minister for Defence Procurement Pat Conroy confirmed the government would acquire new long range weapons to increase the strike capability of the ADF.

They will include the purchase of the US-made HIMARS long-range rocket system.

"At the end of this process, we'll go from an Australian Army where the maximum range of the weapons is 40km to being able to fire missiles initially over a range of 300km," Conroy said.

"And with the acquisition of the precision strike missile, ranges in ex-sells of 500km."

Marles said cyberwarfare was becoming a new emerging theatre of operations for the armed forces.

"There are important steps that we are taking about making sure that we have the most robust cyber capability possible … the boundary between state actors and crime has begun very grey indeed.

"And so, it's a critical capability and it's one that we see as very important in terms of our future defence capabilities."

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