Many on the right complain about government spending, especially when that money is going towards anything that is helping the lower or middle class, the Liberals are the first to cut taxes for the rich by putting it on the credit card. Same goes for our bloated Military budget which was $34.7 billion (US$25.6 billion) as of this year, the Liberals are the first to say we need to cut social safety nets, to help balance the budget but on the same breath say we need to increase our military- because ISIS or something… But we will support Saudi Arabia who are in part responsible for the funding and arming of ISIS in Syria. Furthermore, Defense Minister Marise Payn wanted further increases to the bloated military budget, amounting to A$58.7 billion by 2025-26, this doesn’t quite rival America’s ridiculous military budget but in terms of our GDP is quite large.
A naval base project on Manus island costing A$2 billion has been unveiled this week, as Australia teams up with America to fight wars like we did back in the 40’s. Now that most every other country uses drones and other aeronautical machines, above the wave vessels are obsolete. Enter Defense Minister Christopher Pyne who announced a A$50 billion deal with a French contractor, to build submarines. Yes; the build Australian for Australian jobs, fiscally conservative, love everyone Christian Christopher Pyne announced that a French company will supply us with some very expensive underwater vessels meant for killing people, because that makes sense. This deal is of course separate from the military budget, for some reason, so that budget is closer to A$84 billion. There was a report that was suppressed by the Liberal party that found that Thales, the French contractors making the submarines have already price gauged us to the tune of ~A$600 million, they total cost for a previous deal costed us A$1.3 billion when with the US it would have costed us half that, so of course we trust them to give us a great deal with these submarines right?
My take
The government needs to stop funding terrorism, needs to stop going to war with countries that didn’t attack us for geopolitical reasons, or because we want to jack natural resources. War should only be used to protect a country, forget this bullshit about peace through strength, how about peace through peace. Furthermore, the government has to stop accepting campaign cash from lobbyist especially if they have a vested interested in war, companies like Thales, Boeing and Raytheon make money from death and destruction and that’s seriously fucked up.
References:
Australia to Increase Defense Budget
https://thediplomat.com/2017/05/australia-to-increase-defense-budget/
America to partner with Australia to develop naval base on Manus Island
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/nov/18/america-to-partner-with-australia-to-develop-naval-base-on-manus-island
Christopher Pyne insists Australia's $50bn submarine deal is not in trouble
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/oct/02/pyne-insists-50bn-submarine-deal-is-not-in-trouble
Coalition suppressed auditor's finding that $1.3bn Thales arms deal could have cost half with US
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/oct/22/coalition-suppressed-auditors-finding-that-13bn-thales-arms-deal-could-have-cost-half-with-us
