Anthony Albanese will flag additional investment in Australia’s military capability during a major speech in Canberra on Wednesday, while characterising the next steps in the contentious Aukus nuclear-powered submarine pact as the “single biggest leap in our defence capability in our history”.
Amid persistent speculation the prime minister will travel to the US in March to unveil next steps in Aukus, Albanese will use a speech to the National Press Club as a scene setter for the government’s response to the landmark Defence Strategic Review, undertaken by the former defence force chief Angus Houston and the former defence minister Stephen Smith.
The prime minister will confirm his intention to release an unclassified version of the defence review, along with the government’s response, before the budget in May. Before those events, Albanese will give an undertaking on Wednesday that the military will be given the resources it needs both “to defend our nation and deter potential aggressors”.
While the Aukus pact remains controversial with two former prime ministers and with neighbours in the region, including Indonesia and Malaysia, because of concern it could fuel a regional arms race at a time of escalating great power competition, Albanese will characterise the security arrangement between Australia, the US and the UK as “the future”.
The prime minister will tell the press club Aukus “further formalises the common values and the shared interest that our three nations have in preserving peace and upholding the rules and institutions that secure our region and our world” and reflects Australia’s view that “partnerships and alliances are key to our security”.
But Albanese will acknowledge that plugging capability gaps and contributing to regional stability will also require investments in sovereign defence capability, “including advanced manufacturing”, generating “new jobs, new industries and new expertise in science and technology and cyber”.
After a stark warning from the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation on Tuesday night that Australia is facing an unprecedented challenge from espionage and foreign interference, Albanese will also flag an intention to host a new cybersecurity roundtable next week.
The event will bring together representatives from industry, civil society, security agencies and the public service “to discuss the shared imperative we all have to upgrade and uplift our cybersecurity”.
Albanese will argue that Australia’s intelligence and law enforcement agencies need to be resourced to counter complex threats ranging from foreign interference and “violent extremism in all its forms”.
The prime minister will say that the shooting at Wieambilla in Queensland, where two young police officers and a neighbour were gunned down in December, constituted “a terrible reminder of the dangers of violent extremism”. That attack, he says, underscores the importance of governments “continuing to upgrade our national cooperation on gun reform”.
With opinion polls suggesting Albanese is now past post-election highs in voter approval, the prime minister will use the platform of the National Press Club on Wednesday to characterise his government’s policy agenda as seeking to provide “stability, confidence and security” at a time of increasing “volatility and complexity and uncertainty”.
Albanese will argue that pursuing greater security for Australians also encompasses policy in the economy, in energy, industry, jobs and wages, and in strengthening Medicare and aged care.
The prime minister will say that since coming to office the government has been “confronting a decade of national policy failures” – domestic problems that have been compounded by global economic and security shocks.
While battling shocks while in office is inevitable, “the measure of a government’s performance and a nation’s strength is not whether these events occur – it’s whether we are prepared [and] how effectively we respond.
“It’s what we do to protect our people and our economy from the worst of the consequences, and it’s what we learn. It’s how we adapt and reform and improve.”
The prime minister will say that Australians are sick of political short-termism, stunts and scares, and tired of governments “picking phoney fights instead of tackling real problems”.
He will say the best way to counter a political culture corrosive to democracy “is to demonstrate the capacity of government to deliver real improvement in people’s lives” and inject “a greater sense of purpose to the work of government”.
Last month Albanese pitched this year’s voice to parliament referendum as a gesture of trust in the Australian people at a time when increasing polarisation and misinformation means democracy needs to be “nourished, protected, cared for, treated with respect”.
