THE Rudd Government is moving to break a key pre-election promise and trim defence spending, opposition spokesman Nick Minchin warned yesterday.
A promise to maintain defence spending at an annual minimum growth rate of 3 per cent has evolved into a ceiling, Senator Minchin said.
Seizing on a speech by Kevin Rudd to the NSW annual Labor conference on Sunday, Senator Minchin accused the Prime Minister of backtracking on earlier defence spending commitments.
"Mr Rudd refused to recommit to maintain defence spending yesterday - he only referred to their 3 per cent commitment," he said.
"Labor inherited a defence budget from the Coalition that was growing at greater than 3 per cent in real terms."
Mr Rudd yesterday moved to head-off Senator Minchin's attack.Next week's budget would contain measures to end "billions of dollars in defence waste", he said, accusing the Howard government of bungling multi-billion-dollar defence programs.
"That's why we are delivering a major defence white paper later in the year, to properly prepare for Australia's 21st-century needs in a significantly changing threat environment ...
"Prior to the election, we committed to 3 per cent real increases in defence expenditure out to 2016 and in the budget we'll be honouring that commitment over the forward estimates and beyond," Mr Rudd said.
