Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Minister for Defence Peter Dutton have announced $38 billion would be invested in expanding the Australian Defence Force by 30 per cent, increasing the number of personnel by 18,500 to an estimated 80,000 by 2040.
Under the plan, the ADF would command 6,000 more troops than the “critical minimum” recommended by Defence to provide “redundancy and resilience” to cover casualties in the event of an armed conflict.
This is set to represent the largest ADF force since the Vietnam War.
The plan, announced at Brisbane’s Gallipoli Barracks on Thursday (10 March), will be rolled out across all warfighting domains and all states and territories.
The workforce growth will particularly focus on capabilities associated with the trilateral security partnership between Australia, United Kingdom and United States (AUKUS), as well as air, sea, land, space and cyber.
The announcement forms part of the 2020 Force Structure Plan (FSP), and has been assessed since the National Security Committee of cabinet approved the policy late last year.
“The first priority of my government is keep Australians safe and to do that we need a bigger ADF with more soldiers, sailors and airmen and women to operate the cutting-edge capabilities we’re getting to protect Australia,” Prime Minister Morrison said.