United States Secretary of Defence, Pete Hegseth, has called on Australia to increase military spending and activity to counteract China's presence in the Indo-Pacific region.
Hegseth met with his Australian and Japanese counterparts, Richard Marles and Nakatani Gen, at a trilateral defence meeting over the weekend in Singapore.
The three defence ministers covered a range of issues and focused on continued cooperation between Australia, Japan, the Philippines, and the U.S. in the South China Sea.
However, Hegseth additional asked Australia to lift its defence spending to 3.5% of its GDP, in an effort to counter China's military presence in the Indo-Pacific area.
"On defense spending, Secretary Hegseth conveyed that Australia should increase its defense spending to 3.5% of its GDP as soon as possible," the statement said.
The Trump administration has previously requested Australia lift defence spending, but without a specific figure, and Marles said that a percentage point was not discussed after this meeting either.
“I wouldn’t put a number on it. The need to increase defence spending is something that he definitely raised,” Marles confirmed on Friday, speaking to the ABC.
Meanwhile, Tasmanian Senator Jacqui Lambie said that while she backs an increase to defence spending, that existing waste levels need to be addressed first, specifically naming the AUKUS submarine deal
"We've only got to see those submarines, $4 billion so far and we haven't got one scrap of bloody steel sitting in a harbour yet ready to go, I mean that is just disgusting waste," Lambie said.
She also said that recruitment and retention issues for the Australian Defence Force were some that nation's more pressing national security issues.
"The only way young people are going to join is when people in uniform go out there and brag about how great that job is and right now … that is not going to turn around tomorrow," she said.
