Defence spending blows out under Morrison, new body to be established
A new independent office will be established to scrutinise military spending, after the Albanese government accused the former government of blowing the budget by $6.5 billion.
Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles revealed today at least 28 projects were significantly behind schedule.
“As our government has come into office, we have inherited a defence procurement mess, a complete mess,” he said.
“Under the Coalition government, we saw 28 different projects, running a cumulated total of 97 years over time.”
4BC federal political editor Michael Pachi said the pandemic is partly to blame for the delay.
He said the new body would oversee spending and set up a timetable for the projects, which include the Hunter class frigate program, patrol vessels, aircraft systems and communication facilities.
“For a few weeks at least, Labor will blame some of the problems that they are dealing with on the former Coalition government, today it was about these 28 defence projects saying they are running about 100 years behind schedule, it is a good headline for them,” he said.
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Image: Nine News