@ISIDEWITHQuestionsForeign policyStarted 9yrs agoActive 7 days ago

Should the government increase or decrease military spending?

Should Australia increase or decrease military spending?

In February 2016 the government announced that military spending will increase Military spending will grow by $29.9b through 2026. Australia’s military budget is the 12th largest in the world. The 2016 increase will rank Australia 9th amongst world Defence budgets as a percentage of GDP. Proponents of a larger budget argue that it is necessary due to recent disagreements between the US and China in the South China sea. Critics of a larger budget argue that it sets off an unnecessary arms race and will provoke China into creating a larger naval force to offset it.

+
Expand
+ Settings x  

Toggle voterbase

Statistics are shown for this demographic

Answer Overview

Response rates from 794 Moreton voters.

41%
Increase
32%
Decrease
33%
Increase
32%
Decrease
8%
Increase, but only after our deficit is drastically reduced

Historical Support

Trend of support over time for each answer from 794 Moreton voters.

Loading data...

Loading chart... 

Historical Importance

Trend of how important this issue is for 794 Moreton voters.

Loading data...

Loading chart... 

Other Popular Answers

Unique answers from Moreton voters whose views went beyond the provided options.

 @9ZPK338answered…3mos3MO

Increase, but only for defence purposes and decrease when the likelihood of Australia going to war decreases significantly

 @B2XNM47answered…7 days7D

Increase, but by way of developing sovereign capability and export potential, with technology, manufacture and Australian employment.

 @B2WK87Tanswered…1wk1W

Funding should increase and decrease with the severity of the need. If high risk of goig to war, increase. If no real threat, decrease

 @B2WGS2Xanswered…1wk1W

Neither, given the current global climate, it would seem premature to decrease our current spending, but we also have no cause to increase our military budget. That being said, we should never have entered the AUKUS deal.

 @B2VQX4Lanswered…1wk1W

Increase, but only with more civilian oversight and transparency to ensure funds are used appropriately

 @B2T9BV2answered…2wks2W

I’d like to see the amount of waste in Defence spending reduced. Too much is spent on ‘jobs for the boys’ ex-serving member contractors that are brought in unnecessarily. Contractors should be accountable to the public for spending tax-payers money just as much as the government departments. I have personally seen millions of dollars wasted.

 @B2R9LLJanswered…2wks2W

They should increase defence and focus on Australia and the Australian military by mandatory gap year training after school

 @B2PML4Canswered…3wks3W

Need a hard look at what we are spending our money on. We need to be prepared for anything with unstable geopolitics but also not spend it wastefully like on the subs.

Latest News

Stay up-to-date on the most recent “Military Spending” news articles, updated frequently.

 @ISIDEWITH submitted…3mos3MO

Trump's Deportation Storm: America Braces for Mass Exodus of Immigrants

For months, immigration advocates have been planning for the possibility of Donald Trump’s return to the White House. Now, their worst fears have arrived.Immigrants’ rights groups have spent the last year preparing for a second Trump term and an overhaul of the nation’s immigration system, analyzing Trump’s proposals, drafting legal briefs, coordinating messaging and organizing aid for immigrants and asylum seekers. They responded to Trump’s victory with alarm and vowed to put up a fight, setting the stage for four more years of contentious court battles with his administration.Some are already preparing to push current leadership at the Department of Homeland Security to take steps to stymie the incoming Trump team, particularly on immigrant detention and the use of AI in enforcement.“We should expect to see the devastation of immigrant communities all over the country. We should expect to see family separation,” said Kica Matos, the president of the National Immigration Law Center. “It is entirely possible that he will try to use the military to carry out deportations, so that means that Americans all over the country will see the military engaging in enforcement against civilian populations, which is horrifying.”Trump, after winning a historic victory on a platform of turbo-charged immigration enforcement, has said he will conduct mass deportations at a scale never before seen. Immigrant advocates have warned this would be expensive and inhumane, separating families and wrecking communities. The president-elect has also vowed to build huge detention camps, hire thousands more border agents, funnel military spending toward border security and invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to expel suspected members of drug cartels and criminal gangs without court hearings.He has also said he would end “catch-and-release” — allowing migrants to remain free, often with monitoring, while they await immigration court hearings — and restore a policy from his first term requiring asylum seekers to remain in Mexico while their cases are processed. And he has dodged questions about whether he would try to bring back family separation.

Popular Conversations

Join in on the most popular conversations.