@ISIDEWITHQuestionsForeign policyStarted 9yrs agoActive 17hrs 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.

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34%
Increase
37%
Decrease
30%
Increase
37%
Decrease
5%
Increase, but only after our deficit is drastically reduced

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Other Popular Answers

Unique answers from 3003 voters whose views went beyond the provided options.

 @9ZPK338answered…4mos4MO

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

 @B45LXSBanswered…6 days6D

Increase, with less dependence on the US encase they don't assist Australia in a war or conflict erupts from them

 @B45LH7Yanswered…6 days6D

Investing into defensive and diplomatic AI efforts could be helpful, otherwise I am satisfied with current spending

 @B3KQBX4answered…4wks4W

diplomatic mechanisms should be further bolstered so that wasteful spending on stockpiling weapons isn't needed.

 @B3D5R76 answered…1mo1MO

We should be aiming to becoming less reliant on purchasing equipment from overseas at ridiculous prices that will be largely redundant by the time it's delivered. We should be making our own things as much as is possible.

 @B2WGS2Xanswered…2mos2MO

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…2mos2MO

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

 @B2T9BV2answered…2mos2MO

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.

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 @ISIDEWITH submitted…5mos5MO

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.

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