It’s going to be a big year for the Department of Defence. There’s already a major reform program underway following the First Principles Review, and a new Defence White Paper is due in the coming months. At the same time, the government has to make critical decisions about replacing the Collins class submarines and naval shipbuilding more generally. 

Mark Thomson, Senior Analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, explored what the 2015 Federal Budget tells us about the government’s approach to defence policy and, in particular, the prospects of meeting its promise to spend 2% of GDP on defence within a decade.