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Subject:
The Australian: Defence in shambles: Beazley
tjkhan
1/25/2006 1:40:43 PM
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Defence in shambles: Beazley
25jan06
OUTGOING defence minister Robert Hill had left the portfolio in a shambles, with overseas troop commitments taking greater priority than domestic security, Labor said today.
Opposition leader Kim Beazley said the Government had moved away from its basic obligation to defend the nation, neglecting equipment programs and lacking in coherence and strategy.
"It's in a shambles," Mr Beazley told ABC Radio today.
"Your primary obligation is to defend your nation.
"You can't foretell the future, circumstances can arise when you're under threat (and) you must be able to defend your nation."
Instead, the Government had mad its global defence alliances a priority, particularly with the US, Mr Beazley, himself a former defence minister, said.
"In two years' time you're going to be talking all about air defence in this country because they are not succeeding in replacing our F-111s and F/A-18s ... but they don't care," he said.
"Why? Because that's defending Australia and what they care about is whether or not we've got troops that we can slot into a commitment somewhere else in the rest of the world."
Mr Beazley called for a revival of the coastguard debate.
"We have got the waters to the north of us being pillaged, people are landing on our coast willy nilly but because Kim Beazley suggested a coastguard they won't do the obvious thing and put it in place to deal with it."
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