Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles stands ground on Australia’s defence spending despite NATO boost

Australia is standing firm on defence spending targets despite European nations vowing to rapidly ratchet up expenditure under pressure from US President Donald Trump.

On the sidelines of the NATO summit in the Netherlands, Defence Minister Richard Marles said Australia would decide its own spending levels to meet its own military needs.

That risks drawing a rebuke from Mr Trump, who made clear he expects allies to drastically step up to reduce their reliance on the US.

NATO countries, of which Australia is not a member, agreed to increase defence spending targets to five per cent of GDP.

However, Spain refused, prompting Mr Trump to threaten to punish the Iberian nation with a tougher trade deal.

“You know what we’re going to do? We’re negotiating with Spain on a trade deal and we’re going to make them pay twice as much,” he said.

Australia is also seeking to negotiate a reprieve from tariffs imposed by the US on imports, including a 50 per cent levy on steel and aluminium.

But Mr Marles maintained Australia would stick with its own defence spending process, which will see the nation’s share increase from two to 2.3 per cent by 2033/34.

“Look, obviously, a very significant decision has been made here in relation to European defence spending, and that is fundamentally a matter for NATO,” he said.

“We’ve gone through our own process of assessing our strategic landscape, assessing the threats that exist there, and the kind of defence force we need to build in order to meet those threats, to meet the strategic moment, and then to resource that.

“And what that has seen is the biggest peacetime increase in Australian Defence spending.

“Now that is a story which is, which is understood here and we’ll continue to assess what our needs are going forward. And as our prime minister has said, we will resource that.”

Mr Marles did not speak directly with Mr Trump, nor US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, despite intensive efforts by government officials to tee up a first face-to-face meeting of an Australian minister with the US president.

The Deputy Prime Minister did however meet with Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov as Australia reaffirmed its support of Ukraine in its fight against Russia.

Mr Marles announced Australia would deploy an RAAF Wedgetail surveillance aircraft to Poland, along with 100 defence force personnel, to help provide visibility for key humanitarian and military supply routes into Ukraine.

The aircraft will be deployed for three months, concluding in November, and follows an earlier six-month deployment which was highly valued by the Ukrainians.

“It is a really important capability,” Mr Marles said.

“We are one of the few countries which operates it. And so, when I was in Ukraine in April of last year, it was really evident to me that this is a capability that would be much desired again.”

Australia announced new financial sanctions and travel bans on 37 individuals and seven financial entities involved in Russia’s defence, energy, transport, insurance, electronics and finance sectors, as well as “promulgators of Russian disinformation and propaganda”.

Mr Marles also signed an agreement with the NATO Support and Procurement Organisation, increasing co-operation in non-combat activities including logistics and capability acquisition.

with Reuters