For years now, ADVANCE and our 195,000+ supporters have been calling on Defence to muscle up the Australian Defence Force’s long-range strike capabilities. 

After our persistent campaigning and incessant badgering, it appears we’ve gotten our way… and the man we can thank is Defence Minister Peter Dutton. 

Dutton has revealed that Australian fighter jets and naval vessels will be armed sooner with new long-range strike missiles to hold enemies at bay at ranges of up to 900km. 

The new $3.5 billion commitment to fast-track key guided weapons purchases will not leave Aussie defence manufacturing industries behind. Raytheon and Lockheed Martin will manufacture guided weapons for the Defence Force domestically and provide an alternative supply chain for the US military.

This includes Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles for Australia’s Super Hornets by 2024, Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) for our Hobart-class Destroyers and Anzac Frigates by the same year; and new hi-tech sea mines for our Navy to secure the nation’s ports and maritime approaches in the event of conflict three years ahead of schedule.

Well done, Minister!

This is yet another brilliant addition to the growing list of defence initiatives you and your team have established in the last month including:

• The biggest ever investment into Australia’s cyber capabilities called Project REDSPICE – Resilience, Effects, Defence, Space, Intelligence, Cyber and Enablers. As ADVANCE reported, Project REDSPICE will create 1900 new jobs in cyber and intelligence – almost doubling the size of Australian Signal Directorate’s workforce and substantially increasing its offensive cyber and intelligence capabilities.
• An $875 million upgrade to 234 defence facilities across the country. Dutton said, “the defence estate is an important national asset and is an integral part of enabling defence to meet its force capabilities.”
• The first flight of the Boeing MQ-28A “Ghost Bat” – the first Australian-made combat aircraft to fly in 50 years. The Ghost Bat is 38 foot long, uncrewed, fully autonomous and capable of flying independently or alongside crewed aircraft for intelligence and surveillance missions.
• A closer defence relationship with India after ScoMo and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi discussed closer ties across sectors such as trade, technology, space, culture, defence, and the Indo-Pacific. Modi even agreed to station Indian maritime patrol aircraft in Australia as part of a larger package that will see the government commit around $280 million into developing the relationship.
• The biggest expansion to the Australian Defence Force in 40 years by increasing personnel numbers from 59,095 to 80,000 by 2040.

So what’s happening on the Labor-Greens side of the fence?

• Each-Way Albo is walking around the inner-west of Sydney saying climate change is a key part of Labor’s defence strategy. 
• The feds are having to reign in Dictator Dan Andrews who signed Victoria up to Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative – a key tenet of Beijing’s strategy of spreading soft power and lull us into reliance on their infrastructure, credit and critical supply chains. Andrews even refused to share information about the deal with Beijing outside “his own office and department”. 
• Labor’s Deputy Leader Richard Marles has been jetting off to China to tell the CCP Australia “must build” our relationship with them “and not just in economic terms, but also through exploring political co-operation and even defence cooperation”.
• Also jetting off to China is NSW Labor leader Chris Minns who was invited as a special guest on a trip that was partly funded by exiled Chinese billionaire, Huang Xiangmo – the bloke who owes the ATO $140 million, delivered $100,000 cash in an Aldi Bag to Labor Party HQ in 2015, caused the downfall of Sam Dastyari, and was eventually booted from Australia after ASIO concluded he was attempting to influence our political system.  
• Premier of WA Mark MaoGowan is calling our current defence minister Peter Dutton “insane” and “off the planet” for daring to criticise the CCP – a move Beijing applauded as “constructive” criticism of the Morrison government.
• Then there’s Labor Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk who sold a coastal island to a Chinese company that has closed access to the island’s beaches, set up fences to prevent access to national parkland, banned short term accommodation, paid security guards to roam around all day and night, destroyed coral reefs and turtle nests and intimidated children on Australia Day.

Vote wisely, Australia! 

As we keep saying here at ADVANCE, a vote for Labor is a vote for the Greens and the Chinese Communist Party on top…