David Johnston (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

In 2009, the previous government published a Defence white paper which outlined the way forward for Defence out to 2030. Labor then immediately began to backpedal on all of the commitments it contained and cut, as I say, $16 billion over the next four years. Labor's Defence white paper of 2009 had a shorter shelf life than a loaf of bread. Under Labor the share of GDP spent on Defence fell to 1.56 per cent.