Hard defence cuts on agenda following strategic review

Further details are expected to be revealed following recommendations that Australian Defence Force projects be stripped back immediately to cut costs, including a reduction in infantry fighting vehicles from 450 to 129.

The Defence Strategic Review also urges an expansion or acceleration of programs for medium and heavy landing craft, long-range missiles and mobile land-based missiles used to strike maritime targets.

However it says a second regiment of self-propelled howitzer artillery should be cancelled. 

The review was foreshadowed by a change in defence posture to focus more on long-range strike capability and being able to combat and deter adversaries further from Australia's shores.

It was conducted by former defence force chief Angus Houston and former defence minister Stephen Smith, independently of government. 

An unclassified version is expected to be released on Monday but with a portion of its more than 100 recommendations to remain secret.

Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil on Saturday said Australia was facing military challenges the ADF wasn't ready for.

The government believed it could meet them but not if the nation continued on a trajectory of waste and neglect.

"The review that will ... outline what we need to be able to do to protect our country in the years ahead and how our government will get us there," Ms O'Neil told the ABC.

One colleague who may be called upon to shed more light on the proposed shake-up is Finance Minister Katy Gallagher, who is booked to appear on the broadcaster's Insight program on Sunday.  

One chapter of the review is known to specifically address funding issues and budget constraints, outlining that programs outstrip capacity by 24 per cent over the forward estimates. 

It says new capability requirements coupled with demand for existing programs, as well as workforce pressures, means difficult decisions will need to be made. 

Between the 2020 defence strategic update and the start of the review in August 2022, there were $42 billion worth of defence announcements over the decade to 2032/33 with no additional provisions in the budget. 

The defence budget also had to contend with a $15 billion reduction in allocated spending over the same decade due to reallocations and efficiency dividends, according to the review.