An interview with Australia's Defence Industry Minister

Pat Conroy discusses defence spending, AUKUS, support for Ukraine and populist politics.

On Thursday, the Australian government will release the National Defence Strategy and announce a long-overdue boost to Australia’s defence spending. The headline is 3 per cent of GDP by 2033 and $14 billion over the next four years.

But scrutiny will be required of both the calculations and the planned mix of private and public spending behind this headl…