Under Labor, defence spending as a share of GDP dropped to its lowest level since 1938, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said at a doorstop interview on February 24, ahead of the release of the Government's Defence White Paper.
Mr Turnbull's claim is not the full story. In the 1938-39 financial year, defence spending was 1.5 per cent of GDP. Under Labor in 2012-13, spending was 1.60 per cent of GDP, the lowest it has been since 1938. Under the Howard government, defence spending was 1.62 per cent — only 0.02 per cent higher — in 2002-03. But Mr Turnbull did not mention that defence spending also rose to 1.93 per cent of GDP under Labor in 2009-10, which was higher than at any time during the former Howard government and higher than it has been under the current Coalition Government. It is the highest figure since 1994-95, when Paul Keating was prime minister and defence spending as a share of GDP was 1.96 per cent. Whilst a share of GDP is commonly used by governments of all stripes to measure defence spending, GDP estimates are subject to quarterly fluctuations due to new economic data becoming available, whilst defence spending remains fixed after its final determination. This can arbitrarily affect the appearance of defence spending in any given year, and there is no way to predict whether the figures for 2002-03 and 2012-13 will be estimated as higher or lower than each other in future releases from the ABS, as more information comes to light which could alter GDP estimates. The Government itself has a policy of decoupling defence spending from GDP, as evidenced in the 2016 Defence White Paper, to address the problem of fluctuations due to revisions of GDP estimates.
Fact check: Did defence spending under Labor drop to its lowest level since 1938?
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