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October 3, 2026
Opposition defence spokesman James Paterson says the government must act "urgently" on maintenance funding shortfalls, following revelations the navy's two largest ships are out of action.
The Liberal senator called on the government to immediately redress the issue after The Australian reported HMAS Canberra and HMAS Adelaide had been unserviceable and alongside in Sydney for more than two weeks.
Former Liberal prime minister Tony Abbott chided the Albanese government for mastering "spin over substance", as he published a statement online warning about the state of Australia's readiness after years of economic and strategic malaise.
Defence on Thursday confirmed the largest ships ever constructed for the Royal Australian Navy, the Canberra-class Landing Helicopter Docks, had been sidelined with engine propulsion issues the force had never seen before. No date could be provided for when the ships will be able to return to sea.
Despite the Department of Defence insisting its preparedness has not been affected, Senator Paterson criticised the government for failing to address the issue until it received questions from the media.
"If both our Landing Helicopter Docks are alongside for maintenance because the Albanese government has not allocated enough funding to navy sustainment, they need to urgently redress the situation," he said.
"This year, according to ASPI (Australian Strategic Policy Institute), overall Defence sustainment funding dropped $283m. (Defence analyst) Marcus Hellyer has pointed out that Defence had its first real and nominal budget decrease since the dark days of the Gillard government.
"Our best-informed experts have warned the government that their chronic underinvestment in defence sustainment will have serious ramifications for the ADF's readiness. We are now seeing the consequences of these cuts to sustainment budgets."
Defence Minister Richard Marles was contacted for comment on Thursday and on Friday, but his team has not responded to an email, text or call.
Mr Abbott said the state of the LHDs were, regrettably, "typical of a country where nothing that matters works as well as it should".
"Largely because we have a government that's much better at spin than substance," Mr Abbott, the current Liberal Party federal president, told The Australian.
When he became prime minister in 2013, Mr Abbott committed to lifting spending on defence from 1.6 per cent to 2 per cent of GDP over the following decade.
The troubled LHDs were delivered during his term after the ships were first acquired by the Howard government, and there were funding shortfalls under successive Coalition governments.
Mr Abbott acknowledged this as he questioned whether Australia was prepared for a war over Taiwan, in comments published online on Friday as part of a book review. He invoked former Labor leader Kevin Rudd's warning of a one-in-three chance China moved to seize Taiwan by 2028.
Australia's military capability had been "cannibalised" by AUKUS" submarines that would arrive long after the potential conflict, Mr Abbott argued, while a generation of Australians no longer believed the country was worth fighting for.
The LHDs were deployed to the Pacific in 2022 and 2023 for disaster relief but suffered power failures, and concerns are mounting that Defence will face a similar situation this disaster season.
The power fallouts were described in senior-level Defence meetings at the time as "catastrophic failures" but calls for more sustainment funding were not heeded in the long term, according to this year's budget.