During his interview with Senator Meg Lees on the "Sunday"
programme earlier today, Nine Network political editor, Laurie Oakes,
said that extra Defence spending would be paid for out of the sale of
the rest of Telstra.
Mr Oakes appeared to be referring to an article in The Age newspaper
on Saturday March 4.
Extra Defence spending is not linked to the sale of Telstra. I have,
however, said that if the rest of Telstra was sold then the Government
would be in a stronger position to accelerate spending on rural and regional
infrastructure.
I told The Age that Australia needed to spend more on Defence and that
tighter Defence budget management and greater budget flexibility in later
years would help to achieve this.
My remarks were not intended to give the impression that increased Defence
spending was contingent on the sale of Telstra.