Australia's richest person has called for Australia to more than double its defence budget on the eve of Anzac Day.
Mining magnate Gina Rinehart issued the plea to Opposition LeaderPeter Duttonand Defence Minister Richard Marles at anAnzacsunset vigil at the SydneyOpera House on Thursday night.
Former prime ministers Tony Abbott, Scott Morrison, and John Howard also attended.
Ms Rinehart used the ceremony to call on leaders to spend five per cent of the nation's gross domestic product (GDP) on defence.
Defence spending has been at 2.02 per cent of GDP under Labor who are projected to increase funding to 2.3 per cent by 2034. For comparison, the US spends about 3.4 per cent of its GDP on defence.
Mr Dutton on Wednesday said a Coalition government would increase defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP by the end of the decade.
From there spending would reach 3 per cent of GDP by 2035, the amount US president Donald Trump called on his allies to spend.
Ms Rinehart believed the federal government hadn't done enough to protect Australians with tensions rising in the region and across the globe.
Mining magnate Gina Rinehart Anzac Day eve ceremony
Ms Rinehart's ambitious defence spending hike proposal would significantly exceed those proposed by political leaders of either major party.
'We are all especially privileged to be here this evening, as we are free from a war on our shores,'Ms Rinehart told the crowd.
'It is my belief we urgentlyneed to do more to defend Australians, starting with protecting our ports, airports, sea lanes and other vital infrastructure, and significantly boosting our smart sea mines, war drones and Israeli-style (ballistic defence) domes accordingly,'
'Boosting our defence manufacturing here in Australia, as well as our budget to five per cent of GDP. Five per cent of GDP, like Europe is moving towards.
'I have so much more to say on this, at another time.'
It remains unclear how Ms Rinehart proposes the government afford such a spending increase.
'So much of our wealth and opportunity, underwritten by past generations of heroes and contributors, stands at risk from the modern aspirations of others, their modern behaviour, from modern realities hitherto remote from our shores, our interests, our treasures, our lives,' she added.
'That sacrifice won us time and with hard work, investment, risk, common sense, reliable electricity, vision, and blessed with natural resources to underpin a high standard of living, Australia has become a remarkable, successful home blessed with opportunities for all Australians.'
The Coalition's plan to increase spending to three per cent would cost at least $100billion in the first half of the 2030s.
Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton (left and second left) are pictured greeting Gina Rinehart at the sunset vigil outside the Sydney Opera House
'The prime minister and the deputy prime minister regularly tell Australians that we live in the most precarious period since the end of the Second World War,' Mr Dutton said on Wednesday.
'Yet, over the last three years, Labor has done nothing about it, other than rip money out of defence, weakening strength and morale.'
Mr Dutton is yet to disclose how a Coalition government would cover the funding boost if elected on May 3.
He plans to begin by repealing Labor's marginal tax cuts, due to take effect from mid-2027.
Australia has not spent five per cent of its GDP on defence since the Korean War in the 1950s and only a select few countries do so today.
Coalition Senator James Paterson defended his party's defence target of 3 per cent of GDP when he appeared on Sky News on Thursday.
'Nobody contends that we're spending enough on defence right now,' he said.
Gina Rinehart called on political leaders to do more to defend Australia if elected
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Senator Paterson suggested Australia's delayed response to the live firing exercises of a Chinese warship in the Tasman Sea demonstrated the need for increased military spending.
Defence Minister Richard Marles said the Albanese government had budgeted for 'the biggest peacetime increase in defence spending that has occurred in Australian history'.
'We certainly agree that the world is an unpredictable place, and that our strategic circumstances are as complex and in some respects, as threatening as we have faced since the end of the Second World War,' he said at a press conference on Thursday.
'So, it's no small step that we've already taken, and we will continue to assess the strategic circumstances and what is the appropriate defence spend in the context of all of that.'
