It is a measure of the Prime Minister’s commitment to national security that with the economy slowing and the country suffering increased unemployment and the effects of international financial crises, he should so specifically recommit to real growth in the defence budget of 3 per cent a year for the next decade.

In a blunt warning to the national congress of the Returned and Services League, Kevin Rudd also said he wanted to use Australia’s status as “a middle power” to promote comprehensive diplomatic engagement within the region and through the UN as a buffer against regional rivalries.

Canberra’s defence spending has leapt by about 56 per cent in the past seven years to $25.66 billion, meaning it now spends more than some European Union countries. However, Australia is still dwarfed by the US, which has set aside $US696.30 billion ($832.7 billion) for its armed forces this year.

Cancelling the Super Hornet jet order could have been politically appealing for Labor. But this would have been profoundly bad policy. The Super Hornet is the right plane for Australia. The air force always thought this. Those people who know the Super Hornets’ true capabilities, many of which are classified, knew it too.

In comments carried by Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency, the head of the Revolutionary Guards, General Mohammad Ali Jafari, said Iran was capable of imposing “unlimited controls” at the Strait of Hormuz, the entrance to the Persian Gulf and an important oil route.

The Defence Minister will say today there is now a deeper recognition on the part of NATO and its allies that the Afghanistan campaign cannot be successful without a “much greater” effort in Pakistan. “The best way we could help in Pakistan is to share some of our expertise in counter-insurgency with the Pakistani army,” he told The Australian yesterday.

The Defence Minister’s office has confirmed that Professor Holmes, an academic from the University of Newcastle in Mr Fitzgibbon’s electorate of Hunter, accompanied the minister on his official tours in May this year. Professor Holmes, who specialises in small business economics, has no expertise in either security or defence issues.

Two Australian soldiers have been injured, one seriously, in southern Afghanistan when two pen-flares accidentally discharged during a routine patrol. The mishap occured last Wednesday while Australian troops were on a reconstruction task force patrol in Oruzgan Province.