The Opposition’s assertion that the 2009 White Paper was a dangerous and flawed document as it failed to provide any detail on how it was going to be funded has been endorsed by Australia’s closest ally in Wikileak’s latest cables.

Shadow Defence Minister Senator Johnston said the Opposition had always maintained that the White Paper was not a valid strategic document with its 144 pages containing only one and a half pages of the vaguest funding detail.

“It is now clear that s... enior Defence officials have known from day one that this exotic wish list has been unaffordable with no underlying budgetary position, but they said and did nothing about it,” Senator Johnston said.

“Clearly we have had a succession of hapless Defence Ministers since the White Paper was written and released who have failed in their Ministerial responsibility to tell the Australian taxpayer how much Force 2030 will cost, and how it will be paid for.”

Senator Johnston said his concerns were confirmed when he asked the Chief of Defence Force in the June 2009 Senate Budget Estimates for an approximate figure on how much the acquisitions in the White Paper were going to cost.

“He initially refused to tell the Senate and then said it was not a practical question to ask - given we were in Budget Estimates quite frankly I was astounded. After much stonewalling he returned later that day with a rather fuzzy costing of somewhere between $245 billion and $275 billion,” Senator Johnston said.

After the 2010 Defence budget was released the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) again confirmed the Oppositions fears when it said there was not enough money to pay for the wish list in the White Paper and barely enough money to fund the current defence force.

“We have three credible sources raise doubt and criticise the White Paper - George Pappas in his Budget Audit Review; the ASPI Budget analysis; and now our closest ally, but we haven’t heard from our Prime Minister or our Defence Minister as to how they plan to pay for Force 2030 and that is simply not good enough.”