Tribune’s note

Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles used Question Time to profile Australia's two flagship autonomous defence programs — Ghost Bat and Ghost Shark — anchoring both within the $12–15 billion autonomous systems and drones allocation announced in the budget the previous evening. He cited the Ghost Bat's successful Woomera air-to-air missile test and the Ghost Shark's current Navy service status as evidence that capability investment is already producing operational results.

Marles set the announcements against a direct contrast with the previous Liberal government, citing a $117 billion versus $10 billion ten-year spending differential and the cancellation of the SkyGuardian programme.

Primary records (1)

The official records this note draws on — the raw primary documents themselves, as published.

HansardQUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICERichard MarlesThursday 14 May 2026