Australia today released its ‘National Defence Strategy for 2026’ and named India as its ‘top-tier’ security partner and ‘most important’ defence partner. The document on national defence strategy, an update over the previous one in 2024, was released by the Australian Defence Ministry today. It said, “India is a top-tier security partner for Australia and our most important defence partner in the Northeast Indian Ocean.” The Northeast Indian Ocean is central to the safety of Australia’s sea lines of communication that are used by mercantile shipping, including for transporting crude oil, gas, and coal.

Australia’s interests lie in a stable region that is well-disposed to Australia, the national defence strategy said.

The Australian Government said it will continue to prioritise practical and tangible cooperation with India that enhances collective strength and directly contributes to Indo-Pacific stability. The two sides have Australia-India Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and are also partners in the Quad along with Japan and the US.

Australia also said it will ‘continue to support’ India’s key role in the region and build interoperability by increasing the depth, complexity, and frequency of defence cooperation.

“The Government will continue to pursue opportunities with India to drive practical bilateral and multilateral cooperation across all domains, defence industry cooperation, and information sharing,” the document said.

The Australian defence strategy also said that, in addition to engagement with India, the Government’s defence engagement in the Northeast Indian Ocean region will continue to focus on regularising the presence of Australian defence forces, including deployments, training, and exercises.

This would include regional maritime domain awareness, defence industry engagement, and education and training cooperation. The Quad remains a vital diplomatic partnership between Australia, India, Japan, and the US.

“Australia will seek to expand cooperation between Australia, India, Japan, and the US to advance regional peace, security, and prosperity,” it said, adding this includes strengthening maritime domain awareness, operational interoperability, and humanitarian assistance and emergency response cooperation.

The Australian Defence Ministry also put out an ‘Integrated Investment Programme’ that reaffirmed the longstanding practice of providing a 10-year funding model for defence. This funding model will provide defence, including the Australian Signals Directorate, Australian Submarine Agency, and Australian Naval Nuclear Power Safety Regulator, with total funding of USD 887 billion for a ten-year period till 2036.

The total funding of USD 887 billion over the decade includes around USD 425 billion in allocated funding for the capabilities set out in the 2026 Integrated Investment Programme.