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Donna Demaio: Australian Correspondent on the US demands to up the defence spend · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

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  Speaker 1: Our Australia correspondent is done tomorrow this morning, just gone
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  Speaker 1: thirteen minutes away from top of the r and on
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  Speaker 1: a good morning, Good morning to you. Good to have
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  Speaker 1: you on the show as always. Now the Prime Minister
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  Speaker 1: brushing off a US push to spend more on defense.
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  Speaker 1: How much do they want?
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  Speaker 2: Oh, well, the United States has very very strongly suggested
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  Speaker 2: that Australia lift its defense spending to almost one hundred
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  Speaker 2: billion dollars a year as soon as possible. They're saying,
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  Speaker 2: because Australia must do more to support the US in
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  Speaker 2: the Indo Pacific, as it's been put. Now we know
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  Speaker 2: that the US Defense Secretary Pete heiks Eth conveyed this
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  Speaker 2: message to the Defense Minister. They were on It was
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  Speaker 2: a chat on the sidelines of a recent conference or gathering,
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  Speaker 2: let's say in Singapore, and you know they did talk
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  Speaker 2: about perhaps the increasing US tension with China. And so
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  Speaker 2: now we've heard that they think that we should lift
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  Speaker 2: Australia should lift its defense spending now it currently sits
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  Speaker 2: at about two percent of and the US says, oh no,
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  Speaker 2: it should lift to about three point five percent of
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  Speaker 2: the GDP, adding about forty billion dollars. Now we've heard
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  Speaker 2: from the PM and he says the country will not
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  Speaker 2: be dictated to on defense spending. And they already had
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  Speaker 2: planned to increase the defense spending from about two to
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  Speaker 2: two point three three percent of Australia's GDP over the
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  Speaker 2: next eight years. And so the PMS actually said, what
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  Speaker 2: you should do in defense is decide what you need
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  Speaker 2: your capability and then provide for it. That's what my
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  Speaker 2: government is doing, so pretty much brushing off what the
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  Speaker 2: US is suggesting Australia should do.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, And what about this warning for Ozzie's heading to Indonesia.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, well, hundreds of thousands of Ozzi's love going to Indonesia,
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  Speaker 2: particularly Bali. But there's an update from the Department of
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  Speaker 2: Foreign Affairs and Trade Smart Traveler website urging travelers to
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  Speaker 2: exercise a high degree of caution when they holiday in
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  Speaker 2: this popular destination. As we know, and so we know
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  Speaker 2: that there's been some incidents lately. Australians have drowned unpatrolled
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  Speaker 2: beaches due to rough seas and strong rib currents. But
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  Speaker 2: there's also been a caution against leaving food and drinks
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  Speaker 2: unattended due to a risk in getting a drink spiked
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  Speaker 2: and methanol poisoning, and there's been several cases reported in
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  Speaker 2: Bali and nearby Lombok of late. So just be careful
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  Speaker 2: out there tourists.
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  Speaker 1: All right. Probably a good warning for us too if
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  Speaker 1: you guys are telling you a lot that. Hey, thank
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  Speaker 1: you very much, Don and tomorrow our Australia correspondent. Nice
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  Speaker 1: to have you on the show as all well. For
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  Speaker 1: more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge, listen live to
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  Speaker 1: News Talks it be from five am weekdays, or follow
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