A former defence department official is urging Australia to dramatically increase its military spending amid concerns about China’s growing power.

Professor of Strategic Studies at Australian National University Hugh White says we aren’t doing enough to protect ourselves from China’s growing presence in the Asia Pacific region.

He insists we need to increase our defence spending from two per cent of the GDP to 3.5 per cent; an extra $30 billion per year.

Mr White tells Natalie Peters and Erin Molan our alliance with America “is not something we can rely on forever”.

“The American electorate at large is sick of playing that sort of policeman role, particularly when it’s going to be much more costly for them to do so as they confront a country as powerful as China.

“The blind assumption that we can continue to assume America will play the same role in Asia and the same role in Australia’s security 20 or 30 years from now… that’s not secure enough for us to base our security on.”

Click PLAY below to hear the full interview

How to Defend Australia by Hugh White is available HERE