Guns v giving: the trend that says everything about our priorities

It’s a trend that gets scant attention but says a lot about our national priorities: Australia’s spending on defence and overseas aid is rapidly diverging.

We’ve always spent more on arms than aid, of course.

But the amount allocated to the military now eclipses foreign assistance by more than 10 to one, the biggest gap on record.

And that disparity is set to widen dramatically in the decade ahead.

A strategic defence update released by Prime Minister Scott Morrison last month said total defence funding will rise from $42 billion this financial…