The RSL president has used a speech at the War Memorial on Remembrance Day to call on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to increase defence spending, claiming Australia’s armed forces will not be prepared if they are sent into a major combat.

Major General Greg Melick said in his commemorative address that the Returned & Services League’s warnings on defence spending had long been ignored and Australia had become “complacent” about the threats it faces.

“For many years the RSL’s defence and security committee has been agitating, without apparent success, on the need to ensure we bolster defence spending and significantly increase our reserves, especially in fuel and ammunition, to best equip our dedicated servicemen and women before we send them into harm’s way,” Melick said on Tuesday at

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