Turnbull releases defence road map

A new defence plan shows the government's commitment to the security of Australia and its people, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says.

"It sets out a clear-eyed and unsentimental appraisal of our strategic environment, the threats and the opportunities," Mr Turnbull told reporters at the launch of the Defence White Paper in Canberra on Thursday.

"It sets out the capabilities we need to respond to them and, with considerable fully costed detail, explains how we will acquire those capabilities."

Mr Turnbull said the plan would ensure the Australian Defence Force is "more powerful on land, in the skies and more commanding both on the seas and beneath them".

The plan, which includes a new investment program and defence industry policy statement, would ensure thousands of jobs are created in the defence industry in coming years.

A continuous, onshore shipbuilding strategy would "fundamentally transform" the industry, giving it a long-term future".

The shipbuilding workforce would build the navy's frigates, offshore patrol vessels and others for decades to come.

"We will ensure the Australian submarine involvement is sustainable over the longer term by building a new force of 12 regionally superior submarines, doubling the size of our current fleet," Mr Turnbull said.

Mr Turnbull said Australia would be concerned if competition for influence and the growth in military capability were to "lead to instability and threaten Australia's interests, whether in the South China Sea, the Korean peninsula or further afield".

"We have a strong, vital, vested interest in the maintenance of peace, stability and respect for the rule of law," he said.

The United States would remain the pre-eminent global military power and continue to play a vital role in the peace and prosperity of the Asia-Pacific.

But the relationship between the US and China would be "critically important".

The spread of terrorism would also require a "sustained effort" as Australia worked with other countries to limit terrorist group operations and undermine their "narrative of hate".

He defended the extra spending that would take the defence budget to two per cent of GDP by 2020/21 and involve $195 billion in spending during the next decade.

"We recognise that Australia's strategic environment is the most dynamic and challenging one that we have faced in peacetime," Mr Turnbull said.

"We are also susceptible to the potential threats of conflict, climate change, malicious cyber activism, pandemic disease and transnational terrorism.

"As the range and nature of the challenges evolves, so must the way our ADF responds."