Coalition pledges $804m to ensure Antarctica is ‘free from conflict’

The prime minister, Scott Morrison, will announce $804m for strategic and scientific programs in Antarctica over the next decade as the government flags its intention to increase Australia's role in the increasingly contested region.

Announcing the funding pledge in the key Tasmanian seat of Lyons on Tuesday, Morrison will talk up the commitment as a "clear international signal of Australia's world-leading Antarctic leadership".

The package - about half of which is committed over the next five years - will include $136m for charting activities, mobile stations and traverse capability, and $109m for a new drone fleet, autonomous vehicles and medium lift helicopters.

This will allow the government to map "inaccessible and fragile areas of east Antarctic", and set up a new "Antarctic eye" program that will monitor parts of the continent with integrated sensors and cameras that provide real-time information.

The helicopters, which have a range of 550km, will allow researchers to travel to parts of the continent that have not previously been accessible using the government research vessel RSV Nuyina as a launchpad.

"The money we are investing in drone fleets, helicopters and other vehicles will enable us to explore areas of east Antarctica's inland that no country has ever been able to reach before," Morrison said ahead of Tuesday's announcement.

"My government will continue to back our world-class scientists and expeditioners with the necessary funding and resources, because their research on the frozen continent and in the Southern Ocean is critically important to Australia's future."