Login
iscover
Assistant Minister for Defence Matt Thistlethwaite has confirmed that the Department of Defence’s culture of cost overruns must end, following similar commentary from Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles.
To continue reading the rest of this article, please log in.
Create free account to get unlimited news articles and more!
Defence, as one of the largest government departments, must maintain financial responsibility to the public, said the Assistant Minister for the Republic and Assistant Minister for Veterans’ Affairs during a television interview with Sky News earlier this week.
“It’s got a budget of over $50 billion a year and we want to make sure that Australian taxpayers get value for money in the capital outlays that are being made in critical capability into the future,” he said on 26 February.
“That hasn’t been the case in the past, particularly under the previous government. There were projects that were agreed to but no sustainment costs (provided).
“There’s been a culture of cost overruns in terms of Defence projects in Australia for too long.
“Given that it’s a very large expenditure that’s undertaken on behalf of Australian taxpayers, they expect that if we enter into a project, it’s delivered on time, it’s delivered on budget, and importantly, there is sustainment funding throughout the life of the project so it can meet the goals that it was intended for.”
One of Defence’s most widely discussed cost overruns includes the as-yet-incomplete SEA 5000 Phase 1 (Hunter Class Frigate) program originally for nine Hunter Class vessels.
Information outlined in the recent foreign affairs, defence and trade legislation committee meeting on 14 February discussed that project costs would be significantly higher than $44.3 billion in funding set aside in 2018–19.
In addition, it was announced that Australia will acquire only six of the nine planned anti-submarine warfare Hunter Class frigates, under information released by the federal government earlier this month.
Thistlethwaite’s remarks back-up previous commentary from Minister for Defence Richard Marles, who has reportedly grilled Department of Defence Secretary Greg Moriarty and Chief of the Defence Force of Australia Angus Campbell on the issue.
“I absolutely expect excellence, and indeed both the secretary and the CDF have completely supported me in my call for that within the Department of Defence and within the Australian Defence Force,” Minister Marles said during a SkyNews television interview on 25 February.
“And that has been communicated by myself to the broader senior leadership of the ADF and the Department of Defence.
“I think what we need to see in terms of the leadership of the Australian Defence Force and the Department of Defence, and I’m not just talking about the two leaders, but the broader leadership, is that all that we do is done with excellence. That advice is timely, that advice is accurate, that we are expecting of ourselves the same amount of excellence that we would expect of somebody who’s in the infantry or somebody who is maintaining an aircraft, where there is excellence and complete competence.
“I think there are issues of culture within the senior leadership and the more general leadership of the ADF and the department which needs challenging.
“And that’s something that, as I say, I’ve had complete collaboration with from both the secretary of Defence and the CDF. There is an issue in relation to culture, and we should be seeking to have a culture of absolute excellence, and that is the point that I’ve made.
“In terms of diagnosing what the cultural issues are, I think this is less the problem of Defence, albeit they have been – this is where it has flowed – as it has been what’s happened in government and specifically under the former government. I mean, when you have six, really, seven different Defence ministers churning through the portfolio over the course of nine years, that has an impact on morale, and it has had an impact on morale.
“When you go out and make all these fanciful announcements, $45 billion worth, and there’s no money behind them, it’s obviously going to have an impact on morale – and it has.
“I mean, when you leave the country with the oldest surface fleet sailing since the end of the Second World War, which is what the former government did, that is going to impact morale.
“I think there were those issues within the ADF and within the department, and I can understand how that has happened. Going forward, though, we need to address that culture. And, yes, government has its part to play, and we are certainly seeking to do that by being very clear about where money is coming from, not engaging in the make-believe of the former government.
“We intend to have consistency and leadership from government in respect of Defence. But the other side of that is that we also then need to challenge Defence to meet the issue of that morale and make sure that there is excellence in all that is done. I think the Australian people would expect me to hold the Defence force and the department to a standard of excellence.”
