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Former defence minister Christopher Pyne has made the move to the corporate sector and joined the EY team, with the aim to support the consulting firm’s ambitions with Australia’s defence industry.
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EY is ramping up its defence capability ahead of a surge in consolidation activity and the largest expansion of Australia's military capability in our peacetime history – $200 billion over 10 years out to 2026 with an ambition to build Australian science, technology, engineering, innovation and industrial capability.
Mark Stewart, EY defence industry leader, said, "We’ve already seen an influx of inbound investment by multinational equipment manufacturers. Primes need to undertake a lot of activity that EY is gearing up to assist with, including workforce planning, supply chain reform, digitising their business, helping businesses access research grants, etc."
EY has headquartered its defence industry capability out of SA, headed by Stewart. This is a complement to EY’s extensive defence capability led by Darrin Grimsey out of Canberra.
Large domestic defence players are actively looking for mergers to bulk up to deliver on the government’s $200 billion Integrated Investment Program. Big multinational players are also shopping for acquisitions to scale their onshore delivery capability.
"Christopher Pyne is also here to help lead conversations about what all states need to do to meet the challenges and opportunities this defence investment will bring," Stewart added.
"The middle market will also need to mature their cyber security capabilities to meet the requirements of defence to participate in these contracts. EY sees a role in helping the industry aggregate but also develop their capability to win and execute on work either in their own right or with primes."
EY’s recent work with Defence includes key reforms with workforce, information technology and strategic advice relating to organisational change, in addition to risk reform and implementation.
EY is a member of the Defence Industry Security Program and is represented on the major Defence and DMO panels in addition to being a member of RPDE.
Stephen Kuper
Steve has an extensive career across government, defence industry and advocacy, having previously worked for cabinet ministers at both Federal and State levels.
