Advertisement

1000 jobs go in defence shake-up

ABC

ABC

About 1000 job losses and a change to the way Australia’s military service chiefs work will form part of the biggest shake-up of defence in more than two decades.

Defence Minister Kevin Andrews has released the long-awaited First Principles review along with the government’s response to try to improve the efficiency of defence.

The review, led by former Rio Tinto managing director David Peever, makes 76 recommendations, including re-absorbing the government agency which purchases military equipment into the defence department.

New chief appointed to Operation Sovereign Borders
Abbott dumps Labor-appointed defence chiefs, installs Sovereign Borders chief
• Asylum seeker returns ‘not our job’: govt

“We’re looking at a new structure that there will not be DMO (the Defence Materiel Organisation) in the future, there will be a new capability and sustainment group within Defence,” Mr Andrews said.

The DMO purchases and maintains military equipment required by the Defence Force and approved by government.

Last year it presided over a budget of more than $12 billion.

The Defence Minister confirmed the overhaul will involve hundreds of job losses.

“We think around about the order of 1000,” Mr Andrews said.

Australia’s Defence Chief said he fully supports the recommendations in the report, which found “institutionalised waste”, flawed execution and delayed decisions in his department.

Air Chief Marshall Mark Binskin said the report and its recommendations are needed.

“Defence is ready for it. It is tackling the enterprise issues that we all know that we all have in defence,” he said.

“We’re ready for it, we’ve got about 3 months to do the detailed planning before we start that implementation.

“We know that there’s challenges there but we’ve got a team across defence that are ready to implement this.”

Government to adopt all but one of review’s recommendatiogs

Seventy-five of the report’s 76 recommendations have been accepted, and the Government says defence will begin implementing them immediately.

Most changes are expected to be implemented within two years.

“The biggest issue we found at the highest level was defence is a federated structure, operates as a loose federation where the parts are not well joined up and therefore not a good fit for the challenging agenda which defence has before it,” said report author Mr Peever.

Peter Jennings from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute believes the decision to move the DMO into Defence makes sense.

“We’ll have a redesign of the Defence Materiel Organisation, the equipment purchases I think will have a more rational approach to how we take the idea of equipment purchasing from concept through to delivery,” Mr Jennings said.

He says the overhaul will involve “a significant thinning of senior numbers” but it will result in more efficiency.

“I think partly what we’re talking about here is a cultural change.”
“To bring the commercial purchases of equipment more closely into alignment with what the services want as the ultimate final uses of the equipment,” Mr Jennings said.

The review also includes new accountability measures and duties for the chiefs of Navy, Army and Air Force.

ABC

Stay informed, daily
A FREE subscription to The New Daily arrives every morning and evening.
The New Daily is a trusted source of national news and information and is provided free for all Australians. Read our editorial charter
Copyright © 2024 The New Daily.
All rights reserved.