Source : Perth Now news
Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy has fired a shot across the bow at the bureaucrats he oversees, warning a “lack of discipline” is leading to cost blowouts and a failure to deliver capabilities on time.
The Charlton MP will front the National Press Club on Wednesday at a critical time for the Australian Defence Force.
Conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, a controversial asset reinvestment, and growing questions about the feasibility of the AUKUS project have put the state of the country’s military back in the headlines in recent months.
Earlier this year, Defence Minister Richard Marles announced plans for a massive ramping up of defence spending – an extra $53bn over the next decade.
Mr Conroy is expected to say the reforms are the “most significant” to Defence in half a century, including AUKUS, “continuous shipbuilding”, and investment in drone businesses.
“We are investing in our people, our institutions, our sovereignty … our future,” he will say.
“A strong sovereign defence industrial base mitigates risk … decreases dependencies … and means we can make things here.”
“We are getting back to making our own stuff where it makes sense and leveraging our allies and trusted partners where we cannot.”
Mr Conroy is expected to announce that as part of the Defence Industry Development Strategy the government would overhaul the $4.3bn Defence Export Facility.
However, Mr Conroy is also expected to tell the NPC the need for reform is far greater than first thought, after officials kicked off an aggressive review late last year, including of acquisition and shipbuilding.
He is expected to make the case on Wednesday the key driver of cost blowouts and a failure to deliver capabilities on time is a lack of discipline when considering changes to defence projects.
“The way defence was operating had become outdated and compromised for at least the last decade,” Mr Conroy will say.
“Through these reforms, we are making sure that when Defence is developing capability projects, they are setting them up for success.”
An assessment by the Reform Task Force of just a small sample of projects found the average total cost of those projects increased by a whopping 38 per cent, or about $29bn before any contracts with the industry were signed.
“That represents an opportunity cost … funding that could have been invested better, if costings had been done better in the first place,” Minister Conroy will say.
“The Task Force found that Defence’s costing capability has atrophied over time – it’s become fragmented, under resourced, and over-reliant on contractors and consultants.”
Mr Conroy is expected to tell the NPC that the Investment Committee, established as oversight for the introduction of key capabilities, was no longer fit for purpose, and will move to have it scrapped.
The Committee met 13 times in 2025, and only for about 60 hours.
An additional 14 out-of-session meetings were also held.
Public servants are also understood to have spent an outsized amount of time preparing briefs, rather than delivering projects.
“We are talking about multi-billion dollar capability projects – integral to the defence of our nation and to peace and stability in our region,” Mr Conroy will say.
“Held up by committee meetings where decision making wasn’t a central feature, chewing up the time of our most senior and experienced public servants, and costing taxpayers’ money.”
The new Defence Delivery Group will begin operating as a consolidated group on July 1, with the Defence Delivery Agency expected to make independent advice to government from July, 2027.
