Akerman: Defence audit reveals inefficient, top-heavy governance of Labor’s rush to terminal poverty

Since coming to office in 2022, Labor has made a damaging art form of doing less with more and more expensive resources, writes Piers Akerman.

A bunkum-busting bomb needs to be dropped on Canberra before the Albanese Labor government condemns Australia to terminal poverty.

Since first coming to office in 2022, Labor has made a damaging art form of doing less with more and more expensive resources.

This applies to all portfolios, from defence to the arts, and is propelled by nothing more than wishful adolescent ideological fantasies.

Nowhere is this more apparent that the bottomless subsidies Energy and Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen has thrown at his Net Zero delusion. Daily, the inefficient and largely unrealised wind, solar and untried green hydrogen projects Bowen boasts of are being cancelled by participating organisations.

None can exist without billions in taxpayer contributions.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen at the Collie Battery Energy Storage System in Western Australia – part of the net zero delusion. Picture: Mark Stewart/NewsWire

By some calculations, if all the offshore wind factories this windbag has promised were built, more than 7000km of undersea high-voltage cables would have to be laid in addition to the thousands of kilometres of new transmission lines already needed to connect his unrealistic and unreliable terrestrial wind and solar factories to the grid.

Nations, like Germany, that Bowen once cited as his models are increasingly turning to the only true clean, green energy source, nuclear power.

Germany is turning to the only true clean, green energy source, nuclear power. Picture: Christof Stache/AFP

In their obstinacy, Bowen, Labor and the Greens will not move to lift the ban on permitting nuclear power generation in the country, while our AUKUS agreement is all about nuclear submarines and the very technology these numbskulls claim doesn’t work. Then again, our Defence Department doesn’t work now and there’s no reason to suggest it might in the future.

A glance at the recent Australian National Audit Office report into Defence’s maintenance of our two $3.2bn Canberra-class landing helicopter dock vessels (LHD), HMASCanberra and HMAS Adelaide, reveals “an accumulation of defects and maintenance backlogs over several years have materialised. The substandard condition of the vessels, and personnel workforce shortages, have resulted in instances of critical failure and impacts to the Navy’s delivery of operational outcomes”.

The landing helicopter dock vessel HMAS Canberra enters the Captain Cook Graving Dock at Garden Island in Sydney. It has been found to be in a substandard condition, resulting in “instances of critical failure and impacts to the Navy’s delivery of operational outcomes”.

The report didn’t miss, concluding: “Defence did not implement fit-for-purpose planning and value for money procurement arrangements to support LHD sustainment. Value for money and the intended sustainment outcomes were not achieved through Defence’s procurement processes.”

When three instances of fraud were discovered, Defence did not seek more information “or change its approach” to managing a particular contract.

This in a top-heavy department with more admirals than ships, all of which really reflects Labor’s approach to governance. It doesn’t have any strategy beyond winning elections by pandering to special-interest groups and no idea of providing productive beneficial outcomes for the nation.

To this end, the bloated public service has been increased by almost 115,000 staffers since Albanese came to office to reach a projected record 213,000 this financial year – to keep the unions happy.

These new employees are in the compliance, regulation, admin, project management, marketing, human resources, policy and service delivery sectors even as the private sector is collapsing under the weight of green and red tape, with 5000 new regulations introduced by this government. We are losing essential industries. Those that are clinging on are pleading to be bailed out in the face of punishing energy costs.

It’s all OK with Albanese though, he’s secured his relationship with the 34 per cent who voted for Labor by releasing a list of his top 10 pop songs.

Forget Midnight Oil’s whiny Beds are Burning though, the whole nation has been burnt and is crumbling into ashes on Labor’s watch.

Originally published as Akerman: Defence audit reveals inefficient, top-heavy governance of Labor’s rush to terminal poverty