Big Defence projects running 36 years late

Defence’s biggest projects are running a combined 36.8 years late as Labor spins its wheels on its pledge to get military procurement back on track.

An artist’s impression of a Hunter-class frigate.

Defence’s biggest projects are running a combined 36.8 years late as Labor spins its wheels on its pledge to get military procurement back on track.

The Auditor-General’s latest Defence major projects report reveals a cumulative 442 months in delays on the department’s top 21 procurements, with an average “slippage” of more than two years.

The figure is just 11 months down on the previous report’s figure of 453 months, while the approved cost of Defence’s biggest projects has soared by $18bn to nearly $41bn.

The government has also moved to prevent scrutiny of individual projects, such as the troubled Hunter-class frigates, restricting the release of detailed schedule data on 20 procurements on the grounds that doing so would “cause damage to the security, defence or international relations of the commonwealth”.

The report reveals the first three Hunter frigates will cost $8.6bn each, making them one of the most expensive warships on the planet, while the bill for the ­nation’s F-35 joint strike fighters has surged by $10.5bn since the project was approved in 2013.

The cost of upgrades to the Growler electronic warfare fighter jets has increased by $2.9bn since 2019, while the budget for the air force’s Triton reconnaissance drones has jumped by $1.4bn in the past five years.

The Australian National Audit Office warned: “Delivering major projects on schedule continues to present challenges for Defence.

“Schedule slippage can affect when the capability is made available for operational release and deployment by the ADF, as well as the cost of delivery.” The report came just days after the government listed sustainment of the ­nation’s Collins-class submarine as a “project of concern”.

Coalition defence spokesman Andrew Hastie said Labor’s management of the $55bn Defence portfolio had fallen well short of its promises. “The Albanese government has failed its own task of fixing defence procurement as we continue to see significant delays to procurement,” he said. “Despite talking a big game, Labor is failing to equip Australia with the critical capability we need to defend ourselves as a result of its mismanagement of Defence.”

Greens senator David Shoebridge also condemned the government’s performance, accusing it of “fundamentally mismanaging” Defence major projects.

“The fact Defence is using ­‘national security’ to mask the ­extent of project delays is plainly disingenuous. Defence’s secrecy is about shielding their own incompetence,” he said. “Defence’s average run-of-the-mill major project now has at least two years of ­delays. In any other department people might lose their jobs for this – in Defence it’s cause for a promotion.”

Months after taking office, ­Defence Minister Richard Marles said Labor would “actively manage defence procurement after a lost decade of negligence on the part of the former government”.

“What we have seen is a complete failure of leadership by the former Coalition government and we intend to rectify that,” he said.

“We are going to manage defence spending in a way which achieves value for money for taxpayers. We’re going to manage defence procurement in a way which is going to keep Australians safe.”

The latest ANAO report comes as the government faces questions over its commitment to minimising risk on a new $10bn-plus general purpose frigate procurement. It had called for an off-the-shelf design that was already “in the water”, but one option is an upgraded version of a current Japanese frigate that is not yet in service.