Defence Strategic Review: US admiral William Hilar­ides wins plum job of reviewing Australian fleet

The retired US vice-admiral who will head a review into the future of the navy’s surface fleet has received $US1.3m in contracts from the Australian government since 2016.

Retired US Navy vice-admiral William Hilarides.

The retired US vice-admiral who will head a review into the future of the navy’s surface fleet has received $US1.3m in contracts from the Australian government since 2016 and charges $US4000 ($6000) a day for consulting.

Vice-Admiral William Hilar­ides, a career submariner with the US Navy, has now won a lucrative Australian contract as the head of a review that will determine the future size and structure of the Royal Australian Navy.

The appointment of a US admiral to head a review into the navy has been poorly received by some defence insiders, who question why an Australian was not given the important job.

Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy said the 63-year-old Admiral Hilarides was the right person to lead the review. “The navies of our two countries already work very closely together,” Mr Conroy said. ”William Hilarides has had a long association with Australia. He’s chair of our naval shipbuilding advisory panel, that’s already providing advice on our naval acquisitions.”

Admiral Hilarides served for 39 years in the US Navy, rising through the ranks to command the USS Key West, a Los ­Angeles-class nuclear-powered attack submarine, before leading the Naval Sea Systems Command until his 2016 retirement.

Only months after he retired, Admiral Hilarides joined several other former US navy admirals on the federal government’s Naval Shipbuilding Advisory Board. At that stage, the federal government was looking for advice on how to extend the life of its six Collins-class conventional submarines and other shipbuilding programs.

In early 2021, Admiral Hilarides was named as chair of the Naval Shipbuilding Expert Advisory Panel charged with providing external advice on Australian naval shipbuilding.

The Washington Post last year reported Admiral Hilarides had received Australian government contracts worth $US1.3m since 2016 and that he charged $US4000 a day for his services. The Post said he was part of a large group of former senior US Navy officials that Australia had relied upon heavily to guide its naval policies.

“To an extraordinary degree in recent years, Australia has relied on high-priced American consultants to decide which ships and submarines to buy and how to manage strategic acquisition projects,” the Post said. “In addition to the six retired US admirals, the government of Australia has hired three former civilian US Navy leaders and three US shipbuilding executives.”

Former senator and submariner Rex Patrick said the appointment of a former US admiral to head the review was a vote of no confidence in Australian experts. “I mean no disrespect to Mr Hilarides, but why does the government have a US citizen leading a review into the future shape of the Royal Australian Navy?” he said.

“Any number of retired Australian admirals could have been engaged to conduct that activity.”

Another key figure in the naval shipbuilding industry said the habit of always relying on US experts for Australian sovereign decisions was “a Canberra pandemic known as the Colonial Cultural Cringe”.

The government says the review, which will involve former senior public servant Rosemary Huxtable and retired Australian vice-admiral Stuart Mayer, will be “independent, short and sharp” with the aim of delivering a report by September.

According to the Defence Strategic Review, the appraisal of the navy’s current and future warship fleet aims to “ensure its size, structure and composition complement the capabilities provided by the forthcoming conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarines”.

Defence Minister Richard Marles said: “Now we are going to be operating a nuclear-­powered submarine … it obviously has implication in terms of the overall structure of the navy.”