Richard Marles gives dressing down to Defence Department

Defence Minister Richard Marles has delivered a brutal assessment of his department’s performance, saying it has ‘a long way to go’ before it can claim to have a ‘culture of excellence’.

Defence Minister Richard Marles in question time on Thursday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Defence Minister Richard Marles has delivered a brutal assessment of his department’s performance, saying it has “a long way to go” before it can claim to have a “culture of excellence”.

The judgment comes as Defence scrambles to implement the government’s new strategic blueprint and transform itself into a more agile department able to respond to looming threats.

Amid reports of frustrations in Mr Marles’s office over the pace of Defence reform, the minister told parliament: “I make no excuses or apologies for demanding excellence and a culture of excellence in the Department of Defence and in the Australian Defence Force.

“And there is a way to go before we have that culture of excellence in the Department of Defence and the ADF.”

Defence is under pressure from the government as it re-draws its 10-year capability investment plan, which will require a swath of spending cuts to fund nuclear submarines, ships and missiles.

One source told The Australian that Mr Marles had been handed “a grenade” by Defence in an earlier draft of the plan that would have been politically fatal if it had been implemented.

Labor is itself under pressure to stump up more funds in the May budget to fund promised new capabilities, and to start making decisions so Defence industry firms can get to work on the plan.

Defence Secretary Greg Moriarty faces Senate Estimates. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Opposition defence spokesman Andrew Hastie said the government’s handling of Defence was marked by “chaos and dysfunction”.

“In October 2022, Mr Marles stood up and said the buck stopped with him as the Minister of Defence. He is failing by his own standard,” Mr Hastie said.

“Australia is facing the most dangerous strategic circumstances since the end of the Second World War … yet all we get from Labor is weak leadership.”

The new Defence investment plan must incorporate the government’s new surface fleet plan, which Mr Marles received last year but is yet to release.

The government has also pledged to release a new national defence strategy, a plan to revive the nation’s defence industry, and a Defence estate review that could deliver much-needed funds through the sale of surplus properties.

Mr Marles’s growing frustration with Defence follows his decision to extend Chief of Defence Angus Campbell’s term until the middle of this year, and retain long-serving department secretary Greg Moriarty.

Both have been senior leaders for years, presiding over a force that the Defence Strategic Review condemned as “no longer fit for purpose”.