Richard Marles extends military top brass terms

Richard Marles has moved to protect the March deadline for key decisions on the AUKUS submarine program by extending the terms of the ADF chiefs driving the project.

Richard Marles says the appointments came at a time that is ‘as strategically complex as any since the end of the Second World War’. Picture: Martin Ollman

Defence Minister Richard Marles has moved to protect the March deadline for key decisions on Australia’s AUKUS nuclear submarine program by extending the terms of the Australian Defence Force chiefs driving the project.

In a rare move that surprised the top brass, Defence Minister Richard Marles asked Chief of the Defence Force Angus Campbell and Vice Chief of the Defence Force David Johnston – whose four-year tenures were up in July – to serve two more years.

Chief of Joint Operations Greg Bilton will also serve another two years.

Amid a warning from Mr Marles that the Coalition had let key procurement projects fall behind and “allowed the nation to drift”, the extended terms signal the new Labor government’s desire to commit to the AUKUS timetable on the next generation sub¬marines and push ahead with the delayed $45bn future frigates program.

Mr Marles, who is Acting Prime Minister while Anthony Albanese is in Europe to attend the NATO summit, also announced a new team of service chiefs who will serve in their roles for four years.

Rear Admiral Mark Hammond has been promoted to Chief of Navy, Major General Simon Stuart has been appointed Chief of Army and Air Vice-Marshal Robert Chipman becomes Chief of Air Force.

“It is a balance. What we are seeking to do is to have new people involved, which is who we have been announcing today, while at the same time maintaining a continuity at the very top,” Mr Marles said.

“It is not normal. In fact, it is unusual, although not unprecedented, to have a chief of the defence force serving what will be for six years.”

Angus Houston was the last chief of the defence force to have his term extended under then prime minister Kevin Rudd in 2008.

Mr Marles said the senior Australian Defence Force leadership appointments came at a time that was “as strategically complex as any since the end of the Second World War in terms of our national security and the needs of our defence procurement”.

“The former government left a lot of major procurements to fall behind time. Australia has a number of capability challenges – most significantly delivering the next generation of submarines. And as a country, it’s important that we are bedding down the new AUKUS arrangement,” Mr Marles said. “Against this backdrop, in considering the new service chiefs the Albanese government has placed an emphasis and a premium on continuity.”

Former prime minister Scott Morrison announced in September that the UK and US would help Australia acquire nuclear-powered submarines, under the trilateral AUKUS agreement.

A taskforce led by Defence was given 18 months to investigate how Australia could become a “reliable steward” of nuclear submarines.

Mr Marles on Tuesday said that was a “reasonable” time frame, meaning that by March next year he wanted to know the design of the submarines and where, when and how they would be built.

The Australian understands there are expectations within government that the first nuclear submarines won’t be in the water by 2030 and there will be some capability gap.

Peter Dutton said when he was defence minister under Mr Morrison the navy and defence force chiefs advised him there was no capability gap because there will be a “life of type extension” for the Collins-class submarines. Shipbuilder ASC says that extension would see the submarines operating into the 2040s and beyond.

“When Labor were in government, they reduced spending in defence to the lowest level since 1938, it was quite remarkable,” the Opposition Leader said in Adelaide.

“We’ve built up the spending and investment in defence, not just in defence industry – and there’s a big benefit here in South Australia with the investment that we’ve made in defence industry – but we’ve put more money into the support, the equipment that our troops need, the training, the deployments.”

While speculation has been mounting the Albanese government will choose an American submarine design over one from the UK, Mr Marles said there were a number of options and no “obvious choice”.

“The next step is going to be, in terms of whatever solution we will be going with – when can we get it? Obviously, with a sense that we want to get it as soon as possible,” he said.

“We are talking about a very big step that will be taken in relation to our capability to be driving nuclear-powered submarines. It won’t happen soon. But we want to work out how quickly we can get it and every year counts.

“When we have a sense of when we can get that, that actually does answer the question as to what capability gap has opened up. Then we need to look at a range of options as to how to close that gap. And really there are a lot of options on the table there.”

Australian Strategic Policy Institute senior analyst Marcus Hellyer said Mr Marles’ decision to extend General Campbell and Vice Admiral Johnston’s terms showed confidence in the defence leadership.

“It’s a wise, measured kind of approach, as long as it’s not just a rubber stamp for business as usual. The new government has to take charge of things,” Dr Hellyer said.

“(It signals that) while there may be some changes with the new government, they’re not going to overturn everything and start all over again.”

Mr Marles thanked the outgoing service chiefs Michael Noonan (navy), Rick Burr (army) and Mel Hupfeld (air force), saying they had served with great distinction during a period of significant cultural change and modernisation of military capabilities.