Richard Marles says senior Defence leaders must be challenged

Richard Marles has revealed there are ‘issues of culture’ within the senior Defence leadership, in comments the Opposition has labelled a ‘public vote of no confidence in his own department’.

Defence Minister Richard Marles. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Ben Clark

Defence Minister Richard Marles has revealed there are “issues of culture within the senior leadership” of his own department that need to be challenged, as he ­expressed concern about the accuracy and timeliness of advice.

Pressed on Sky News about ­reports that he was frustrated with his department and had demanded a culture of excellence in a closed-door meeting late last year with ­defence secretary Greg Moriarty and Chief of the Defence Force Angus Campbell, Mr Marles ­acknowledged problems within the “broader leadership”.

“What we need to see in terms of the leadership of the Australian Defence Force and the Department of Defence – and I’m not just talking about the two leaders (Mr Moriarty and General Campbell) – but the broader leadership is that all that we do is done with excellence,” Mr Marles said.

“That advice is timely. That ­advice is accurate. That we are ­expecting of ourselves the same amount of excellence that we would expect of somebody who’s in the infantry or somebody who is maintaining an aircraft where there is excellence and complete competence.”

Opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson said Mr Marles’ comments appeared to be a “public vote of no confidence in his own department and the military leadership of our defence forces”. “That’s a deeply disturbing thing,” he told Sky News.

“If he does have confidence in them he shouldn’t publicly undermine them by saying that.”

Mr Marles had earlier taken aim at Defence by saying that “I think there are issues of culture within the senior leadership and the more general leadership of the ADF and the department which needs challenging”.

“And that’s something that, as I say, I’ve had complete collaboration with from both the secretary of defence and the CDF (Chief of the Defence Force),” Mr Marles said. “There is an issue in relation to culture and we should be seeking to have a culture of absolute excellence and that is the point that I’ve made.”

Opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Martin Ollman

He also argued that morale within Defence had been damaged by the previous Coalition government, warning there had been too many ministers serving in the portfolio in too short a time period.

“I’ve also made this observation … I mean, when you have six, really seven different defence ministers churning through the portfolio over the course of nine years, that has an impact on morale,” he said.

“So I think there were those ­issues within the ADF and within the department. And I can understand how that has happened. Going forward, though, we need to address that culture.

And, yes, government has its part to play … But the other side of that is that we also then need to challenge Defence to meet the issue of that morale and make sure that there is excellence in all that is done.”

The comments from Mr Marles come after the government announced its plans to increase the navy’s surface fleet to 26 major combatants through the procurement of a new class of 11 frigates and six large drone-style “optionally crewed” vessels.

To fund the larger fleet, the government will invest an ­additional $1.7bn in defence over the four-year forward estimates and $11.1bn over the next decade. This will take defence spending as a proportion of GDP from just over 2 per cent to 2.4 per cent from the early 2030s.

But Senator Paterson was sceptical about the planned increase to defence spending, telling Sky News: “I‘ll believe that when I see it.”

“How can you say seriously, if these are the most dire circumstances … after World War II, that only $1.7bn over the next four years is going to be enough?”