Review steers national strategy for safer future

Australia can no longer rely on the strategic blessings of our island continent.

Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy in Darwin following the release of the Defence Strategic Review Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

We are a nation girt by sea, but Australia can no longer rely on the strategic blessings of our island continent.

Technology is increasing the range of missiles, cyberthreats can reach inside our infrastructure, and innovation is increasing the potency and shrinking the cost of novel weapons. The greatest military build-up in our region since World War II is under way, and we can no longer count on a 10-year warning of a major conflict.

It is not the reality we choose, but it is the reality we face.

That is why the Albanese government commissioned the Defence Strategic Review (DSR) to understand potential threats and set out a blueprint for reform to Defence’s posture and structure.

In response, the government is reshaping Defence so that it is fit for purpose to deter threats and support stability in our region. And we are boosting Australia’s workforce and industrial base to deliver the defence capabilities we need.

The government has accepted the recommendation from the DSR that spending will need to increase to deliver critical capabilities and implement reform.

In the May budget, there is a provision for increased defence spending above the previous trajectory over the decade.

Over the next four years, the Albanese government will invest more than $19bn in priority areas for immediate action identified in response to the DSR.

But it also means we’ve had to make hard decisions to cancel or reprioritise Defence projects no longer acutely relevant to the challenges we face, so we can invest in those that are.

Conventionally armed nuclear-powered submarines will help deter threats, protect our sea lanes and economy, and contribute to the economic and regional stability of the Indo-Pacific. This program will see $6bn invested in Australia’s industrial capability and workforce over the next four years.

The government will support the submarine program by:

● Building the capabilities of our defence industry;

●Training a highly skilled trades, technical, scientific and engineering workforce; and

● Developing new infrastructure for sustaining and building nuclear-powered submarines in Australia.

There is also an urgent need to accelerate the manufacture of guided weapons and their critical components. This will make Australia more self-reliant, support our ongoing needs and supplement the supply chains of our partners.

When it comes to acquisition and manufacturing of missiles, it’s not one or the other. We need both. We need to replenish our own stocks of guided weapons and explosive ordnance and we need to establish missile and munition manufacturing facilities in Australia. There is no time to waste.

The former government intended to commence manufacturing missiles in Australia in 2027. We want to do this before then, and while this is ambitious, early planning with industry confirms it is feasible.

We also need to scale up manufacturing of defensive equipment, which is why we have just signed a $180m contract with Rheinmetall to build the Multi-Ammunition Soft-Kill System in Queensland.

It is vital kit that will protect our naval fleet – and it is the kind of advanced manufacturing we need to have onshore. We also have to turn disruptive new technologies into game-changing capabilities, and to build our nation’s industrial capability in areas of priority.

Silentium Defence has developed ‘the holy grail of defence innovation’ – passive radar technology which allows surveillance without detection. Picture: Simon Casson

For a country the size of Australia, technology and science are a key source of asymmetric advantage. They need to be at the heart of our defence strategy, and they will be – through AUKUS and through the biggest investment in defence innovation in decades.

Australia’s world-leading defence science and innovation sector has the capacity to deliver. Take small Adelaide start-up Silentium Defence. It has developed passive radar technology which allows surveillance without detection. It’s the holy grail of defence innovation: a breakthrough technology developed by Defence Science and Technology Group (DSTG), with military and civilian applications.

Silentium Defence is a great success story, but the reality is we need dozens just like it, each and every year, and we need to develop them in half the time if we are to deter threats and capitalise on innovation that drives more high-paying jobs for Australians.

That is what the Advanced Strategic Capabilities Accelerator is designed to do.

The accelerator will be a whole new innovation ecosystem focused on getting the best and brightest Australian technologies from proposal to prototype to production as fast as possible.

A genuine partnership between the government, industry and unions will be critical to growing the defence industrial base and speeding up the acquisition of vital defence capabilities.

Key to building that partnership will be the new Defence Industry Development Strategy, which the government will release by the end of this year.

The strategy will set out the strategic rationale for a sovereign defence industrial base, how we will grow our industrial capability and capacity in priority areas, grow the industry’s workforce and increase Australia’s defence exports.

Protecting our national security and maintaining peace, security and prosperity in our region is getting tougher, but implementing our plan will make Australia stronger and a better partner for our allies.

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Pat Conroy is the Defence Industry Minister and International Development and the Pacific Minister.