New defence 'super agency' to tackle billion-dollar cost blowouts and delays
Thousands of defence staff face the largest restructure in decades as the government promises taxpayers better value from the $60 billion annual budget.
Taxpayers have been promised better bang for buck as part of the biggest overhaul to defence in more than 50 years.
Thousands of staff across three capability groups will be merged into one super agency, the Defence Delivery Agency, in a bid to reduce multi-billion dollar cost blowouts and years-long delays.
Defence Minister Richard Marles said with the government making the biggest ever peacetime investment in the military, it was crucial every dollar was being well spent.
“The establishment (of this) will see a much bigger bang for buck for the defence spend, and that is at the heart of the decision we have made,” Mr Marles said on Monday.
“It will make sure that as we spend more money in the defence budget, we are doing so in a way which sees programs delivered on time and on budget.”
The Capability and Sustainment Group, the Guided Weapons and Explosive Ordnance Group and the Naval Shipbuilding and Sustainment Group will be merged into the new agency to eventually sit independent of Defence and report directly to ministers who will control the budget.
The three groups are responsible for nearly 40 per cent of defence’s $60bn a year budget, and Mr Marles said there would not be job cuts as part of the restructure.
The government has been working towards this overhaul for some time, with Mr Marles pointing to the “28 different projects running a combined 97 years over time” when Labor first came to office.
Mr Marles said on Monday “we feel an absolute obligation to ensure that money is spent in the best possible way … when the last government was in power we saw massive blowouts”.
“We need to ensure, going forward, as there is more money being spent in the defence portfolio, it’s being done in a cost-effective way but that programs are being delivered on time and on budget,” he said.
Opposition defence spokesman Angus Taylor said the restructure was just a matter of “moving bureaucrats around”, and wouldn’t help the “chronically underfunded” defence force.
“We will look closely at it and sometimes moving bureaucrats around might be a necessary part of a broader plan but what we are lacking here is the broader plan,” Mr Taylor said.
“This is a dangerous time and we need a defence force that is genuinely ready for conflict, not because we want conflict but because we want to deter it and strength is necessary for deterrence.”
The defence announcement came as the government confirmed it was monitoring a Chinese navy flotilla, currently in the Philippines Sea.
“We do not have a sense of where it is going. But we continue to monitor it, as we monitor all movements until we know that the task groups are not coming to Australia,” Mr Marles said.
Originally published as New defence 'super agency' to tackle billion-dollar cost blowouts and delays
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