Page 16 - Australian Defence Magazine March 2019

DEFENCE BUSINESS
ADM CONGRESS
JULIAN KERR | CANBERRA
Over 500 delegates attended the 16th annual ADM Defence Industry Congress in Canberra
on 13 February.
BURGEONING attendance saw the Con- gress held for the first time at the Canberra Playhouse Theatre, where a packed agenda encompassed 14 presentations, a round table on innovation and collaboration, and three panel discussions covering exports, industry associations, and the indigenous defence sector.
ADM Congress 2019
At the traditional pre-Congress recep- tion ebullient Defence Minister Christo- pher Pyne told guests that the new Austra- lian military sales catalogue launched on 12 February had grown by 75 per cent in three years to feature 114 companies.
In his keynote address to the Congress, Minister for Defence Industry Steven Ciobo, stressed that the 10 initial priorities support- ed through the Centre for Defence Industry Capability (CDIC) embodied the sovereign capabilities on which the government was ab- solutely focused on building over time.
These involved the Collins-class subma- rine maintenance and technology upgrade; the continuous shipbuilding program, in- cluding the rolling submarine acquisition; land combat vehicle technology upgrade; en- hanced active and passive phased array radar capability; and combat clothing and surviv- ability and signature reduction technology.
The other priorities took in advanced signal processing capability and electronic warfare; cyber and information security and signature management technologies and operations; surveillance and intelli- gence data collection analysis and complex systems integration; test evaluation, certi- fication and systems assurance; munitions and small arms research, design, develop- ment, and manufacture; and aerospace plat- form deep maintenance.
The Minister stressed the importance of ensuring that Australian Industry Capabil- ity (AIC) was a fundamental part of deci- sion-making by the primes in projects of more than $20 million and the framework that they applied.
Within the next four to eight weeks, he disclosed, the government would be releas- ing the Defence Policy for Industry Partici- pation, and this would require Australian industry participation in all acquisitions above $4 million.
AIC for the Combat Reconnaissance Ve- hicles to be delivered by Rheinmetall under Project Land 400 Phase 2 was now set for more than 65 per cent and “unashamedly, we’ll pursue a very high level of Australian industry involvement in construction of the Hunter class Future Frigates under Project Sea 5000”.
The forthcoming Federal election in- evitably got a mention, with the Minister warning that historically, “one of the very first buckets of money that the Labor Party goes to when they’re trying to achieve sav-
ings that they can’t currently cover has been from Defence”.
Shadow Defence Minister Richard Mar- les told delegates that Labor was completely committed to the development and sustain- ment of the Australian defence industry, and welcomed the Coalition’s support for the do- mestic industry over the last three years.
However, he questioned the value of pursu- ing a defence policy without a strategic ratio- nale as seen in places like Israel and Sweden.
“There’s a reaction for the loss of the car industry on this government’s watch, and it may be, just may be, what this government is trying to do is to pack defence industry policy as an expression of its industry poli- cy,” he said. “Is there an example anywhere in the world where pursuing defence in- dustry as an aspect of industry policy alone without a strategic underpinning has given rise to a sustainable defence industry? If there’s an example, I’m yet to find it.”
Marles said Labor would build such a strategic narrative. Responding to an ADM question, he said this would need the en-
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