Page 116 - Australian Defence Magazine Dec-Jan 2023

116 FROM THE SOURCE PAT CONROY
DECEMBER 2022-JANUARY 2023 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
PAT CONROY
MINISTER FOR DEFENCE INDUSTRY
Minister for Defence Industry and Minister for International Development and the Pacific in June, Pat Conroy recently took time out from his busy schedule to speak with ADM Publisher Ewen Levick about the new government’s vision for the future and, specifically, how it intends
to engage with defence industry.
ADM: What do you hope to achieve during your tenure as Minister for Defence Industry?
MINISTER CONROY: Well, I have two goals and they are, one, to improve project performance and acquisition speed – that’s goal number one. And the second goal is to help grow an Australian defence industry that has greater sovereign capabilities and, to be quite frank, is more sus- tainable over the long term than the
ADM: What is your plan for preparing a skilled defence industry workforce, for the nuclear submarines for ex- ample, which is one of the major workforce challenges on the horizon?
MINISTER CONROY: I’ll start by saying that I think work- force is probably the greatest risk to delivering the capa- bility that the ADF needs. We have a skills shortage both
current one, including having a greater number of medium sized businesses.
ADM: What takes priority for you, ADF capability or Australian jobs? MINISTER CONROY: Well ultimately ADF capability is paramount. We should always remember that the point of taxpayers spending tens of billions of dollars in this area is to deliver the equipment that the men and women of the ADF need to defend our coun- try. That is the first task that I have and that is paramount. With the 2020 Defence Strategic Update and a warn- ing time of 10 years evaporating, that is even more important. But equally, Australian taxpayers expect us to maximise the economic impact of that spend, and that includes maximising the jobs and economic impacts. It is also important to highlight critical ar- eas where we need sovereign capability that are critical capabilities.
PROFILE
2022 Minister for Defence Industry, International Development
& the Pacific
2019 Shadow Minister for International Development & the Pacific
2016 Shadow Assistant Minister Infrastructure, Climate Change & Energy
2016 Elected House of Representatives (Member for Shortland)
2013 Elected House of Representatives (Member for Charlton)
2005 Member of ALP Infrastructure Inquiry
2003 Vice President Federal Young Labor
BEc (Hons) University of Sydney
within defence industry and defence itself and we need to grow the de- fence industry to meet the capability projects that we’ve either contracted for or will contract for. So, it’s real- ly important to be upfront with the Australian people and industry that I think this is a really significant risk that we’re facing at the moment.
My plan is to approach this in a calm, reasoned, rational and tripar- tite manner. I think it’s really es- sential that we work closely. It can’t just be the Department of Defence and I as the Defence Industry Min- ister handing down commandments from upon high. We’ll only have sustainable solutions to our skilling challenges if I can bring defence in- dustry and workers and their unions along, and for them to be a critical part of the decision making to de- liver it. And that’s why the taskforce that I’ve announced with the South
ADM: Capability must come first, but where possible your priority will be to create jobs?
MINISTER CONROY: Yes; and to be quite frank, sometimes delivering the capability we need means developing and maintaining an Australian defence industry. There are sovereign capabilities we need within this country and so in some ADF capabilities, creating jobs is the priority be- cause that ultimately delivers the capability.
Australian Government is really important and we will look to work in partnership with other key defence states to develop solutions in those jurisdictions. Ultimately, we have to make sure that we grow the workforce, either at the same time as these projects start or, quite frankly, sometimes in advance, to really deliver on what we need.
And this is a challenge that the entire western world has. I’ve just returned from the United States and when I was speaking with key stakeholders in Washington, they have the same challenges. So, it’s something we all need to work
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