Page 33 - Australian Defence Magazine May 2019

KATHERINE ZIESING | CANBERRA
While there is broad bipartisan support for Defence programs, this Budget was very much in election mode with steady as she goes on Defence spending.
AS outlined by ASPI’s Dr Marcus Hellyer on P30, the headline figures for Defence are that Defence on track to spend 1.93 per cent of GDP with $38.7 billion com- mitment to the portfolio. This puts the government on track to meet the much- vaunted two per cent target by 2020-2021. However, given the ramp up to meet that target, the last step in the final year of for- ward estimates is a doozy, asking Defence to double the spending profile from the previous year.
If the ministerial release attached to the Budget is to be taken as gospel, there has never been a better time to be in defence. The political narrative this year centred around global engagement via deployments and operations (see Operations section be- low) and performing on the promises made over the past few years to support the $200 billion spending plan outlined in the 2016 White Paper and related documents.
Since the release the last Budget, some headline programs have hit significant milestones. These include:
• for the Attack submarines, the Strategic
Partnering Agreement has been signed and construction work by Australian Naval Industries – ANI (the infrastruc- ture part of the old ASC business) on the new yard to build said new subma- rines has begun.
• the head contract for the Future Frigate has been signed with BAE Systems Aus- tralia. ASC Shipbuilding has been trans- ferred from the Commonwealth to BAE Systems for the life of the program. ANI, at the time of the Budget release, is also 40 per cent through the construction of the yard to support the construction of the Hunter class.
• Phase 2 of Land 400 for 211 Boxer Com- bat Reconnaissance Vehicles from Rhein- metall Defence Australia.
• confirmation of the first two Triton RPAs by Cabinet, with another four or five still to be confirmed.
• additional materiel for Soldier Systems.
• first tranche of the Defence Fuel Trans-
formation Program approved.
• the first of the Arafura class has had her
keel laid in Adelaide
• confirmation of the MC-55A Peregrine
EW aircraft confirmed
• the update of the Special Purpose Air-
craft fleet (more commonly known as the VIP fleet) with Falcon 7Xs was also con- firmed the day of the Budget by ADM’s Deputy Editor Nigel Pittaway (see News for more on this).
The exact value of these milestones is hard to pin down, even with the release of the Budget papers, as a distinction between dol- lars committed and dollars spent is not clear.
Big announceables for the Budget seem to be a thing of the past, with the govern- ment preferring a constant drip feed of
decisions as they are made rather than saving them up.
I was looking forward to seeing what the diary of First and Second Pass approv- als would like but was disappointed to see it once again omitted from the Budget papers. Lining up the publicly available documents to assess whether the Inte- grated Investment Program (IIP), Budget papers, Defence Annual Report, minis- terial announcements, Senate Estimates and AusTender all align is difficult. But we shall persevere.
There are some new additions to the Top 30 Acquisition and Sustainment programs by value (see tables 1 and 2 for these). The Budget Thought Bubbles box (see P40) has more detail on movements at the margins that might be of interest to ADM readers.
Of the total capital investment program for this year, $11.7 billion will be spent on vari- ous program streams, slight 6.3 per cent in- crease from the previous year. This includes: • $8.7 billion for the Major Capital In-
vestment Program
• $2 billion for the Capital Facilities
Program
• $864 million for the ICT Investment
Program
• $123 million in Minors, this fin year.
The biggest change to note in this space is the forward program of work. Last year, the forward program of work was $54 billion.
FIGURE 1: DEFENCE WORKFORCE AT A GLANCE
Navy
14,776
Air Force
14,493
APS
16,272
Army
30,821
www.australiandefence.com.au | May 2019 | 33