Page 14 - Defence Industry Guide #55

14 DEFENCE NEWS
ADM’s Defence Industry Guide 2022 | Edition 55 | www.defencesuppliers.com.au
FORMER MINISTER FOR DEFENCE CHRISTOPHER PYNE
NOVEMBER 2021 is an important marker in my career post politics. It’s two and a half years since I left the Parliament and the defence portfolio. For over a quarter of a century in the Parliament and just under three years in the Defence Industry and Defence portfolios, I worked tirelessly to both deliver military capability and sup- port local companies wanting to sup- ply our Australian Defence Force.
Australians are fundamentally in- quisitive people. Our industries across all sectors of the economy are full of smart, capable people creating world leading technology. To me, this has never been clearer than when I served as Australia’s first Minister for De- fence Industry.
As a government, we introduced the Defence Industry portfolio because we recognised the importance indus- try make to our defence forces. As the Minister, I was focused on ensuring we were maximising our Australian content while prioritising the capabili- ties of the ADF.
As I travelled around Australia, meeting with industry I was blown away by the high-quality Research and Development that was happening.
ABOVE: Former Minister for Defence Christopher Pyne is a student of Carl von Clausewitz
However, one of the challenges that I no- ticed facing many com- panies was that they struggled to get their foot in the door – if they knew which door to knock on.
“I WANT TO ENSURE
THAT THE INDUSTRY HAS NO INTENTION OF TAKING THE FOOT OFF THE ACCELERATOR.”
These days, his prose is distilled to simply “war is the extension of politics by other means”. After 26 years in politics, I’m no stranger to this phenomenon.
However, it is Clause- witz’s view on strategy that I like most. He said the talent of a strategist “is to identify the deci-
Occasionally, we
would see a company
get their foot in the door
yet fail once they made
it inside as they didn’t understand how to make the most of their opportunity.
sive point and to concentrate everything on it, removing forces from secondary fronts and ignoring lesser objectives”.
In other words, concentrate on the main game. It’s how Napoleon won many of his greater victories.
When Pyne & Partners takes on a new defence industry client, our first advice is always to heed the words of
since, Pyne & Partners has grown from a team of four based in Adelaide to a team of eight, with our Canberra office opening in March 2021.
I have admired the 19th century philosopher and student of Napoleon Bonaparte, Carl von Clausewitz. In his enduring analysis on war, Clausewitz had much to say about the relationship between war and politics.
Clausewitz – focus on your most criti- cal and deferential opportunity and don’t get distracted by the shiny, seem- ingly easy, half opportunities.
This is coupled with delivering a message that your potential clients can understand. While our defence industry has a strong culture of Re- search and Development, it often gets caught up in failing to properly com- municate to commercial buyers and decision makers.
A manufacturing company can develop the most advanced piece of technology, yet if they can’t simply and succinctly communicate what the problem is and how their product or service solves the issue, they can be left “whistling Dixie”.
As Defence Industry Minister, I set up the framework to ensure that we have a world-leading defence industry in Australia, now in the private sec- tor, I want to ensure that the industry has no intention of taking the foot off the accelerator.
The opportunities are endless, but it’s up to us, collectively as an industry, to focus on our capabilities, communi- cate them effectively and deliver them for the ADF. ■
With my 18-month exclusion from engaging with Defence expiring in No- vember 2020 it was an easy decision to expand my Pyne & Partners consulting business to support companies work- ing in the defence industry to navigate their challenges. In the twelve months
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