Page 32 - Australian Defence Magazine February 2022

32 DEFENCE BUSINESS DEBSS
FEBRUARY 2022 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
SUPPORTING THE WARFIGHTER – DEFENCE ESTATE & BASE SERVICES SUMMIT
NIGEL PITTAWAY | CANBERRA
After the 2020 event was cancelled due to the global COVID pandemic, ADM’s Defence Estate and Base Services Summit (DEBSS) returned to a live event in December 2021.
DEBSS 2021 was held at the Hotel Realm in Canberra on 13 December and attracted over 330 attendees, with more join- ing by video link. Platinum Sponsors this year were Downer and Tetra Tech and Gold Sponsors included ADCO, BGIS, GHD, JLL and Ventia.
There were several themes running through DEBSS 2021, including the worsening strategic situation, sustain- ability and the environment, service delivery, partnerships between Defence and industry, and Indigenous procure- ment. However, the mood throughout the day was one of optimism, with many delegates expressing the importance of attending live events once again.
The scene was set at the welcome reception the evening before the summit by recently-retired Deputy Secretary of the Defence Estate and Infrastructure Group (E&IG) Steve Grzeskowiak, who reflected on his nine years in the role and the challenges recently presented by the pandemic.
“All of the things that are happening in our strategic context affect the work you do around the Defence estate which, as you are all aware, is one of our critical enablers for defence capability – be that training, or the delivery of that capability at Government request,” Grzeskowiak said.
“If you look back over the COVID period, the past 18 months, we together have done some amazing work – large- ly kept the businesses running, kept the projects being delivered – [while] working with the various levels of re- strictions that were coming and going. I saw a lot of letters before I left from small businesses in particular, thanking Defence for keeping that work flowing and keeping them alive, [but] not only did we keep the work going, we actu-
ally pumped another $300-400 million into the portfolio as additional work.”
Grzeskowiak recalled that when he first took on the role in 2012, whenever the government needed money from De- fence it came from the estate or from ICT and not often from capability.
“We were in a perilous situation from 2012 right through to 2014-2015, where the funding was inadequate,” he add- ed. “The 2016 White Paper was the moment that shifted and we find ourselves in a situation now where there is a good, strong, steady supply of funding.”
MINISTERIAL ADDRESS
Following a welcome to country from Ngambri and Ngun- nawal Traditional Custodian Paul House, chair of the morning session Tetra Tech’s Josef Baukes kicked off the day by introducing Defence Industry Minister Melissa Price, who spoke to the room via a pre-recorded video.
Minister Price noted that the Defence Estate footprint across Australia currently includes 17 major bases, 400 properties and 30,000 structures across 2.8 million hect- ares of land, supporting responses to national crises and regional disasters.
“Now as we contend with a far more complex and far less predictable region than at any time since the Second World War, Australia’s defence estate and infrastructure is becoming even more important for the ADF’s core role,” she told delegates, noting the government’s commitment of around $38 billion between now and 2031.
“While the national picture is one of success, we need to
NIGEL PITTAWAY