Page 4 - Australian Defence Magazine October 2021

4 EDITORIAL
OCTOBER 2021| WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
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All material appearing in ADM is copyright. Reproduction in whole or in part is not permitted without permission in writing from the publisher. The publishers accept sole responsibility for the contents of this publication, which may in no way be taken to represent the views of the Department of Defence, the Australian Defence Force or any other agency of the Commonwealth of Australia.
DEFENCE industry is one of few sectors in the Australian economy (perhaps the only sector) to have a single customer – the De- partment of Defence.
Defence journalism is much the same. While we try to cast as wide a net as pos- sible to gather information, our reporting often relies on a main point of truth – the Department of Defence.
Which is why many defence journalists were concerned when the standard reply to questions to Defence changed earlier this year – a change that coincided with Peter Dutton’s move into the Defence portfolio.
As Kym Bergmann, editor of APDR, re- ported in May, there was an in- struction given to Defence from the new Minister’s office that re- sponses to questions are to be ‘as brief and succinct as possible’ and that ‘capability-related interviews are unlikely to be approved.’
Subsequently it has become virtually impossible to gain any information from Defence on Australian military capabilities. Even when ADF members ap- proach the media themselves, formal requests to arrange in- terviews are acknowledged and then later denied. It seems the
only ADF member currently permitted to engage with the media is the Gov- ernment-appointed Covid-19 task force commander.
The effect is that Defence is now un- dertaking the largest re-capitalisation of Australian military capabilities since the Second World War, including the historic procurement of nuclear pow- ered submarines, without account- ability to the Australian taxpayers it is tasked to defend.
This matters for three reasons. First, Defence is answerable to the Minister, who is in turn answerable to taxpayers through democratic processes. If the De- partment withholds information on mili- tary capabilities and acquisitions from the public, it is restricting the democratic right of Australians to have a say in how they are defended.
Second, the moratorium means project teams and uniformed members are achiev- ing capability milestones without recogni- tion, and are also unable to publicly refute inaccurate reporting. ADM understands this is having a significant impact on mo- rale within some sections of Defence.
Third, the moratorium is depriving Aus- tralia’s defence industry of its ability to communicate with its prospective work- force. Australia’s shortage of skilled work- ers is the largest obstacle to the successful delivery of military capability. If the De- partment prevents defence industry from speaking about its work, how will it attract the talent it needs to deliver the capabili- ties the Department has asked for?
The contingencies that the ADF is pre- paring for are of far greater consequence than one minister’s discomfort with ac- countability. As we look forward to more enlightened times ahead, ADM will con- tinue to do what we have done for over 28 years – a period of time that has seen 14 Defence Ministers come and go – and that is to report the business of Defence as ac- curately and as promptly as possible, while providing our readers with balanced and insightful analysis of the major issues.
In this issue you will find two such sto- ries from Senior Correspondent Julian Kerr, who delves into what a proposed Collins-class upgrade might look like now that RAN’s next submarine fleet will be nuclear, and turns the magnifying glass to Navy’s Hunter-class frigate build program.
This month we also farewell another team member here at ADM, whom we know will be familiar to many of our read- ership. Advertising and features manager David Jones (pictured below) is retiring this month after 14 years in the role and the whole team would like to thank DJ for his loyal and dedicated service over that time. We’re sure you will join us in wish- ing him the very best
for the future.
In the meantime, we
hope you enjoy read- ing what our talented team have brought you this month. ■