Page 4 - Defence Industry Guide #56 2022

4 EDITORIAL
ADM’s Defence Industry Guide 2022 | Edition 56 | www.defencesuppliers.com.au
WELCOME TO THE 56TH EDITION
EWEN LEVICK | MELBOURNE
WELCOME to the 56th edition of the Defence Industry Guide. Since the last edition of this Guide landed on your desk, Australia has seen its first change of govern- ment in almost a decade.
As Marcus Hellyer wrote in the June 2022 edition of Australian Defence Magazine, the last ten years have seen Defence spending rise from $26.1 billion in 2013- 24 to $48.6 billion in 2022-23, representing a nominal
This will have repercussions for companies that commit their employees’ time, money and energy to- wards projects that one day no longer have a future. The SkyGuardian armed UAV program is one exam- ple, the Attack class submarines another – here one day, gone the next. Each time a program is cancelled, those companies and people are left to re-adjust: and government efforts (such as the Sovereign Shipbuild- ing Talent Pool) often seem to fall short.
The government, therefore, will need to balance the delivery of complex military capability within its budget against the trust that is lost each time a pro- gram is shelved. The defence sector is a monopsony - a market with only one buyer – and consequently that buyer bears much responsibility for preserving trust with its suppliers. After all, the government will not be able to meet its capability ambitions without the trust and support of the companies found in these pages, who together are a recognised fundamental input to capability.
Transparency and communication are key principles in this balancing act. Through the Defence Industry Guide in your hands, as well as the Australian De- fence Magazine, our news website, and our events and awards programs, ADM Group is the communications bridge between Defence and industry, and between in- dustry and industry.
As always, I hope you find this Defence Industry Guide useful and please don’t hesitate to reach out us- ing the contact details on this page. ■
“TRANSPARENCY AND
COMMUNICATION ARE KEY PRINCIPLES IN THIS BALANCING ACT”
growth of 86 per cent and a real term (inflation-adjusted) growth of 55 per cent.
Even through economic ups and downs of the pandemic, the gov- ernment adhered to the funding line set out in the 2016 White Pa- per, and should that funding line continue through the current gov- ernment and out to 2030, Hellyer forecasts an Australian defence industry worth $25 billion per year.
There is, of course, an elephant in the room. As I touched on in my last editorial for this Guide,
Australia’s future nuclear-powered submarine fleet is the most ambitious and most expensive military acquisition in the nation’s history. The government’s current capability ambitions as they stand occupy the current funding line, so some projects may have to make room (i.e. be cancelled) when it comes time to squeeze this elephant in.
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