Page 155 - Australian Defence Magazine Sep-Oct 2022

SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2022 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
FROM THE SOURCE LTGEN SIMON STUART 155
ADM: What are your initial priorities as Chief given the up- coming Force Posture Review?
LTGEN STUART: People remain at the centre of everything that our Army does and, indeed, that the ADF does. There certainly will be some continuity in terms of how we ap- proach the Force Posture Review. We have a very good un- derstanding of what contribution Army makes to the Joint Force, and in coalitions with allies and partners. So, we understand the environment, we understand our contribu- tion and I think we would be well placed to make some informed contributions to that Force Posture Review.
Inherent in our approach is the understanding and the requirement to continue to adapt and, in that light, my four initial priorities are trust, readiness, responsible steward- ship of resources and telling our story. Trust is about build- ing and maintaining the trust of our people, the commu- nity that we serve and the government of the day.
BELOW LEFT: A soldier from 3RAR fires a Javelin FGM- 148 direct fire guided weapon system during Exercise Kapyong Warrior
Readiness is about rebuilding our readiness to fight to- night and making sure that we’re doing what we can today to set conditions for the future.
When it comes to being responsible stewards of the re- sources that we are entrusted with, the real focus is on how we use our time and making sure that it is aligned with our priorities and building our readiness.
And then finally in terms of telling our story better, as a national institution, as a profession and as an army, I think we have a wonderful history. We certainly have magnificent people serving our nation today and I think there’s a really positive story to tell and I’d like for more people to hear it.
ADM: Are you happy with Army’s positioning at this pres- ent time, in terms of both capability and skills?
LTGEN STUART: We have a really challenging set of strategic circumstances and a really challenging environment in the Indo-Pacific and we are working every day to make sure we are equal to those challenges. I’m absolutely confident in the people that we have in our army today, all 50,000 of them, across all parts of our army, whether they’re work- ing full time or part time. So, I’m really confident in our people and I think our communities over the last few years in their times of need, whether that be bushfires, floods, pandemic, looking after our senior citizens, having seen up close and personal just what a fantastic capability that their army represents.
But we also need to make sure that we rebuild and regen- erate our readiness because while we’ve been doing those tasks, we haven’t been able to train to the level and to the frequency in our core role and that needs to be rebuilt. So that’s one of my four priorities, rebuilding our readiness.
PROFILE
2020 Head Land Capability
2017 Commander Multinational Force and Observers
2015 DG Land Mobility Systems Branch
2014 US Army War College
2012 Commander Combined Team (Uruzgan)
2011 Deputy Chief of Staff – Army Headquarters
2010 Commander International Stabilisation Forces Joint Task Force 631, East Timor
2008 CO 8th/9th Battalion RAR
2002 UK Joint Services Command and Staff College 2000 Company Commander 2nd Battalion RAR
1990 Platoon Commander 2nd/4th Battalion RAR
2022 Chief of Army
DEFENCE