Page 79 - Australian Defence Magazine Nov 2020

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DEFENCE INDIGENOUS EMPLOYMENTSTRATEGY
Defence says remains committed to Rec- onciliation and the National Agreement on Closing the Gap. The Defence Recon- ciliation Action Plan (D-RAP) 2019-2022 provides the strategic roadmap on how Defence will enhance its commitment to provide better socio-economic outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. The D-RAP focus areas include:
• Building stronger relationships with
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
Peoples and communities.
• Cultivating a deeper understanding and
respect for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture, history and contempo- rary issues across the organisation.
• Increasing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander participation through employ- ment and procurement opportunities.
• Improving the retention of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander personnel, and pro- viding career development opportunities. As at 30 June 2020, ADF Indigenous
participation in Defence against the Aus- tralian Government target of 2.7 per cent, is at 3.2 per cent, with the APS Indigenous workforce reflecting 2.3 per cent.
Defence has set ambitious Indigenous representation targets of 3.0 per cent for the Defence Australian Public Service (APS) workforce by 2022, and 5.0 per cent for the ADF by 2025.
Defence continues to follow Australian Government targets under the Indigenous Procurement Policy (IPP). Since the introduc- tion of the IPP in 2015, over $2 billion of Com- monwealth Government contracts have been awarded to Indigenous businesses. Of this, Defence has awarded over $1 billion in con- tract value to Indigenous-owned businesses.
Defence will continue to partner with In- digenous communities to co-design initiatives that provide direct support and outcomes for Indigenous Australians. This includes:
• Dual-naming major Defence bases in Traditional language which acknowledg- es Indigenous culture and communities.
• Establishing an enhanced Indigenous Liaison Officer network, specialised Indigenous appointments and exter- nal promotion of Indigenous Affairs through the media.
• Appointing a fulltime Navy Indigenous Advisor and Army announced the ap- pointment of their second Indigenous Elder. Air Force are strengthening their community relationship with the Na-
tional Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation, extending the Kummun- doo Program for a further five years.
CONCLUSION
Once again, Defence is running with riv- ers of gold, and will struggle to get money out the door fast enough to deliver on the ambitious plans set by government. The policy document update of July this year has been funded to the hilt and beyond. But the government is set to also hit a tril- lion dollars in debt this year. This is a level of public debt not previously seen in our nation. It does pay, however, to remember that Australia as a nation has traditionally held a large amount of government debt as a proportion of GDP since federation. Re- forms of the 1980s and 1990s saw much of this this national debt move from gov- ernment to households, a trend not seen in many other comparable OECD nations.
The political pot of gold at the end of the rainbow of a surplus equating to good financial governance is mythical at best and anything can be truthful when num- bers are portrayed in different contexts.
COVID led spending to buffer the econ- omy will echo for decades to come. How long and deep these affects will linger re- mains to be seen. It has also provided the opportunity to refocus on how businesses operate and why they do what they do. Some businesses have gone through a de- cade worth of IT upgrades to enable remote working in months rather than years. De- fence is not one of those businesses but has made small gains in this space.
Defence has some mega programs on the books that will take up a significant chunk of funding for acquisition and then sustain- ment for generations; think JSF, Land 400 vehicles and the Attack and Hunter classes. Once again, these big sexy platforms are at the centre of a lot of planning with huge effects on all nine Fundamental Inputs to Capability (FICs) and understandably so. It is good to see a range of enabling programs and technologies like space, enterprise ICT and cyber also coming to the fore not just inpolicybutalsoindollars.
There is no business as usual, if there ever was. And the phrase ‘unprecedented times’ should be retired from public discourse for at least a generation. In the meantime, Defence is planning and spending, as it always does, in an era of strategic uncertainty. The 2020 Budget for Defence is certain that Defence is an important part of the economy and society.