Page 4 - Australian Defence Magazine Dec-Jan 2021

4 EDITORIAL
DECEMBER 2020 – JANUARY 2021 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
FRESH EYES
KATHERINE ZIESING | CANBERRA
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BY THE TIME this edition of ADM hits your desk, 2020 will officially be over (thank goodness). Yet its effects will linger well into 2021 and beyond. It will be hard to wipe the smoke and mask marks from our eyes. But this is exactly what we must do. The Defence community in all its forms will need to look at what we do and how we do it with fresh eyes if we are to answer the needs of government to build and maintain national resilience in all its forms.
I don’t think I need to go through the events of 2020 in detail on this page. We’ve all lived it, and thankfully for the most part, survived it. My condolences to those that have lost people during this period. Suffice to say, it was a dumpster fire for many.
view this month with Minister for Defence Industry Melissa Price goes through these measures in some detail as well as her ex- pectations for 2021.
International freight became a luxury item for many. Costs were up to 10 times the price of pre-COVID levels and are tak- ing their time to come back down again as the aviation industry starts the long and slow process of rebuilding. What this meant for such highly integrated interna- tional supply chains was extraordinary. Some companies coped better than others, and more than a few discovered players in their own back yard to meet their needs.
I was also amazed at how our manufac- turers stepped up during this time. Axiom moved from precision manufacturing to working with DST Group to make face shields, Army reservists helped get PPE ma- terial manufacturing back on its feet, and Varley moved from making vehicles mod- ules and missile casings to intensive care beds. These are just some of the examples of where and how Industry and Defence came together in the national interest. There are many more examples out there and I am proud to be a part of not just Australia as a lucky country but also a smart one.
The regular phone conferences with min- isters, defence industry, defence advocates, and Defence senior leaders have played an important role in keeping the lines of com- munication open when borders were closed. I think it was an important channel for these times, one that should not be abandoned.
It was with fresh eyes that ADM also looked at its business too. In 2020, we launched podcasts and ADM Analysis reports. These had been on my mind for some time, but our small team never had the capacity to really give them the attention they needed. Getting off the treadmill of travel and conferences al- lowed us to add more value.
As 2021 starts off, we’re looking forward to seeing many of you at ADM Congress 2021 on Feb 3 at the National Convention Centre, in a COVID safe environment. For most it was the only face to face event many of us attended in 2020! Be safe and I hope to see you there or online, with fresh eyes. ■
I will instead focus on the good that came from the year. Working from home became a viable ap- proach for many peo- ple, and about time too. As CIO Steve Pearson pointed out at MilCIS, the De- fence system expand- ed rapidly to meet the needs of roughly 18,000 people work- ing from home each day on the network, up from 2,000 people per day before COV- ID. It was not without its issues, but it was a revolution for the organisation. Defence In- dustry also embraced the move, once again because of the forcing function that COV- ID provided. I can only hope that the gains made in this flexibility for workers and pro- ductivity for workplaces is not lost in the culture of presenteeism that is so prevalent. The ever-increasing policy focus from government on AIC (choose content or ca- pability dear reader) and cutting red tape is also welcome. Many of the measures in- troduced by Government under the Force Structure Review and Defence Strategic Update are being implemented or scoped as I write this. The From the Source inter-
“THE EVER-INCREASING POLICY FOCUS FROM GOVERNMENT ON AIC (CHOOSE CONTENT OR CAPABILITY DEAR READER).”