Page 23 - Australian Defence Magazine June 2021

JUNE 2021 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
DEFENCE BUSINESS PARTNERING 23
commitments to industry, and is now co-funding up to 80 per cent of key grants for capability or capital improve- ment by Australian businesses, which improve their abil- ity to deliver within the Defence industry sector and meet Sovereign Industrial Capability Priorities.
RHETORIC VERSUS REALITY
Defence and Capability Acquisition and Sustainment Group (CASG) in particular, has an extraordinary chal- lenge ahead. The required capability for Defence is com- plex, and the budgets are huge.
Government requires Defence to ensure that the fund- ing is being spent with Australian industry – not just to provide improved economic benefit to Australia but to de- liver the self-reliance and sovereign deterrent effects the ADF needs. Australian industry also needs to be able to absorb that money and scale accordingly to deliver it.
As outlined in the The Cost of Defence 2020-2021 by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, the local industry spend from Defence is currently approximately $2.6 billion representing approximately one third of the total Defence acquisition budget spend. By 2030, just to maintain a one