Page 56 - Australian Defence Magazine Sep 2021

56 FROM THE SOURCE KATHERINE ZIESING CONTINUED FROM PAGE 58
probably half, maybe three-quarters of the way through. That was never going to be a comfortable journey.
ADM: What have the highlights been?
ZIESING: All the cool stuff I get to play with! Rides on ships, on submarines, on planes, on tanks, with weapons going to exercises, seeing facilities and factories. The hands-on experience is the best part of the job.
In most cases, people love what they do and that shows in the interactions. It’s always been about people and their stories for me. For a very long time I’ve had an ob- server role; and it’s a strange thing to be of the commu- nity but not in it.
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shipbuilding front. While that might be a statement of the obvious, there are some huge challenges there that come with the geopolitical circumstances that Australia is facing. The processes that we have in place are not going to deliver the capabilities we need in the timeframe required.
ADM: What could Defence and industry do differently to meet that challenge?
ZIESING: I’m an economist by trade and training and in this context Defence has a monopsony. There aren’t many companies or community groups that will go out and think ‘Land 400 vehicles; I need those for my run down to the shop this weekend.’ The market power that Defence has to shape its supplier base is huge. They do not use that power to its fullest extent, whether that be because of political, legal or ethical reasons, all of those things probably need to
be unpicked in their own right. But I think De- fence, in order to be an educated buyer, needs to be more aware of the influence and power they can wield in terms of standards, of interoper- ability, of Australian Industry Capability. They have the power to mandate many things and they choose not to.
ADM: What changes have you seen in govern- ment and the Department itself?
ZIESING: A parade of ministers and prime min- isters and service chiefs and CDFs. With few exceptions they’ve all been very good people. There is a changing in culture, I think, at both a political and departmental level (both in APS and uniform), but change takes time and I would say there needs to be a forcing function. Some of the forcing functions on a government front have come from the Brittany Higgins case this year, some have come from a reflection that the Australian public wants more diversity in their leadership and that diversity doesn’t just come in a binary. It’s not just male/female, it’s ethnicity, it’s religion, it’s background, it’s age.
Diversity is about cognitive diversity (shout out to the late Darren Edwards of Boeing for the concept); you want different people thinking different thoughts. That can create points of tension. Having a respectful debate sometimes can be hard because people have a lot invested in their viewpoint, in their experience, but I think it is very important to be able to receive new information and adjust your worldview accordingly.
ADM: Have you seen major policy changes in the last 15 years?
ZIESING: Oh my goodness yes. If you read the reflections piece earlier in this magazine you will see comments from
ABOVE LEFT: My first media trip in 2008 with Lockheed Martin.
OPPOSITE ABOVE RIGHT: Defence media are a close knit bunch.
ADM: How do you use your outside observer status? ZIESING: It’s my job to hold up a mirror. It is not my job to make you happy with the reflection that you see; that is on you.
Once again, this isn't always a comfortable thing. Some- times pointing out that the emperor has no clothes is not welcome. But it’s not my job to make everyone happy. It’s my job to look out the window, see that the sky is blue and report that. It doesn’t matter if government tells me that the sky is green or industry tells me if you look closely it really is a pale purple. That is not helpful to anyone.
ADM: What are the largest challenges facing the defence sector in Australia in the next ten years?
ZIESING: Workforce. Qualified people in the right place at the right time in the right job. What Defence is doing in terms of its recapitalisation of all three services and en- abling capabilities is immense, particularly on the naval