{"id":19593,"date":"2015-04-10T06:00:08","date_gmt":"2015-04-09T20:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=19593"},"modified":"2017-11-08T09:11:25","modified_gmt":"2017-11-07T22:11:25","slug":"defence-reform-lets-address-the-minister-in-the-room","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/defence-reform-lets-address-the-minister-in-the-room\/","title":{"rendered":"Defence reform \u2013 let\u2019s address the Minister in the room!"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Ministers<\/a><\/figure>\n

Let\u2019s not speak of them when accountability or lack of it is everywhere else, but where the Westminster system suggests it should be! The First Principles Review<\/a> (FPR) is another review which heralds \u2018transformational change\u2019 and points the finger at the Australian Defence Organisation as the primary culprit of the current malaise. For those who have read the public version, much of it seems logical and supported by the evidence presented. But let\u2019s try and get the back story clear before we start making judgements about the most recent in a long line of defence reviews.<\/p>\n

Firstly governments and ministers are not blameless. Significant defence reform is almost always initiated by governments and implementation plans then approved by the Minister or Cabinet or both. The growth in top-line staff numbers, much trumpeted in the media as proof of uncontrolled inefficiencies, has in all cases been agreed by Government to meet operational needs or been a response to recommendations from Government-initiated reviews.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless Defence, like all large organisations, needs a good pruning from time to time. The last one that happened in 1997 was the result of the Defence Efficiency Review (DER) and was carried out just before the commencement of nearly two decades of operational commitments\u2014 the greatest fertiliser for organisational expansion known. While Defence lost track of the actual savings achieved, the radical organisational reform recommended by the DER was implemented, continuing the outsourcing and centralisation of corporate business functions already started within Defence.<\/p>\n

The Defence experience in the late 90s and lessons from the private sector since suggest that successful reform needs to be top down and implemented quickly. The FPR implementation timetable reflects this urgency and is a pleasant contrast to the passive nature of the 2009 Strategic Reform Program<\/a> (SRP). Retaining the FPR Team to monitor the implementation also seems a sensible step.<\/p>\n

Notwithstanding these positive aspects and with the exception of the defence Chief Finance Officer function, it\u2019s not clear how the hierarchical\/matrix mix which underpins the operation of the Defence organisation is to be managed. There are a number of key processes that run horizontal across the organisation and while the FPR has rightly highlighted the weak enterprise and the need to strengthen the centre, the underpinning rationale is not clear. The Report does little to shed light on this aspect. Logistics is a simple example of an enterprise function which seems to have been broken up and its functions reallocated by the FPR. As a consequence, it may now suffer from the Defence Reform Program disease which caused unintentional cost shifting between different parts of the Department because a hierarchical siloed approach to reform was adopted for functions which are in fact cross-organisational in nature. Rather than improving efficiencies it adds cost and reinforces ineffectiveness.<\/p>\n

Contestability is also a much exercised term. On the one hand, it is absolutely critical to the process but I have never been convinced that there is a silver bullet\u2014civilian or military\u2014to achieving success. The importance placed on contestability and the bifurcated organisation to support this notion depicted in the Review suggested a return to the days of staff combat rather than the collaborative approach sought in recent years. One would hope that the best-qualified person is sought to lead either the Policy and Intelligence group or the Capability Acquisition and Sustainment organisation whether in a uniform or a suit\u2014in the hope of building the Minister\u2019s \u2018One Defence\u2019.<\/p>\n

The report also recommends removing the Service Chiefs \u2018statutory appointment\u2019 status \u2018to ensure the absolute clarity of the Chief of Defence Force\u2019s command and authority\u2019\u2014a questionable outcome for a problem that I doubt has existed in recent years. Nevertheless, amongst the Service Chiefs\u2019 roles is to advocate. Whether they do this successfully or not is a matter of judgment\u2014but it\u2019s a serious shortcoming to overlook this key and legitimate role. Ministers should take every opportunity to listen. Homogeneous advice processed through the VCDF may seem \u2018easy\u2019 and politically clean but it will certainly have political consequences for Ministers who do not manage it well.<\/p>\n

That brings us back to the Minister.<\/p>\n

Successful reform is led and driven by the Minister\u2014not just through media conferences and press releases. Defence is at its best when the Minister of the day regularly engages with the Department and mutual respect can be developed. While they may prefer to, Defence Ministers can\u2019t stand back and point fingers\u2014they need to get their hands dirty. Even if this may result occasionally in some political mud sticking. The Department will no doubt do its best to implement the FPR good and bad. But if it is to be a truly landmark review the Minster needs to own it and work with the diarchy and the Defence leadership to implement it. Regardless of how politically risky it may appear, to be \u2018Creating One Defence\u2019 must be the Minister\u2019s initiative not something the Department takes ownership of by default. Let\u2019s see how this unfolds at the six and nine-month review points.<\/p>\n

A final point\u2014sadly it seems industry was again left wondering by the Government\u2019s announcement\u2014with such significant organisational change on the table one would hope the Government doesn\u2019t use the implementation period as a reason to stop or further delay planned acquisition programs placing further economic strain on a vital element of Defence capability.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Let\u2019s not speak of them when accountability or lack of it is everywhere else, but where the Westminster system suggests it should be! The First Principles Review (FPR) is another review which heralds \u2018transformational change\u2019 …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":274,"featured_media":19601,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[38,1129,100,110,783,347],"class_list":["post-19593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-department-of-defence","tag-first-principles-review","tag-minister-for-defence","tag-reform","tag-service-chiefs","tag-strategic-reform-program"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nDefence reform \u2013 let\u2019s address the Minister in the room! | The Strategist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/defence-reform-lets-address-the-minister-in-the-room\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Defence reform \u2013 let\u2019s address the Minister in the room! | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Let\u2019s not speak of them when accountability or lack of it is everywhere else, but where the Westminster system suggests it should be! 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