{"id":82715,"date":"2023-10-09T06:00:38","date_gmt":"2023-10-08T19:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=82715"},"modified":"2023-10-08T12:52:40","modified_gmt":"2023-10-08T01:52:40","slug":"resetting-the-dial-on-australian-defence-manufacturing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/resetting-the-dial-on-australian-defence-manufacturing\/","title":{"rendered":"Resetting the dial on Australian defence manufacturing"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Christopher Pyne remembers well his dismay at the closure of the car industry <\/a>in South Australia and his fear that it would have a serious impact on the nation\u2019s skills base.<\/p>\n

\u2018I thought to myself, \u201cThis is bad\u201d,\u2019 Pyne recalls. \u2018It was said constantly that Australia needed people qualified in science, technology, engineering and maths, but if there were no jobs, they would not study those subjects.\u2019<\/p>\n

The motor vehicle manufacturing shutdown was a significant blow to Australia\u2019s economic capability not well understood in parts of the country that were home to financial or agricultural centres, he says. \u2018They don\u2019t have engineers, mathematicians, physicists, chemists, et cetera, working on the stock market floor or in Martin Place, but they do in manufacturing.\u2019<\/p>\n

In a video interview as part of ASPI\u2019s \u2018Lessons in leadership<\/a>\u2019\u00a0series, Pyne tells former ASPI executive director Peter Jennings\u00a0that he was determined to act on that concern when he was appointed defence industry minister by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in July 2016.<\/p>\n

Turnbull wanted a cabinet-level minister in the portfolio because he believed that overseeing a massive program of defence acquisitions\u2014particularly shipbuilding\u2014was a job of its own. \u2018We had to put in place the structures to give defence industry and Defence a very clear guideline of what the government wanted, and it was too much for one defence minister, who also has to manage operations and engagement with counterparts and is often on the road.\u2019<\/p>\n

Pyne says reinventing Australia\u2019s strategic industrial base to meet the nation\u2019s national security needs and industrial capability was a highlight of his career. \u2018We\u2019ve got $200 billion of the biggest military capability build-up in our nation\u2019s history. A large part of that can be used to remake our strategic industrial base.\u2019<\/p>\n

He was proud to have moved the dial on industrial capability, knowing the impact that would have across the economy for decades, he says. Another highlight was serving the men and women of the Australian Defence Force, being their advocate in cabinet and in the National Security Committee and always keeping uppermost in the government\u2019s mind: \u2018Are they safe? Can we bring them home?\u2019<\/p>\n

His goal was to take the capabilities Defence\u2019s leaders needed, assessing how much could be produced in Australia, and ensuring weapons were available if supply lines were cut in a conflict.<\/p>\n

Pyne and longtime friend and then\u2013defence minister Marise Payne were both in cabinet.<\/p>\n

\u2018I think it worked well because it was me and Marise,\u2019 says Pyne. \u2018Malcolm used to describe us as being like Phobos and Deimos, the mythical horses that drew the chariot of Mars, where it\u2019s two horses pulling the same chariot.<\/p>\n

\u2018Marise and I were in constant communication. There were obviously tensions between our offices because, unfortunately, in politics people are tribal, but they weren\u2019t between me and Marise, and we worked very well together.\u2019<\/p>\n

Pyne says that when he became defence minister in August 2018, that role operated on a different plane. He travelled a lot because he believed it was important to be out in the field as much as possible. Visiting personnel in Afghanistan and Iraq, and at bases in the United Arab Emirates, brought home to him how vital their work was and it was important to ensure that they knew how much their country appreciated that work.<\/p>\n

Pyne says ministers who don\u2019t keep firm control of their day can be overwhelmed by the work and he was determined to keep close control over his own agenda. That included using the Parliament House communications system for his emails rather than switching to the Defence system. With each portfolio he held, he avoided using his department\u2019s email.<\/p>\n

\u2018The first thing that everybody does in departments is try to get you onto their network so they can look at all your emails. They also try and have access to your calendar so they can fill it with meetings or visits to far-flung parts of the nation or the globe. And they also try and fill your office with departmental staff.<\/p>\n

\u2018So the first thing I did was tell Defence I was staying with the APH network, which horrified them, of course. Secondly, I wouldn\u2019t allow them to have any access to my calendar, or my diary. And thirdly, I refused their very generous offers of filling my office with people from Russell Hill. Not because the people from Russel Hill aren\u2019t fabulous\u2014and I was often out at Russell Hill as the minister and used my office there more than most ministers had ever done\u2014but because I had 18,000 public servants on Russell Hill and other parts of the nation, I didn\u2019t need to have 16 more in my office.\u2019<\/p>\n

Pyne says the minister\u2019s office is the political layer over the bureaucracy. \u2018There\u2019s no point in having the bureaucracy in the political layer because they have a different goal in their minds,\u2019 he says. \u2018They will return to the department and are unlikely to put the government or the minister\u2019s political career ahead of everything else. They\u2019ll be thinking, \u201cWhat\u2019s good for the department, and potentially my own career?\u201d\u2019<\/p>\n

Asked what advice he\u2019d give to an incoming minister, Pyne says they should \u2018get control of the agenda and never let it go. And don\u2019t allow yourself to be so busy that you can\u2019t make decisions, because I think there is a danger in the Westminster system that you can be so busy that you\u2019re not actually getting anything done. You are busy doing a lot of things that are useful, but who\u2019s making the decisions?\u2019<\/p>\n

Pyne says ministers must be aware that they make the decisions. \u2018If you get a recommendation from the department or a brief from the department that you don\u2019t agree with, you can send it back.\u2019<\/p>\n

He says a sense has crept into federal, state and territory governments that if a minister doesn\u2019t agree with their department, the media will say the minister is wrong.<\/p>\n

\u2018It\u2019s the minister\u2019s job to make the decisions, and it\u2019s the department\u2019s job to make the recommendations\u2014but it\u2019s not the minister\u2019s job to be a cipher for the recommendations.\u2019<\/p>\n

Advice from the military on operational matters is different, Pyne says. \u2018You wouldn\u2019t want a situation where the minister for defence is telling the chief of the defence force that we should put our military capability here rather than there, or I think you should land on that spot not this spot.\u2019<\/p>\n

Similarly, the bureaucracy must not believe that it\u2019s the decision-maker. \u2018You want Russell Hill to think it\u2019s their job to give the minister the best possible advice and it\u2019s his or her job to make the decision,\u2019 he says.<\/p>\n

The minister and the department must be partners. \u2018If they want a cipher, they can buy a performing dog.\u2019<\/p>\n

Pyne recalls the then departmental secretary, Dennis Richardson, telling him: \u2018You will be disappointed in Defence. There will be terrible things that will happen because it\u2019s the nature of our business that you will have to address\u2019. An example, Pyne says, was a later minister, Linda Reynolds, having to deal with the Brereton report <\/a>on atrocities in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

Pyne has never been reluctant to express his views and when Jennings asks about his relationship with Richardson and the CDF, Mark Binskin, he responds: \u2018Well, Dennis was the first secretary that ever swore at me in a meeting\u2014which was very refreshing.<\/p>\n

\u2018It was the first day. I said to Dennis, \u201cWell, if that\u2019s the rule, I\u2019m perfectly happy to be part of that, but we\u2019re going to have to meet sort of late in the afternoon so we can share a drink and you can swear at me.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Pyne says Richardson was a very professional public servant and, as a new defence minister, it was great to have him there because he was so experienced and a safe pair of hands.<\/p>\n

Greg Moriarty, who followed Richardson, had been chief of staff in the prime minister\u2019s office with a very long career in the public service. \u2018So, I was very well served by my secretaries.\u2019<\/p>\n

In terms of regrets, Pyne says he would have liked to have done more for veterans who feel that they have been let down by Defence on mental health issues.<\/p>\n

He says defence was the best portfolio in the government and he compares that to his time in education. State governments are not involved in defence, says Pyne. \u2018You don\u2019t have a ministerial council trying to stop you doing anything all the time. That was the problem in education; sometimes you felt that going to the state and territory and federal ministers\u2019 meeting was like going into the Colosseum because nobody seemed to want to actually have any outcome from it except fighting. The most exciting things seemed to be the press conference after every state ministers\u2019 meeting, where they just bagged the Commonwealth government. You\u2019d think, \u201cThis is really a bit asinine.\u201d\u2019<\/p>\n

Pyne recalls his time in cabinet. \u2018Being the leader of the House, being minister for defence puts you at the centre of everything. You\u2019re on the leadership group, you run the parliament, you\u2019re on the NSC, obviously in the cabinet. And you\u2019re in that small clutch of ministers who, if something really important is happening to the nation, you\u2019re going to be consulted about it. So it\u2019s very exhilarating.\u2019<\/p>\n

ASPI\u2019s \u2018Lessons in leadership\u2019 series is produced with the support of Lockheed Martin Australia.<\/em><\/p>\n