Department of Defence (Australia)

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

This article is about the civilian department of the Australian Public Service which supports the Australian Defence Force. For the military force itself, see Australian Defence Force.
Defence Australia
Department overview
Formed14 April 1942 (1942-04-14)
Secretary of the Department of Defence
Child agencies
Websitedefence.gov.au

Defence Australia is a

Government of Australia charged with the responsibility to defend Australia and its national interests.[4] Along with the Australian Defence Force (ADF), it forms part of the Australian Defence Organisation (ADO) and is accountable to the Commonwealth Parliament
, on behalf of the Australian people, for the efficiency and effectiveness with which it carries out the Government's defence policy.

The head of the department, who leads it on a daily basis, is the

Secretary of the Department of Defence (SECDEF), currently Greg Moriarty. The Secretary reports to the Minister of Defence, Richard Marles
.

History

Australia has had at least one defence-related government department since

the second Department of Defence, regarded as a separate body.[5]

A major departmental reorganisation occurred in the lead-up to World War II. The Department of Defence was abolished and replaced with six smaller departments – the

Supply and Development (for munitions and materiel), and Civil Aviation.[5] The current Department of Defence was formally created in 1942, when Prime Minister John Curtin renamed the existing Department of Defence Co-ordination. The other defence-related departments underwent a series of reorganisations, before being merged into the primary department over the following decades. This culminated in the abolition of the three service departments in 1973. A new Department of Defence Support was created in 1982, but abolished in 1984.[6]

In May 2022, the department was renamed Defence Australia.[7]

The Australian Department of Defence, along with the Australian state and other governments are known to fund the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), a defence and strategic policy think tank based in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory.[8]

Defence Committee

The Defence Committee is the primary decision-making committee in the Department of Defence, supported by six subordinate committees, groups and boards. The Defence Committee is focused on major capability development and resource management for the Australian Defence Organisation and shared accountability of the Secretary and the Chief of the Defence Force.[9]

The members of the Defence Committee are:

Organisational groups

Department headquarters at the Russell Offices complex in Canberra

As of 2016 the Department of Defence consists of ten major organisational groups:[10]

Diarchy

The Chief of the Defence Force (CDF) and the Secretary of the Department of Defence (SECDEF) jointly manage the Australian Defence Organisation (ADO) under a diarchy in which both report directly to the Minister for Defence and the Assistant Minister for Defence. The ADO diarchy is a governance structure unique in the Australian Public Service.

List of departmental secretaries

The Secretary of the Department of Defence (SECDEF) is a senior public service officer and historically the appointees have not come from military service.

Name Post-nominlal's Date appointment
commenced		 Date appointment
ceased		 Term in office Notes Ref(s)
Captain Sir Muirhead Collins
KCMG
, PVNF 		1901 1910 9 years, 0 days Pethebridge was acting Secretary 1906–1910
Brigadier General Sir Samuel Pethebridge
KCMG
 		1910 1918 8 years, 0 days Trumble was acting Secretary 1914–1918
Thomas Trumble
CBE
 		1918 1927 9 years, 0 days
Malcolm Shepherd
CMG, ISO
 		1927 1937 10 years, 0 days
Sir Frederick Shedden
OBE
 		1937 1956 19 years, 301 days
Sir Edwin Hicks
CBE
 		28 October 1956 5 January 1968 11 years, 69 days [15]
Sir Henry Bland 1 May 1968 1970 1 year, 361 days [16]
Sir Arthur Tange
CBE
 		March 1970 August 1979 9 years, 92 days [17]
Bill Pritchett
AO
 		August 1979 6 February 1984 4 years, 189 days [18][19]
Sir William Cole 6 February 1984 15 October 1986 2 years, 251 days [19]
Alan Woods
AC
 		December 1986 31 July 1988 1 year, 243 days [19]
Tony Ayers
AC
 		1 August 1988 February 1998 9 years, 184 days [19][20]
Paul Barratt
AO
 		February 1998 31 August 1999 1 year, 211 days Appointment terminated by the Governor-General on the recommendation of Prime Minister Howard.
Barratt fought the decision in the Federal Court, losing on appeal.		 [21][22]
Dr Allan Hawke
AC
 21 October 1999 20 October 2002 2 years, 364 days [19][23][24]
Ric Smith
AO, PSM
 		11 November 2002 3 December 2006 4 years, 22 days [19][24][25]
Nick Warner
AO, PSM
 4 December 2006 13 August 2009 2 years, 252 days [19][25][26][27]
Dr Ian Watt
AO
 13 August 2009 5 September 2011 2 years, 23 days [19][26][28]
Major General Duncan Lewis
AO, DSC, CSC
 		5 September 2011 18 October 2012 1 year, 43 days [19][28][29]
Dennis Richardson
AO
 18 October 2012 12 May 2017 4 years, 206 days [29]
Greg Moriarty 4 September 2017 Incumbent 6 years, 234 days [30]

See also

References

  1. ^ CA 46: Department of Defence [III], Central Office, National Archives of Australia, retrieved 9 February 2021
  2. ^ Macmillan, Jade; Greene, Andrew (30 June 2020). "Australia to spend $270b building larger military to prepare for 'poorer, more dangerous' world and rise of China". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
  3. ^ "Portfolio Budget Statements 2019-20, Budget Related Paper No. 1.4A" (PDF). Department of Defence. 2019. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
  4. Commonwealth of Australia
    . Retrieved 10 November 2013.
  5. ^ a b "Defence: Administrative History". National Archives of Australia. Retrieved 3 April 2019.
  6. ^ "Department of Defence [III]". National Archives of Australia. Retrieved 3 April 2019.
  7. ^ "Federal department rebrands as Defence Australia". The Canberra Times.
  8. ^ "Australian Strategic Policy Institute Limited Annual Report 2018-2019". www.transparency.gov.au. Retrieved 31 March 2023.
  9. ^ "Who we are and what we do". Australian Government Department of Defence. Retrieved 7 August 2017.
  10. ^ "Groups: About us". Department of Defence. Australian Government. Retrieved 6 January 2016.
  11. ^ Peever, David (April 2015). "First Principles Review: Creating One Defence" (PDF). Retrieved 1 June 2015.
  12. MS Word
    )    . Department of Defence, Australian Government. May 2015.
  13. ^ "Stop Press! Name Change" (Press release). 31 July 2015. Archived from the original on 19 September 2015. Retrieved 9 December 2015. As part of the First Principles Review implementation, from 1 July 2015 the Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) has been renamed as the Defence Science and Technology Group.
  14. ^ Intelligence and Security Group Archived 12 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Australian Government Directory
  15. ^ Farquharson, John (2007). "Hicks, Sir Edwin William (Ted) (1910–1984)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. Retrieved 10 November 2013.
  16. ^ Farquharson, John. "Bland, Sir Henry (Harry) (1909–1997)". Obituaries Australia. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. Retrieved 10 November 2013.
  17. ISBN 0-7317-0441-X
    . Retrieved 10 November 2013.
  18. ^ NLA Catalogue
  19. ^ a b c d e f g h i Jennings, Peter; Channer, Hayley (October 2012). "Look Behind You, Mr Richardson". The Strategist. Australian Strategic Policy Institute. Retrieved 10 November 2013.
  20. Commonwealth of Australia. Archived from the original
    on 10 November 2013. Retrieved 10 November 2013.
  21. PM
    . Australia. Retrieved 10 November 2013.
  22. PM
    . Australia. Retrieved 10 November 2013.
  23. Commonwealth of Australia
    . Retrieved 10 November 2013.
  24. ^ a b Farnsworth, Malcolm (25 September 2002). "Defence Department Head Removed By Government". australianpolitics.com. Retrieved 10 November 2013.
  25. ^
    Commonwealth of Australia. Archived from the original
    on 10 November 2013. Retrieved 10 November 2013.
  26. ^
    Commonwealth of Australia. Archived from the original
    on 10 November 2013. Retrieved 10 November 2013.
  27. ^ Keane, Bernard (30 March 2009). "Defence is simply too big for Nick Warner". Crikey. Retrieved 10 November 2013.
  28. ^
    Commonwealth of Australia. Archived from the original
    on 1 November 2013. Retrieved 29 October 2013.
  29. ^
    Commonwealth of Australia. Archived from the original
    on 20 December 2014. Retrieved 27 October 2013.
  30. Commonwealth of Australia
    . Retrieved 28 July 2017.

External links
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