The DCP 2004-2014 essentially confirms in some greater detail the decisions made by the Government in the November 2003 Defence Capability Review. But the greater detail actually calls into question whether Defence can realise much of what it announced late last year.

The fact is that over the last three years Defence has been unable to ramp up investment in new capability to meet the goals of the White Paper to the extent that more than $1.3 billion in spending has been deferred. Throwing money at the problem is not the solution. Defence's capability definition and development processes are in need of serious improvement.