Tag Archive for: Defence Estate

Defence must engage stakeholders earlier, more openly, frequently and comprehensively

Collaboration with private and public sector stakeholders is vital for Defence to develop its capabilities, strategies and policies in response to Australia’s changing strategic environment. Getting consultation right will be critical to that.

Defence’s need for collaboration is reflective of government in a federated nation relying upon collaboration across several layers: local, state and territory, and federal. Government consultation is a cornerstone of Australia’s democratic process, serving as a means for policymakers to engage with stakeholders, gather diverse perspectives, and make informed decisions.

For Defence, collaboration and consultation will underpin continued social licence and enable effective state and territory, local government, and/or private sector support.

The monolithic Australian Defence Organisation, while rightfully focused on its mission, engages in widespread and frequent consultation. Despite this, criticism of its consultation prevails, especially during the last 18 months. For the most part, this critique has related to a lag in information flows from Defence to industry, and to state and territory and local governments.

Consultation between state and territory and local government and the Defence organisation on basing and exercising, often enabled by these jurisdictions engaging Defence advocates, is a continuous process.

Yet in September 2023, the Army announced it would move some 800 additional defence personnel and their dependants to Townsville in 2025 as part of its annual posting cycle. With a population of almost 180,000, Townsville faces a population increase of more than 0.5% in 12 months. It will put significant pressure on housing and social infrastructure, such as schools.

With limited engagement, the Townsville and Queensland governments need help ensuring they are ready to welcome many new community members.

Defence puts significant effort into industry engagement. Yet in January, Defence Connect’s 2023 Australian Defence Industry Report revealed that of the survey respondents, 36% and 11% respectively, described doing business in Australia’s defence industry as ‘difficult’ and ‘extremely difficult’.

Only 20% of respondents considered it ‘easy’, while 3% considered it ‘extremely easy’. Such results may reflect Defence’s expectation that businesses ‘get battle fit’ instead of cultivating a more collaborative ecosystem.

While much of this concern can be linked to the uncertainty surrounding the defence strategic review, discussions with small to medium enterprises (SMEs) reveal their concern over Defence’s lack of empathy and consideration of the commercial reality for Australian businesses. More effective consultation is needed in at least some circumstances.

For several reasons, including national security, it can be challenging for Defence to make early engagement and consultation with outside entities. However, it is essential to recognise that consultation is not merely a one-way information dissemination process; it embodies a dynamic exchange of ideas, feedback, and expertise between government and stakeholders. To achieve true partnerships, it’s imperative to establish clear guidelines and mechanisms for engagement. The Defence Organisation will need to work fast to address the impacts of the DSR on consultation. Engagement must be earlier, more frequent, and more comprehensive. Here, there is an apt truism—clarity is kindness.

Defence’s consultation and engagement should seek to embody five key themes.

The Defence Organisation must engage with the idea of cooperative federalism. Pre-Covid, many federal public servants considered that power in the federation was centralising. Covid proved this wasn’t the case. Defence must embrace the idea that the federal government and states work together as equal partners to address common challenges and achieve shared objectives. Cooperative federalism requires Defence to embrace joint decision-making processes to ensure that policies and initiatives reflect diverse perspectives and priorities.

Defence decisions that impact others must be underpinned by inclusivity, embracing consultation as a two-way conversation. Defence can ensure that a wide range of voices, opinions, and interests are considered in the decision-making process. While Defence’s expertise is broad and deep, inclusive stakeholder engagement enables policymakers to gather valuable insights, perspectives, and expertise that may not be otherwise available, fostering more inclusive and representative decision-making.

While Defence is widely supported and trusted in Australia, it must continuously focus on building trust and legitimacy, especially with the private sector. A two-way consultation process helps build confidence and legitimacy by demonstrating a commitment to transparency, openness, and responsiveness to stakeholder concerns and preferences. By actively soliciting input and feedback from stakeholders, Defence can enhance public confidence in the legitimacy of their decisions and policies.

Defence operates in a broader ecosystem, and engaging with this system will enhance its policy effectiveness. Engaging in two-way conversations with stakeholders will allow Defence to understand better the potential impacts, implications, and unintended consequences of proposed policies and initiatives. Stakeholder feedback can inform policy design, implementation strategies, and adjustments.

Defence must continue to promote accountability and responsiveness. Defence consultation as a two-way conversation promotes accountability by holding policymakers accountable to the public and ensuring that decisions reflect society’s broader interests and concerns. By actively listening to and engaging with stakeholders, Defence demonstrates a willingness to respond to feedback, adapt to changing circumstances, and course-correct when necessary, thereby enhancing responsiveness and accountability.

As stated earlier, Defence makes significant efforts to consult with local, state and territory governments and the private sector. The long-term uncertainty of government policy and budgets makes this engagement more difficult. The last two years have been particularly problematic when it comes to clarity and engagement. The defence strategic review 2023 and the surface fleet review, integrated investment program, estate review and national defence strategy are important for the long-term, but ensure uncertainty in the short term.

Regardless, it must enhance its engagement by focusing on working with, not through, its stakeholders. Instead of encouraging industry to get ‘battle fit’ to work with Defence, it must seek an environment that encourages and, where possible, nurtures sovereign SME capability.

The Defence Organisation will unlock greater social licence and capability if it engages stakeholders earlier, more openly, frequently and comprehensively.

 

Beyond the barracks: unravelling the social and strategic ramifications of force posture pivots

The September 2023 announcement designating Townsville as the hub for armoured vehicles and Army attack and medium-lift aviation triggers a sense of déjà vu—about Plan Beersheba. This strategic shift, a direct outcome of the 2023 defence strategic review underscored during the 2023 AUSMIN consultations, mirrors Australia’s evolving stance in the Indo-Pacific region.

The latest transition, from generalised combat brigades to three specialised units, aims to enhance capabilities, preparedness, and projection. However, this move necessitates relocating approximately 800 people, with 500 Army personnel and their families moving from Adelaide to Townsville. It’s important that the financial, economic and social implications are thoroughly considered.

Drawing parallels, Plan Beersheba, initiated via the 2013 Defence White Paper, orchestrated the restructure of the 1st, 3rd, and 7th Brigades, leading to a mass relocation of Army personnel and their families. The 2015 transfer of a tank squadron from Darwin to Townsville, and the subsequent 2017 relocation of the 1st Armoured Regiment from Darwin to Adelaide, incurred substantial costs. It now seems the investment in the relocations and infrastructure upgrades at Edinburgh, as well as the more recent upgrades to sustainment facilities to accommodate the vehicles acquired under LAND 400, could have been put to better use.

These major decisions, occurring within condensed planning cycles, exert significant strain on already stretched budgets and impact ADF retention and recruitment rates. The anticipation of integrating the relocation of Army personnel to Townsville into existing posting cycles, commencing in early 2025 to align with equipment deliveries, underscores the pressing need for swift responses from Defence and the surrounding community. With the relocations expected to be finalised before the mid-term refresh of Lavarack Barracks, expedited funding and planning will be required.

Defence bases, especially in regional or remote areas, play a pivotal role in driving economic and social outcomes through employment, childcare, schools, housing, and healthcare. They are drivers of economic activity and community development. However, a rapid, poorly managed influx of Defence personnel can also have adverse local social and economic impacts, including increased congestion on local roads, excess demand for local education and medical services, localised price inflation, housing shortages, and disruption to social stability. While Defence has clear strategies to refresh and redevelop bases under the Integrated Investment Program, the success of this plan hinges on prioritising supporting social and economic infrastructure within the surrounding communities.

The readiness of Townsville’s social and economic infrastructure and the Defence estate to absorb a significant influx of Army personnel (and their families) within the next 12 months remains uncertain. Starting with social infrastructure, Townsville, with a population of around 198,000, hosts approximately 5,500 ADF personnel at Lavarack Barracks and RAAF Base Townsville. The city is grappling with the recovery from the pandemic, the impact of climate change, severe weather events, rising interest rates, the energy transition and inflation. Pressures on supply chains are heightened by increasing demand for major infrastructure projects across Queensland in areas such as transport, health, energy, and for major events like the 2032 Olympics.

New housing supply in Townsville is a significant obstacle with Townsville City Council recording its lowest number of new residential house approvals in five years in late 2023. This shortage is attributed to escalating construction costs outpacing market values, exacerbated by rising labour costs, shortages and soaring material prices, compounded by rising transport costs due to fuel hikes and long distances. Further, existing housing vacancy rates in Townsville are reportedly sitting at 1% with a 520% surge in regional migration over the past year.

Defence Housing Australia (DHA) maintains a substantial portfolio of around 1,113 properties in the area, which is supplemented by live-in accommodation and ADF personnel owning their own homes in Townsville. Defence and Defence Housing Australia are reviewing the adequacy of Defence housing across Australia. That includes roundtables across the country including one in Townsville in November. Will they provide a resolution in time for the expected spike in housing demand?

Lavarack Barracks is home to the 3rd Brigade, elements of the 1st Division, 11th Brigade, 17th Sustainment Brigade, and units from the Joint Capability Group. As part of the routine Defence estate sustainment cycle, planning is underway for a mid-term refresh of the barracks. Although the funding is yet to be secured, the objective is to enhance ageing facilities and infrastructure, with development expected to commence in the fiscal year 2028/29.

In the interim, there is a proactive investment of $19 million in critical capability infrastructure, including a new military working dog facility, training yard, dog obstacle course, and messing facilities. This investment underscores the commitment to maintaining and upgrading essential components of Lavarack Barracks while awaiting the broader mid-term refresh. However, with additional personnel to be in situ before the mid-term refresh is complete it will be interesting to see if Defence provides additional infrastructure funding for messing, office accommodation, live-in accommodation, and facilities needed to sustain increased numbers of personnel on base.

Attraction and retention of Defence personnel are intricately linked to the overall quality of life in regional locations. In 2023, it was disclosed that approximately 6,600 personnel were leaving the ADF annually, posing a significant obstacle to achieving the ambitious target of expanding the number of uniformed personnel by 18,500 by 2040. There’s concern that relocating hundreds of personnel and their families could impede recruitment, creating substantial disruptions to family life, schooling, and spousal employment for the affected personnel and their families. The challenge of convincing military personnel to choose locations like Townsville over bigger centres such as Adelaide or Brisbane has been a persistent struggle for the ADF and will continue to be unless appropriate uplift is provided at the base and for social economic infrastructure in surrounding communities.

The ongoing enterprise-wide audit of the Defence estate and infrastructure, a critical component of capability, is part of the Government’s response to the DSR. A primary focus of the audit is to assess whether the estate aligns with contemporary requirements, particularly in the context of the decision to emphasise investment in Australia’s northern network of bases, ports, and barracks. The findings and recommendations of the audit are expected to be publicly available soon and may offer insight into potential shifts or changes in direction for bases like Lavarack Barracks. It will be intriguing to observe whether the Defence estate audit signals an increased priority or other notable adjustments in line with the evolving strategic priorities.

The historical echoes of Plan Beersheba and the financial implications of such major shifts call for meticulous planning and consideration of the social and economic fabric of regional hubs like Townsville. The uncertainty surrounding housing, infrastructure, and the mid-term refresh at Lavarack Barracks necessitate agile responses from both Defence and local communities. The departure of ADF personnel poses a stark reminder of the importance of addressing quality-of-life concerns. As the Defence estate audit unfolds, it becomes evident that the integration of military strategy, infrastructure planning, and community engagement is critical to navigating the complexities ahead and achieving a resilient, forward-looking Defence presence in regional/remote areas in northern Australia.