Senior Defence officials told Opposition Senators during Senate Estimates on 14 February that their relationship with Defence Minister Richard Marles’ office is “normal,” rejecting allegations of a toxic relationship between the Minister’s office and the broader Australian Defence Organisation.
Defence also came under scrutiny about a litany of procurement and sustainment issues, including Army's decision-making around the premature retirement of the MRH 90 Taipan fleet, as well as Navy and the Naval Shipbuilding and Sustainment Group’s (NSSG) handling of shipbuilding programs.
The Secretary of the Department of Defence, Greg Moriarty, told the Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee that he has a “normal” relationship with the Defence Minister and his office. Under questioning from Senator Simon Birmingham about the Minister's preference for the title of Deputy Prime Minister, Moriarty said requests from Marles’ office were “routine” and within the Minister's “right[s]”.
The Chief of the Defence Force (CDF), General Angus Campbell, added that he had instructed his officers to refer to Marles as Deputy Prime Minister out of respect for the “senior appointment”.
Shipbuilding review
Senator Birmingham also questioned Moriarty about why the then-forthcoming Independent Analysis into the Navy’s Surface Fleet had been with the government, specifically Marles’ office, for more time than it took for the authors to originally write it.
“The DSR and the surface fleet review are all sitting on Minister Marles's desk, or he can't get the decisions through [The National Security Committee of Cabinet]; which is it?” Birmingham asked.
Moriarty responded that he had found the Minister's office to be “very quick” to provide input and was “incredibly responsive,” even when travelling or on holiday. “At any time that I have urgently sought input from the Deputy Prime Minister to get guidance on an issue, the Deputy Prime Minister has been very quick to give me the input to respond to the question that I've had,” he said.
Taipan disposal
The committee then shifted its focus to Defence’s decision-making relating to the grounding, retirement, and disposal of the Australian Army’s MRH 90 Taipan helicopters. Major General Jeremy King, who became Head of Joint Aviation Systems in March 2023, told the committee that Defence had consulted widely about the disposal strategy with other MRH/NH 90 operators - all of which eventually indicated a preference for a parts-harvesting strategy.
“Only one country, who eventually stepped back—that was New Zealand—offered interest in whole aircraft,” he said. Eventually, MAJGEN King said that all other operators, including France and Germany, “confirmed and supported” Australia’s disposal strategy which will help “treat the [NH 90s] chronic supply chain immaturity.”
Major General King also rejected reports in elements of the media that Australia still has a number of aircraft that haven’t been impacted by the disposal effort.
While aircraft in “unlawfully taken” photos released by the ABC appear outwardly intact, Major General King explained, they have already undergone demilitarisation which has rendered them non-flyable. The next phase of the disposal effort, parts harvesting, is already underway, he confirmed though he noted those efforts aren’t always visually obvious. As of the estimates hearing, MAJGEN King said, Defence hasn’t gone to market about the final stage of the disposal process and no-work to the effect has yet begun.
“The value in the platforms [is] in the spare parts and things like tail rotor gearboxes and the like. The other parts, the residual parts, are of little to no value and therefore need to be disposed of in a way that is efficient in terms of use of taxpayers' funds,” Chief of Army Lieutenant General Simon Stuart said that it “is not unusual for things to be put into landfill”.
Both LTGEN Stuart and MAJGEN King praised the performance of Australia’s first three UH-60M Blackhawks so far, with the latter noting that so far, the service has run-up around 200 hours across the first three aircraft with an average of five to six maintenance man-hours required per flight hour.
In comparison, he said, the MRH 90 had only ever achieved a ratio of “about 40 maintenance hours” per flying hour. Availability of the fleet, both men noted, has also improved markedly compared to the MRH 90, with around 80 per cent of UH-60M Blackhawks available daily. which is in the range of what Defence expected when it ordered the helicopters in February 2023.
Naval shipbuilding
Senators then moved on to questioning Navy and NSSG officials about a variety of shipbuilding and sustainment issues, however, little information was forthcoming due to the-then unreleased independent analysis into the Navy’s Surface Fleet.
In one instance, Defence refused to tell Senators the estimated acquisition or projected lifetime sustainment costs of the Hunter-class frigates, noting that it would compromise ongoing negotiations with BAE Systems Australia - which Defence said had delivered its second proposal for the three batch one ships at the beginning of February.
Defence officials, however, did disclose the United Kingdom’s predicted sustainment costs of the Type 26 frigate, which is yet to enter service with the Royal Navy, had been used alongside the current cost of the Anzac class frigates to estimate the through-life costs of the Hunter class.
It's not clear how this assessment has been modified as a result of the government's response to the independent analysis into the Navy’s surface fleet.
In the undersea domain, the Chief of Navy, Vice Admiral Mark Hammond said that the Collins-class life-of-type extension was progressing, with a systems design review completed last year. However, he noted that the emergence of the AUKUS program has “changed the outlook for the Australian submarine program” which is now “flexing” towards British and American nuclear-powered submarines, rather than a French conventional submarine.
In response to questions about whether Safran-built optronics masts will continue to be integrated as part of LOTE, Vice Admiral Hammond explained that some of the upgrades initially planned for the Attack class program, which heavily relied on French technology, “may not make the same amount of sense in the future”.