Perhaps the most interesting announcements relating to defence seen in the last few weeks were not made in the budget but on the Friday beforehand on Strategic Reform Program (SRP) measures.
The White Paper and the workforce and shared services stream of the SRP predicted a net increase in the Defence APS workforce of 1,655 from 2010-11 to 2013-14.
Reforms to shared services and other efficiency measures means that Defence can reduce this overall forecast APS workforce growth by 1,000 over the next three years.
This announcement fails to say that many parts of Defence have not been backfilling positions for quite some time now and are under their funded full time equivalent levels anyway.
Also announced was the fact that reforms outlined by Kinnaird and Mortimer will be fastracked.
“These reforms will focus on improving project management and minimising risk at project start and identifying problems early,” the defence ministers said in a statement.
“They include:
• The introduction of a two-pass approval system for minor capital projects valued between $8 million and $20 million;
• Implementation of an Early Indicators and Warning system;
• The expansion of the Gate Review system; and
• The introduction of Quarterly Accountability Reports.”
“A set of triggers will be established to give early warning of projects which are running late, over-budget or not delivering the capability required,” the ministers announced.
“The Government expects that a substantial number of projects may activate the triggers.
"The purpose of the system is to identify problems early so appropriate action can be taken to remediate them.”