ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER MORRISON DEFENCE FAILURE

MATT KEOGH MP.
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2 years ago
ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER MORRISON DEFENCE FAILURE
MATT KEOGH MP
The unveiling of the new Office of Defence Industry Support (ODIS) is the latest admission of the failures of the Morrison-Joyce Government to support Australian defence industry.

The new Office of Defence Industry Support (ODIS) is replacing the Government’s own Centre for Defence Industry Capability (CDIC), which it only established in 2016.

After significant defence industry backlash, the Minister for Defence Industry, Hon. Melissa Price MP, was forced to establish a review into the CDIC in 2019.

By 2020 this Review had found that the CDIC’s business advisory and facilitation are “not sufficiently targeted at defence specific support”, there was a lack of consistency and clarity around the role of the CDIC and that critical data was not being captured and managed to enable detailed analysis to improve performance.

In short, the CDIC was an epic fail.

The Government’s solution then was to move the CDIC from the Department of Industry, Science, Energy & Resources to the Department of Defence.

Now, in yet another marketing moment from this Morrison-Joyce Government, the Minister has elected to rebadge the CDIC as the ODIS in an attempt to make it look like the Government might be finally doing something to rectify the systemic issues with the CDIC and Defence in its wider engagement with industry.

New branding is not enough, it’s time the Morrison-Joyce Government took our Australian defence industry seriously.

Astonishingly, there has been no mention by the Government of how this change impacts its recently announced “SME Support Cell” within the CDIC to support businesses affected by the cancellation of the Attack Class submarine.

For the sake of our nation’s sovereign capability and the success of our nation’s defence industry, we wish every success for the new Office of Defence Industry Support, as its success is more important now than ever.

Australian defence industry doesn’t need more spin, it needs real action and support from the Morrison-Joyce Government.
Defence