Federal defence department of the Australian Government
This article is about the civilian department of the Australian Public Service which supports the Australian Defence Force. For the military force itself, seeAustralian Defence Force.
The executive head of the department, who leads it on a day-to-day basis, independent of a change of government, is theSecretary of the Department of Defence (SECDEF), currentlyGreg Moriarty. SECDEF reports to theMinister for Defence,Richard Marles.
A major departmental reorganisation occurred in the lead-up to World War II. The Department of Defence was abolished and replaced with six smaller departments – theDefence Co-ordination (for defence policy, financial, and administrative matters), three "service departments" (Army,Navy, andAir), theSupply and Development (for munitions and materiel), andCivil Aviation.[5] The current Department of Defence was formally created in 1942, when Prime MinisterJohn Curtin renamed the existing Department of Defence Co-ordination. The other defence-related departments underwent a series of reorganisations, before being merged into the primary department over the following decades. This culminated in the abolition of the three service departments in 1973. A newDepartment of Defence Support was created in 1982, but abolished in 1984.[6]
In May 2022,The Canberra Times reported that department had been renamed Defence Australia.[7] However, the department's corporate documents continue to refer to it as the Department of Defence.[8]
TheDefence Committee is the primary decision-making committee in the Department of Defence, supported by six subordinate committees, groups and boards. The Defence Committee is focused on major capability development and resource management for theAustralian Defence Organisation and shared accountability of the Secretary and the Chief of the Defence Force.[10]
This section needs to beupdated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(September 2022)
As of 2016[update] the Department of Defence consists of ten major organisational groups:[11]
Associate Secretary Group – provides administrative, legal and governance services including audit and fraud control, security and vetting, theJudge Advocate General, and communications and ministerial support.
Chief Information Officer Group – leads the integrated design, cost effective delivery, and sustained operation of Defence information
Chief Finance Officer Group – to drive the financial and management improvement programs for Defence
Defence People Group – human resource outcomes across the Defence employment cycle from strategy and policy development, through to implementation and service delivery
Defence Estate and Infrastructure Group – consolidated service delivery organisation for Defence that enables Defence capability by working in partnership to deliver integrated services through a highly capable workforce
The Secretary of the Department of Defence (SECDEF) is a senior public service officer and historically the appointees have not come from military service.
Appointment terminated by theGovernor-General on the recommendation of Prime MinisterHoward. Barratt fought the decision in theFederal Court, losing on appeal.
^"Stop Press! Name Change" (Press release). 31 July 2015.Archived from the original on 19 September 2015. Retrieved9 December 2015.As part of the First Principles Review implementation, from 1 July 2015 the Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) has been renamed as the Defence Science and Technology Group.
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