The Australian military loves acronyms, and over recent weeks a new one has emerged inside Canberra’s Defence Department. FUSS.
Frustrated insiders claim it captures the current environment they’re working in — a F…ed Up S… Show.
“It’s a real FUSS in here right now, there’s another FUSS happening” they claim.
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Defence is experiencing massive upheaval as new Secretary Meghan Quinn oversees significant changes to the department she inherited from the long-serving Greg Moriarty, who scored the plum job of Australian ambassador to the United States.
From July 1, the regularly criticised Capability and Sustainment Group (CASG), responsible for massive military projects, will become the Defence Delivery Group, before transitioning to the new Defence Delivery Agency in July next year.
The newly created DDG is being led by interim National Armaments Director Nadine Williams and will begin operating as a consolidated group this week, but so far finding a permanent NAD is proving difficult.
Sources have confirmed the Albanese government is still trying to convince London based senior defence industry figure and former Australian Army officer, Gabby Costigan, to take over the new DDA when it begins operating from July 2027.
One government source tells The Nightly that matching the highly regarded executive’s lucrative salary and conditions with BAE Systems remains a barrier, and the Prime Minister is under pressure to approve an increased offer.
This week The Nightly also revealed a global search for the next head of the Australian Submarine Agency (ASA) has still not found a suitable replacement to Vice Admiral Jonathan Mead.
In November last year the senior naval announced his plans to leave the high-profile job by mid-2026 but now the inaugural Director General has been convinced to stay on at the agency he helped to establish in 2023.
Two years ago, former Defence boss Dennis Richardson was asked to conduct a confidential review of the ASA amid reports of widespread dissatisfaction inside and outside the organisation, and those grumblings persist to this day.
“The federal government’s failure to enthusiastically lean in and to position AUKUS as the most exciting thing happening in Australia means no one of the calibre needed is interested in stepping up,” says one frustrated defence insider of the ASA.
“It’s something like an Olympic city campaign. AUKUS should have someone like businessman Andrew Liveris thinking that he might need to step away from Brisbane Olympics because AUKUS is the most important industrial uplift for Australia and will fundamentally change our economy”, the defence figure adds.
Or as another veteran of the defence department puts it: “We promote on specialisation, conformance and compliance, rather than talent, up to senior middle management — then wonder why we have so few talented generalists and no polymaths to choose from for senior executive roles”.
Across Australia’s defence industry complaints and job losses are also slowly mounting, with another major local company rumoured to have begun a major cull of staff just yesterday.
Many in the sector continue to blame the AUKUS project for much of their woes, saying precious military resources are being diverted to the massive effort to acquire nuclear-powered submarines for the ADF.
Later this week further sweeping changes are expected to be unveiled for the Defence Department when the combative Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy addresses the National Press Club on the topic: “Progressive Patriotism: A Labor approach to defence capability, defence industry and reform”.
“There’s a lot of job losses happening at the moment. It’s not a good time to be spruiking defence industry,” one figure closely aligned to the Labor Party and local military companies tells The Nightly. Rather than causing a FUSS, Pat Conroy will need to start fixing one that’s been growing for years, over several successive governments.
