Jason Clare (Blaxland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Defence Materiel) Share this | Hansard source

At the request of the shadow minister for defence science, technology and personnel, I will take that question on notice. With respect to the white paper, I mentioned in my comments in response to his previous question that I recognise that implementation of the white paper is a big challenge and it is going to require the focus and attention of both Defence and industry and, for that matter, the government. The work required is going to require an enormous amount of DMO, as it is of industry, and we will only be successful in its implementation if we work together.

An important part of that is the Capability Development Advisory Forum, sometimes referred to as CDAF. This is an important forum where Defence and industry can work together and look through the projects that are in the DCP to make sure that industry is capable of ramping up to meet the requirements of the projects set out in the DCP. My impression upon taking this office is that the CDAF has not been working as effectively as it should or as it could. I announced at the ADM conference in February that I want that organisation to be reinvigorated. Most particularly, I want to see the reinvigoration of the working groups that sit under it for land, sea and air. This should be a forum where industry is not just lectured to. It should be a forum where industry works cooperatively with Defence to make sure that it not only understands what the projects are in the forward plan for Defence but understands and can provide advice to Defence about how to smooth out the rollout of those projects and improve the pipeline of projects. I do not underestimate the challenge. It is a significant one. One of the ways to assist Defence and assist industry in the implementation of Force 2030 is by working together, and the CDAF is an important part of that.

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