David Shoebridge (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Leadership, to be effective, must be accountable, but the reality is accountability is too often missing in this place, and that is no more evident than in the government's refusal to hold to account the poor senior leadership within the Australian Defence Force and the Department of Defence. The ADF is a mess right now. It has high attrition rates, low recruitment rates and suffers from repeated delays, cost blowouts and outright procurement failures. Then there was the Brereton report, the inquiry that found credible evidence to implicate 25 current or former ADF personnel in the alleged war crimes in Afghanistan. Dangerous and expensive platforms, like the MRH-90 Taipan helicopter, have been stripping the resources of the ADF and risking the lives of personnel for decades. The ADF and Defence collectively failed to comply with the law before signing Australian taxpayers onto a $45 billion Hunter frigates program that was always told to be an extreme financial and capability risk. Together, they burned over $5 billion on the torpedoed French submarine projects. These were the same submarines that the ADF and Defence were repeatedly telling us were essential for the defence of Australia, until one day they aren't.

The list could go on, but one thing remains the same: not a single senior member of the ADF or Defence has been held to account for these failures. Not one. In fact, they've almost all been promoted or had their contract extended or been handed another highly paid role in government. None of this is the fault of the thousands of committed and hardworking personnel on the ground, but now the government, at the request of Defence leadership, is delivering them hundreds of billions of dollars more for nuclear powered submarines, missile systems and armoured fighting vehicles, all money stolen from health, education and climate. With the same crew in charge and their growing sense of entitlement, does anyone seriously believe they are up to the task? If they do, then I have a bridge or maybe a future submarine project to sell you!