SENATOR JOHN FAULKNER
Minister for Defence
22 September 2009
030/2009
RELEASE OF THE DEFENCE BUDGET AUDIT
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY - ESTATE
The Executive Summary of the Defence Budget Audit, led by Mr George
Pappas, was recently released under a Freedom of Information (FOI) request.
As he explained to the FOI applicant in his written decision, the FOI decision
maker withheld two paragraphs of the Executive Summary relating to the
Defence Estate because the issue is still under consideration by the
Government. In accordance with Section 36 of the FOI Act, the decision
maker judged that maintaining Cabinet confidentiality regarding a matter to be
further deliberated on in Cabinet outweighed the public interest in disclosure.
Given the recent level of public interest in this issue, I have decided to release
the relevant paragraphs.
The Government has made no decision with respect to the estate
rationalisation proposed in the Defence Budget Audit.
The $20 billion of savings that will be achieved under the Strategic reform
program do not include the estimated yearly savings referred to in the
relevant paragraphs that I have released.
Media contacts:
Colin Campbell (John Faulkner):
02 6277 7800 or 0407 787 181
Defence Media Liaison:
02 6127 1999 or 0408 498 664
Media Note:
The executive summary of the Pappas Report will be available on the
Defence website this afternoon.
Attachment A:
PARAGRAPHS FROM THE EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE DEFENCE
BUDGET AUDIT THAT WERE WITHELD BY THE DEFENCE FOI DECISION
MAKER
Removing the long-term structural inefficiencies of a fragmented estate. This
can be achieved by starting the process of consolidating estates into an
efficient superbase model, laying the foundation for the next ‘S’ curve in
Defence productivity. A superbase model would dramatically reduce subscale
base costs, extensive travel and relocation expenses, and the costs
associated with managing a complicated supply-chain network.
The estimated yearly savings from a superbase model that would meet
Australia’s strategic requirements would increase over time (assuming a
staged consolidation), and could reach $700 to $1,050 million by 2035 (in
2008 dollars).
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