Marles admits culture issues
Defence Minister Richard Marles has admitted there are “issues of culture” within the higher echelons of the defence force and department that need to be challenged.
Amid ongoing speculation of a rift, the Coalition has seized on Mr Marles’ latest comments as a “public vote of no confidence” in the military and the defence department.
Reports have emerged in recent weeks that Mr Marles has grown increasingly frustrated with his department, so much so he hauled secretary Greg Moriarty, and Defence Force chief Angus Campbell, in for a closed-door meeting late last year to demand a better culture.
On Sunday, Mr Marles would not characterise it as a meeting but said he “absolutely expect(s) excellence”, which he said had been backed up by both General Campbell and Mr Moriarty.
“I think what we need to see in terms of the leadership of the Australian Defence Force and the department of defence, and I’m not just talking about the two leaders, but the broader leadership, is that all that we do is done with excellence,” he told Sky News.
“We are expecting of ourselves the same amount of excellence that we would expect of somebody who’s in the infantry or somebody who is maintaining an aircraft.”
Opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson said Mr Marles’ comments appeared to be a “public vote of no confidence in his own department and the military leadership of our defence forces”.
“That’s a deeply disturbing thing,” Senator Paterson told Sky News. “If he does have confidence in them, he shouldn’t publicly undermine them by saying that.”
Mr Marles had said the culture issues within senior leadership, ADF and departmental leadership more broadly “needs challenging”. He added that morale had been hammered by the previous Coalition government, pointing to the rotating door of defence ministers.