{"id":1446,"date":"2026-06-30T19:17:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T19:17:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/1446\/"},"modified":"2026-06-30T19:17:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T19:17:13","slug":"defence-project-blowouts-blast-taxpayers-with-29b-bill-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/1446\/","title":{"rendered":"Defence project blowouts blast taxpayers with $29b bill"},"content":{"rendered":"

A review of a small sample of Defence projects under the biggest reform of the department in decades has revealed blowouts costing taxpayers $29 billion.<\/p>\n

The federal government has vowed to overhaul Defence to reduce significant project delays and waste of public funds, as record amounts are committed to military spending.<\/p>\n

A delivery group, which consolidates three areas of Defence including the guided weapons and explosive ordnance group, begins operating on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\"Australian<\/p>\n

A task force found Defence’s costing capability is fragmented and over-reliant on contractors. (Dean Lewins\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

Under the group, about a dozen projects were reviewed which found costs had increased by 38 per cent before any contracts were signed, amounting to $29 billion.<\/p>\n

The Defence Investment Committee, set up as an oversight body, has been found no longer fit for purpose.<\/p>\n

The committee met 13 times in 2025 for about 60 hours, with 14 extra out-of-session meetings.<\/p>\n

Those meetings involved 26 senior executives and senior defence force officers, resulting in time being wasted on preparing briefs, rather than delivering projects.<\/p>\n

In a speech to the National Press Club in Canberra on Thursday, Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy will make a series of announcements, including that the key committee will be scrapped.<\/p>\n

“That represents an opportunity cost \u2026 funding that could have been invested better, if costings had been done better in the first place,” he will say.<\/p>\n

“The task force found that Defence’s costing capability has atrophied over time \u2013 it’s become fragmented, under-resourced, and over-reliant on contractors and consultants.<\/p>\n

“We are talking about multibillion-dollar capability projects, integral to the defence of our nation and to peace and stability in our region.”<\/p>\n

Mr Conroy will also announce a shake up of the $4.36 billion Defence Export Facility, which has only been used three times since established in 2018.<\/p>\n

Positioning Labor as the party of defence, he will argue the reforms are essential and that his government can be trusted with national security.<\/p>\n

\"Defence<\/p>\n

Pat Conroy wants Defence to make more equipment in Australia and work closely with allies. (Lukas Coch\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

Mr Conroy on Thursday will release the Defence Industry Development Strategy, the blueprint to developing the nation’s industrial base.<\/p>\n

“We are getting back to making our own stuff where it makes sense and leveraging our allies and trusted partners where we cannot,” he will say.<\/p>\n

“A strong sovereign defence industrial base mitigates risk\u2026 decreases dependencies\u2026 and means we can make things here.”<\/p>\n

From July 2027, the Defence Delivery Agency will become operational with a mandate for project delivery.<\/p>\n

Recruitment is under way for the agency’s national armaments director, who will advise government.<\/p>\n

A candidate with private sector experience is being sought following years of bungled procurement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A review of a small sample of Defence projects under the biggest reform of the department in decades…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1447,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[14,972,971,973],"class_list":["post-1446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-defence-industry","tag-defence-investment-committee","tag-pat-conroy","tag-the-federal-government"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1446"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1446\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/defence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}