Defence major projects are $40 billion in the red and 37 years behind schedule: Auditor says

The Department of Defence is 37 years behind schedule across only 21 projects, according to a new Australian National Audit Office report.

Defence refused to disclose the extent of delays on 18 out of the 21 projects. However, cumulatively, there were 442 months of delays.

ANAO scrutinized 21 major defence projects with a total cost of $81.4 billion. The report uncovered that more than half of this funding, $40.9 billion, was a result of cost blowouts.

Defence also prevented the publication of key information on 20 of the 21 projects, including risks, changes in funding and schedule performance.

There was concerning information on the Hunter Frigates project, which now has an approved budget of $25.9 billion, up $19.78 billion from the previous year. This means the Hunter Frigates will cost over $8.6 billion per boat, making them easily the most expensive frigates on the planet.

Other projects such as the Growler, Joint Strike Fighter, and Triton drones also all had budget blowouts of between $1 and $10 billion.

Senator David Shoebridge, Greens Spokesperson on Defence: “This is another depressing, but important, read from the ANAO. 

“Defence leadership is so fundamentally mismanaging major projects, that it is now becoming a security issue. 

“The fact Defence is using “national security” to mask the extent of project delays is plainly disingenuous. Defence's secrecy is about shielding their own incompetence far more than protecting the national interest.

“Defence's average run-of-the-mill major project now has at least two years of delays. In any other Department, people might lose their jobs for this, in Defence it’s cause for a promotion. 

“This report shows we are spending nearly $9 billion a ship for the Hunter Frigates, which is six or more times the cost of equivalents for other navies. 

“This is what happens when the major parties refuse to hold Defence leadership accountable for their multiple failures.

“The Federal Parliament is dominated by two players, Labor and the Coalition, who furiously agree on writing blank cheques to Defence and then basking in the reflected glory of some gold braid.

“It turns out the major parties’ uninformed fawning over multibillion-dollar Defence projects and their excitement at seeing Defence’s PowerPoint displays does not keep us safe and does not protect public funds.

“The fact that over half of the projected cost from these 21 projects is due to cost blowouts is hard to stomach. Just these $40 billion in cost blowouts would run the entire Indonesian military for three years.

“What’s desperately missing from these audit reports is any sense that the scandals, the delays and the repeated failures are leading to change. This is what the Greens are focused on in the Defence space, accountability, and it’s been a long time coming.”