Nick Xenophon (SA, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Defence, Senator Johnston. The minister's announcement on 4 June in relation to the independent review of the air warfare destroyer project had little to say in relation to the Defence Materiel Organisation, which has more than 7,000 employees and a budget of over $7 billion, which is almost 40 per cent of the Defence budget. A report released this week by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute said in relation to the project and the DMO: 'It's hard to avoid the conclusion that planning was overoptimistic and production management less robust than was required. Many design changes were made to Australian requirements in materiel choices and Defence's project management doesn't seem to have accurately assessed the impact of those changes.' My question to the minister is: what role did the DMO play in the mishandling of the AWD project?