In his address to the Australian Strategic Policy Institute this week, Defence Minister Stephen Smith spoke of Defence reform and greater Defence accountability, and about more effective personal and institutional accountability in Defence.
In the context of events leading to the appointment of Mr Paul Rizzo he said the amphibious capability is not alone in facing significant maintenance and sustainment challenges.
He had previously spoken about the considerable challenge to resolve the lack of Collins Class Submarine availability, pointing out that the Collins Class is a vital part of Australia’s maritime national security capability.
“But problems with the availability of the Collins Class are of long standing, deeply entrenched and well known to the public.
“These problems are significant and highly technically complex.
“At times we have seen as few as one Collins Class submarine available for operations.
“This situation is unacceptable but will not be addressed simply by continuation of the status quo.
“This is a significant challenge for Government.
“It is a challenge for Defence. It is a challenge for Navy and it is a challenge for the ASC.
“As a consequence, the Government will conduct a review into the optimal commercial framework for the conduct of Collins Class Submarine sustainment.
The review will be conducted by Mr John Coles, a United Kingdom-based private sector expert in major Defence programs.
Mr Coles will provide his interim report by December 2011 with a final report by March 2012.
“My ambition is that the Coles Review will do for the Collins Class Submarine what the Rizzo Report has done for our amphibious fleet capability: a clear sighted path to improve the sustainment and availability of the Collins Class Submarines.
The Coles Review and subsequent reforms in Collins Class sustainment are an essential part of tackling the significant challenge of submarine availability.
“Without having confidence in our capacity to sustain our current fleet of submarines, it is very difficult to fully commence, other than through initial planning, the acquisition program for our Future Submarine.
This is consistent with the absolute necessity to work very hard in the early days to get projects right and thereby avoid, reduce, and minimise project difficulties down the track.
So for what will be largest defence capability project that the Commonwealth of Australia has seen, very careful attention in its early stages is demanded, and that’s what we’re doing, including sustainment.”