#166 The War Against Defence Restructuring: A Case Study On Changes Leading To The Current Structure Of New Zealand Defence (2006) By Derek Quigley
 
Canberra Papers on Strategy and Defence No. 166
 
In an article in the Weekend Australian of 31 July–1-August 2004 titled ‘Defence derailed’, Paul Dibb and Richard Brabin-Smith wrote: It is apparent that the [Australian] defence organisation has become dysfunctional. It is our view that there should be a fundamental review of what has gone wrong. It is time to consider whether the top management structure, which is built around a diarchy shared by the secretary of the Department of Defence and the chief of the Australian Defence force, should be changed— because it no longer seems to work the way it should.
 
As a result of this and other criticisms, in August 2006 Defence Minister Brendan Nelson appointed former senior Kennett Government bureaucrat and prominent Melbourne businesswoman Elizabeth Proust to oversee a review of management in the Australian Defence Department. The Proust Committee’s terms of reference are to examine and assess organisational efficiency and effectiveness in the Defence organisation, and to make recommendations with particular regard to:
 
• Decision-making and business process, having regard to best practice in organisations of comparable size and complexity;
• The appropriateness of and need for military personnel in non-operational or executive positions in the organisation and the efficacy of Defence preparation for senior postings;
• Structure, process and procedures for managing information and providing timely and accurate information to stakeholders;
• The adequacy of the information management systems which support processes and reporting requirements. The Proust Committee’s reporting date is the second quarter of 2007. The Working Paper which follows is an adaptation of the author’s presentation to the Proust Committee on 1 November 2006 on the abolition of the defence diarchy in New Zealand in 1990, and the advantages and disadvantages of that decision.
 
Soft Cover
132 pages
In Good Condition