Defence, industry leaders for new collaboration model

Pictured (Left to right): Type names or photo credit here

Fostering trust, enabling collaboration and increasing workforce exposure between Defence and industry are critical to delivering sovereign capability at the speed Australia’s strategic environment demands, according to senior leaders from across the sector.

DEWC Services and Elysium EPL, in partnership with NCS Australia, hosted the first in a series of thought leadership roundtables in late 2024, bringing together Defence senior leaders and industry executives for a candid discussion on sovereign capability and collaboration. The event was conducted under the Chatham House Rule to empower frank and forthright discussion. Participants noted that events where individuals can be quoted may limit openness and the willingness to confront tough issues and explore the nuance of how Australia can address its national security challenges.

“Not since World War II have Australia and its allies had to confront such a fundamental reset in its Defence posture,” said Kendy Hau, Deputy President of the United Services Institute (USI)-ACT. We need strong, scalable partnerships that combine global innovation with local capability, but most importantly, we need trust,” she said.

Three practical shifts were identified during the discussion: a whole-of-nation trust-based approach to cut red tape; increased incentives for industry-to-industry partnerships to strengthen sovereign supply chains and reduce duplication and clearer signalling from Defence to industry on operationally relevant and tangible problem statements.

Participants also stressed the need for industry to be given access to the real problems Defence is trying to solve—along with the data and context required to solve them effectively. Without transparency and early engagement, industry collaboration risks being ineffective or misdirected.

Allan Dundas, CEO of DEWC Services, warned that time is running out. “We can’t afford to be late in preparing, late in uniting or late in acting.” He echoed General Douglas MacArthur’s warning, “The history of failure in war can almost always be summed up in two words: too late.”

The question now is whether Australia is facing that very risk of being too late in recognising the threat, in preparing for it and in uniting all forces necessary to respond. These are the questions leaders across government, Defence and industry must ask themselves honestly and urgently.

The time for consultation has passed, the group said. The time for decisive, coordinated action is now. Australia’s leaders—across government, Defence, and industry must rise to the challenge with urgency and unity. Trust must be extended, barriers removed, and collaboration treated not as a strategy, but as a national imperative.