Conroy 'very confident' Defence can meet standard of excellence

Mr Conroy spoke in Canberra on Friday morning to announce $399 million to deliver three uncrewed Ghost Bat military aircrafts.

"The majority of the funding will go into developing the unique Australian technology that allows the Ghost Bats to work together with each other and with crewed aircraft as one team to achieve their mission," he said.

"And we also have an agreement with the United States to share this technology and turbocharge its development."

On Friday, the Defence Minister Richard Marles said he would not make "excuses or apologies for demanding excellence" from his department and the Australian Defence Force, after the Australian Financial Review reported claims of tension between Mr Marles and senior officials.

The Defence Industry Minister did not allow Chief of Air Force Air Marshal Robert Chipman to respond to a question about the expected culture of excellence on Friday.

"I'm accountable for the Department of Defence, as is the Deputy Prime Minister Marles," Mr Conroy responded, when asked why he had dismissed Air Marshal Chipman.

"And as the Deputy Prime Minister said yesterday, we are working with the whole Department of Defence for that culture of excellence."

Mr Marles and Mr Conroy have claimed former Coalition governments are to blame for the state of Defence, pointing to high turnover in the ministry, leading to delays in the delivery of major projects.

Between September 2013, and May 2022, there were six defence ministers across the Abbott, Turnbull and Morrison governments.

Defence is also facing pressure to reduce its reliance on consultants, contractors and labour hire, as the government tells secretaries to begin setting targets to cut down.

The department spent the second-largest sum on consultants in 2022-23, at $25.6 million. It also exempted 224 contracts worth a total of $1.03 billion from publication for national security reasons.

Asked whether this added another layer of challenge for public servants striving for excellence, Mr Conroy said he had confidence in the public service.

"We've made no secret of the fact that under Peter Dutton and the Coalition government, they ran the public service down, [putting] artificial caps on public service and over-reliance on consulting, diminished the capability of the entire public service to deliver for the taxpayers in Australia," he said.

"We're fixing that right now."

"I'm very confident that our public service can deliver what the Australian government is asking it to."