| Minister | Navy | Army | Air Force | Department
| Defence Portfolio Budget
Statements 2001-02 |
Section 4 |
IMPROVEMENT INITIATIVES
The White Paper outlined the Government’s strong commitment to both continuous improvement in Defence and the need to ensure that money spent on Defence is managed wisely. In order to deliver the Government’s direction, Defence is continuing to pursue an organisational renewal agenda that, as one of its aims, seeks to match the quality of Defence’s business performance with the quality of the ADF’s operational performance.
Defence is pursuing initiatives as diverse as cultural reform through the Defence Matters scorecard and an internal ‘Rip-Up Red Tape’ campaign which encourages individuals to identify nugatory work practices. This campaign will make the bureaucratic processes less frustrating and more results-focused and efficient, although savings will not be readily measurable.
The White Paper refers to the need for Defence to make efficiency savings. Against an expectation of $50m in 2001-02, $100m in 2002-03 and $200m in 2003-04 and thereafter, various initiatives have been identified. The following table lists the initial set of initiatives for 2001-02.
Table 4.1: Projected Efficiency Savings in 2001-02
Projected $m |
|
| More cost-effective employment of professional service providers | 12.7 |
| Fringe Benefits Tax liability reduction | 13.6 |
| Savings in travel | 10.0 |
| Reduction in, and improved management of, the Defence commercial vehicle fleet | 10.0 |
| Total | 46.3 |
Note
1. The projected savings are indicative only.
The initiatives will be managed corporately as a package to return a minimum of $50m in 2001-02. This means that, under a process of active revision, additional initiatives and/or additional savings from existing initiatives will be identified.