Defence

Coordination and Public Affairs

Caught in the net

Karlene Sargent talks with Chief of Staff Australian Defence Headquarters Mike Pezzullo about the establishment of the ADHQ network and why we need it.

Mike Pezzullo likes to think of the Defence headquarters environment as a giant, complicated rail network; the central nervous system of our organisation that keeps the information pumping, the advice flowing and the decisions coming.

But this system cannot work without people to perform the important connecting and coordinating roles critical to ensuring that we, as an organisation, can deliver results - whether these be operational, capability management or policy-related - to Government.

The Australian Defence Headquarters (ADHQ) network is managed by the Coordination team - a small staff established within Coordination and Public Affairs (CPA) Division to manage and respond to emerging issues. A key role of the Coordination team is to confirm the lead area on particular issues arising within Defence and to set the reporting requirements.

The network harnesses the subject matter expertise and experience generated by existing coordination processes and functions across the Services and Groups. "The key purpose of the ADHQ network is to link up, across all the Services and Groups, the areas that address common issues - our relationships with our Ministers and the Parliamentary Secretary, how we manage our public reputation and how we govern ourselves in an organisational sense," Mr Pezzullo says.

Representatives in key coordination roles within each Service and Group comprise the membership of the network, along with members drawn from relevant areas within CPA Division.

The network has created a central platform to facilitate the exchange of information, the coordination of advice, and a whole-of- Defence approach to issues and reputation management. "Allowing for some diversity across the Services and Groups, essentially in every part of Defence people have got, broadly speaking, the same sort of people with responsibilities across these issues," he says.

"By bringing these areas together we can achieve two things. The first is the creation of a forum whereby ministerial and secretary/CDF direction - on Cabinet matters or ministerial submissions, for example - can be promulgated quickly. This ensures standardised, aligned functions and processes across Defence.

"The second thing we can achieve through the ADHQ network is to compare the way in which Services and Groups approach things like ministerial relationships, reputation management and governance, and then share 'best of breed' practices by disseminating them through the network."

While the network has obvious vertical (top-down, bottom-up) applications, the horizontal and lateral opportunities and connections provide an important vehicle for sharing and exchanging ideas to help us better manage processes in Defence as a whole.

The ADHQ network will continue to meet on a monthly basis throughout 2005.

Karlene Sargent is the Assistant Director Internal Communications for Coordination Governance and Renewal.

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