Twenty-nine new ships, 96 per cent recruiting success rate, more Defence money, new Navy 'branding', the Fleet Review and a Government pledge to "fix" the submarines.

These are just some of magnificent positives set for the Royal Australian Navy and revealed at this month's Leadership Conference in Sydney.

The conference, declared "unrestricted" also brought some negatives which are now, or will be, actioned by Navy management.

These included continued concern about naval retention numbers, the fact that the RAN is 1500 uniformed members under strength, NCOs working up to 14-hour shifts because of paperwork when they should be enjoying shore respite and having quality time with their families, and failure of divisional officers to find time to counsel their charges because of their own workloads.

The Maritime Commander, RADM Geoff Smith also revealed for the first time that Navy management will soon be saying "no" to some demands made on Navy.

The conference, held over two days at the Wentworth Hotel, brought together more than 500 permanent and Reserve RAN personnel, ranging in rank from leading seaman to admiral, Defence civilians including the Defence Secretary Dr Allan Hawke, the Minister for Defence, Mr Peter Reith and representatives from other navies including the RN, USN and HMNZN.

A group of retired admirals also attended.

A conference visitor was the Chief of Army, LTGEN Peter Cosgrove.

The conference was the launch pad for the RAN's new branding concept.

It provided a conduit to outline where the Navy is going (see CN's future task list on page 11) and what her resources will be (see Navy's shopping list on page 10).

It gave the Maritime Commander, RADM Geoff Smith the opportunity to tell of the great work done by the RAN in the last year and to ask delegates if they were ready for "The Battle of Sydney" ... the massive mock battle between ships, planes and civilian fireworks experts on the night of October 6 - one of the highlights of the Navy's Centenary of Federation activities.

The conference gave our personnel managers an opportunity to tell how recruiting numbers are up and how they will overcome the loss of well-trained personnel.

Delegates learned there is a real shortage of Navy pilots and observers and several categories of technicians.

The conference, however was far more than a 'look and listen' activity.

Because of recent events including the WESTRALIA tragedy, safety has a very high priority within Navy.

The RAN's safety leaders invited delegates into small workshops which were given a scenario where an FFG lost steerage inside a reef, mortally damaged a hydrographic ship which in turn hit a commercial freighter carrying chemicals sending her ashore. Lives were lost and people injured in the incident.

By Graham Davis