AT THE HELM: New Chief of Navy VADM Russ Shalders keeps abreast of all things navy as he carries on from his predecessor VADM Chris Ritchie.

Photo: ABPH Kade Rogers

By LCDR Antony Underwood

The new Chief of Navy has a clear vision of what the Navy should be doing and how best to position the Service to achieve it. VADM Russ Shalders brings to the position a total of 37 years as a Naval officer.

He’s held four seagoing commands – a Papua New Guinea patrol boat, two guided missile frigates and a guided missile destroyer – and senior staff positions including Commodore Flotillas, Director General Coastwatch, Head of Defence Personnel Executive and, most recently, Vice Chief of the Defence Force and Chief of Joint Operations.

VADM Shalders says he’s “very excited” to be back in a Navy job and is obviously looking, with enthusiasm and a sense of humour, to make the RAN the most efficient Navy possible – and a service in which people really enjoy working. He’s enthusiastic about Sea Change, a work in progress to improve the lot of those in the Navy, and does not rule out seeking an increase of authorised strength for the Service if Flexi-Crewing, now being trialled, proves successful.

“We’re here to do operations – that’s my main focus,” he said, “operating ships, submarines and helicopters that are associated with what we do.

“We’re here to provide a naval capability and the two main contributing parts to that capability are people and force structure.” VADM Shalders sees retention as the most significant challenge on the personnel front.

“Our training system is second to none across the Defence Force and, in the Navy, people are very well trained for what we ask them to do,” he said, “and once they get to the point where they have that experience and training behind them, I would like to hang onto them for longer.

“We’ve got some issues with recruiting – and those issues have been canvassed widely – but the real key is retention. Therefore whatever we can do to keep people in the Service longer is going to pay dividends.” Admiral Shalders praised the initiatives of preceding Chiefs of Navy.

He described VADM Ritchie’s Sea Change program as ‘very wise’ and said, like a number of improvement programs instigated by other Chiefs of Navy back as far as VADM Rod Taylor, it might be some time before the benefits become obvious.

“A lot of these (programs) take a long time to put in place,” he said, “for example we’re only now beginning to see the benefits of the FEG restructuring we did – the creation of Systems Command … that came during Admiral Shackleton’s watch and it’s taken a long time to bed down.”

VADM Shalders said he agreed with a statement by VADM Ritchie on retirement that Sea Change was one of the most important things he’d done during his time as Chief of Navy.

“I think the Sea Change package of various initiatives that have been put in place are really important and I fully support everything in that package, particularly as it relates to retention,” he said.

“I’m looking forward to a full brief on the program” While financial reward was a factor, lifestyle issues also played a major part in people’s decisions to either depart or remain in the Navy. Flexi-crewing – with the intention of guaranteeing ships’ companies set periods for leave, study and personal administration – was a trial with potential to improve retention.

“We’re not starting out cold with the concept – we are following a model that other navies have used,” VADM Shalders said. “The Royal Navy, for example, has been following a program called Top Mast.

“I think, if the trial’s successful we might need to mount a case for an increased numbers in our Fleet – and we’d have plenty of ammunition in our back pocket to do so.

“If we can ensure that we can provide the preparedness level required through increased manning – for example by a certain per cent – then we can mount a case to say ‘that’s what it takes’ and I think we’d have a good case.”

VADM Shalders said he was looking forward to getting to sea in HMA Ships Canberra and Parramatta in the East Coast Exercise Area and to visiting HMAS Albatross later in his second week in the job.

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