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The Secretary and Chief of the Defence Force – more on "the Diarchy"

• The "diarchy" is a commonly used Defence term to describe the joint leadership of Defence by the Secretary and the Chief of the Defence Force (CDF), both under the Minister for Defence. It is a term of usage rather than law, although it derives from specific legislative bases.
• The "diarchy" encompasses the individual responsibilities and accountabilities of the Secretary and the CDF, and also their joint responsibilities and accountabilities.
• Under section 8 of the Defence Act:
  • the Minister has "the general control and administration of the Defence Force"; and
  • "the powers vested in the Chief of the Defence Force, the Chief of Navy, the Chief of Army and the Chief of Air Force by virtue of section 9, and the powers vested jointly in the Secretary and the Chief of the Defence Force by virtue of section 9A, shall be exercised subject to and in accordance with any directions of the Minister".

The Diarchy at Work

• The diarchy concept does not end at the Secretary/CDF level of the Defence organisation. It is cascaded through the organisation via the Senior Defence Committee structure and is facilitated in practice by a number of administrative processes/factors.
  • The Secretary and CDF are collocated in adjoining office suites with their immediate staff, and the Chief of Staff Australian Defence Headquarters/Head Coordination and Public Affairs is responsible equally and directly to the Secretary and CDF (acknowledging the diarchy model) and is responsible for coordinating information and communication flows across the organisation.
  • The Secretary's and CDF's offices work extremely closely together on a daily basis. They share common administrative processes and security systems; and have joint visibility of all general correspondence, ministerial submissions and strategic issues.
  • The integrated Senior Defence Committee structure is a major tool which serves the joint nature of Defence's leadership structure and supports the Secretary and CDF in meeting their obligations under the Ministerial Directive. Both military and civilian representatives are at these forums, which are held to deliberate on strategic issues that require collective consideration.
  • In addition, each Service and Group commits to achieving key outcomes through signing individual charters and Organisation Performance Agreements (OPAs). These individual charters and OPAs are jointly signed by the Secretary and CDF, and as such Groups and Services are responsive to both the Secretary and CDF. The diarchy is a consistent factor visible to both military and civilian staff at all levels of the two distinct facets of the Defence organisation.

Legislative Basis

• Under this authority, joint administration of the Defence Force is vested in the Secretary and the CDF under section 9A, which states:
  1. Subject to section 8, the Secretary and the Chief of the Defence Force shall jointly have the administration of the Defence Force except with respect to:
     1. matters falling within the command of the Defence Force by the Chief of the Defence Force or the command of an arm of the Defence Force by the service chief of that arm of the Defence Force; or
     2. any other matter specified by the Minister; and
• The exception to joint authority is under section 9A of the Act, which state that the CDF has sole authority over:
  1. matters falling within the command of the Defence Force by the Chief of the Defence Force or the command of an arm of the Defence Force by the service chief of that arm of the Defence Force; or
  2. any other matter specified by the Minister.

Within the "diarchy":

• the CDF commands the ADF and is the principal military adviser to the Minister. In this regard, the Minister would look to the CDF for advice on matters that relate to military activity, including operations. This role arises directly from subsection 9(2) of the Defence Act, which provides that:

  Subject to section 8, the Chief of the Defence Force shall command the Defence Force, and the service chief of an arm of the Defence Force shall, under the Chief of the Defence Force, command the arm of the Defence Force of which he is service chief.

• the Secretary is the principal civilian adviser to the Minister and carries out the functions of an agency head within the Australian Public Service. As an agency head the Secretary has, on behalf of the Commonwealth, all the rights, duties and powers of an employer in respect of APS employees in Defence: section 20 of the Public Service Act 1999. The Minister would look to the Secretary for advice on policy, departmental issues and on the stewardship of Defence resources. This role arises directly from the exercise of statutory responsibilities under section 57 of the Public Service Act 1999 and the responsibilities under section 44 of the Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997. Specifically, section 57 of the Public Service Act requires that:
  1. The Secretary of a Department, under the Agency Minister, is responsible for managing the Department and must advise the Agency Minister in matters relating to the Department.
• In addition, section 44 of the Financial Management and Accountability (FMA) Act requires that:
  1. A Chief Executive must manage the affairs of the Agency in a way that promotes proper use of the Commonwealth resources for which the Chief Executive is responsible.
  2. If compliance with the requirements of the regulations, Finance Minister's Orders, Special Instructions or any other law would hinder or prevent the proper use of those resources, the Chief Executive must manage so as to promote proper use of those resources to the greatest extent practicable while complying with those requirements.
  3. In this section: proper use means efficient, effective and ethical use.
• ADF members including the CDF are allocated to the Department of Defence under regulation 4 of the FMA Regulations and therefore are 'officials' required to comply with the requirements of the FMA Act.
• To complete this picture, we should note that in addition to subsection 9(2) which provides for command by service chiefs of their respective services, section 9AA of the Defence Act provides that the Vice Chief of the Defence Force:

  shall, under the Chief of the Defence Force, be responsible for such part of the administration of the Defence Force in respect of which the Chief of the Defence Force has responsibility, whether alone or jointly with the Secretary, as the Chief of the Defence Force specifies in writing, and shall have such other functions as the Chief of the Defence Force determines in writing.

The Ministerial Directive

• The manner in which the diarchy operates is further clarified in directions given to the Secretary and the CDF by the Minister for Defence. In the past, the Minister issued separate directions to the Secretary and the CDF. Since the mid 1990s, the Minister has issued a joint ministerial directive to the Secretary and the CDF that details how the Minister expects the Secretary and CDF to conduct their business in delivering Defence outcomes to Government.
• Specifically, the current directive requires that the Secretary and CDF will deliver:
  1. under the sole command of CDF, operational deployment of the ADF to enhance our national strategic interests and our alliance relationships, to strengthen regional security and to successfully conduct joint military exercises and operations;
  2. identification, development and provision of current and future capability to enable our armed forces to defend Australia and its national interests;
  3. enhanced intelligence, strategic policy, scientific and information capabilities, responsive to whole-of-government requirements;
  4. timely, accurate, coordinated and considered advice to the Minister and Government;
  5. proper stewardship of people, through developing and maintaining workforce skills and career structures, building and maintaining Defence's reputation and providing a living and working environment that attracts and retains people;
  6. sound management of financial and other resources, operating within budgeted financial performance, meeting statutory requirements for preparing financial statements and optimal management and use of the Defence estate; and
  7. appropriate planning, evaluation and reporting documents, including an annual Defence Management and Finance Plan, the Defence Capability Plan, and periodic Strategic Reviews and White Papers, incorporating the above.