ABC – Andrew Greene 5th December 2024: Defence Minister Richard Marles has ordered more oversight of the Australian Submarine Agency’s (ASA) structure, staff makeup and direction. Concerns have been growing inside government and elsewhere about the direction of the ASA and Australia’s $368 billion AUKUS nuclear submarine program. Former Defence secretary Dennis Richardson will examine how to improve the ASA’s performance as it oversees the $368 billion AUKUS nuclear submarine program.

Former Defence Department secretary Dennis Richardson has been asked to examine the Australian Submarine Agency. (Defence: Jay Cronan)

The newly formed agency overseeing Australia’s $368 billion AUKUS nuclear submarine program will be scrutinised by a veteran bureaucrat, less than two months after the ABC revealed widespread dissatisfaction inside and outside the government organisation. Former Defence Department secretary Dennis Richardson has been asked to oversee the structure and provide advice on the direction of the Australian Submarine Agency (ASA), which has been led since its establishment in July last year by Vice-Admiral Jonathan Mead. Since then, the ASA has grown to almost 700 full-time staff, including a dozen military officers holding a 1-star rank or higher, and an annual budget of $330 million, which is mainly comprised of salary costs.

Staff upheaval and frustrations with leadership are emerging inside the new government agency overseeing the $368 billion AUKUS project. In September, the ABC revealed one of the ASA’s most senior technical directors had quit, as well as wider internal morale concerns from other staff members about turnover within the organisation. During an interview with the ABC at the time, Vice-Admiral Mead rejected suggestions of cultural problems within his agency, saying: “Some of our people have been in the program for three and a half years and that is a long time to be in the program. “We are not struggling to keep the most qualified people, we’ve got the most qualified people there, and they come to work every day with this sense of purpose — the sense of purpose that they want to protect Australia and defend our national interest.