National Summit Examines Key Defence Issues

Three key themes emerged from a national summit designed to help companies improve their chances of winning defence contracts.

The two-day Defence Industry Virtual Summit was organised by the DTC and delivered remotely to a national and global audience.

The first main theme was the importance of sovereign industrial capability and what that currently means for both Defence and industry.

“There was a lot of discussion about how the definition and importance of sovereignty has evolved significantly since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said DTC CEO, Audra McCarthy. (Jump to page 18 for more reading on sovereign industrial capability.)

“The second thing was the importance of policy to industry. We heard the message a number of times that whilst policy might appear dry and boring, it's really important to understand and read that policy because it shapes decisions and it shapes action.

“For businesses wanting to get into our sector, if you read the defence industry policy you can better understand the target market more clearly, making it easier to enter.

“A third key theme was around value and in all three areas our speakers provided real, tangible advice and information to better help delegates conduct business.”

The array of guest speakers from Defence and SMEs from around Australia attracted nearly 350 delegates covering Australia, the US, UK, Japan and New Zealand.

Price And Value

Audra said the objective was to bring new speakers with fresh perspectives. This included information on how to handle a price war, how companies can clearly articulate their value proposition and how they manage risk.

This was echoed in the discussion panel by Diane Edgerton, the CEO of Tasmania’s Direct Edge Manufacturing, who said she refuses to get into a price war. That was new. We don't hear that very often and to have it reinforced subsequently was really powerful.

We then had Sam Willis talking about Checkside’s story. His advice was on growing a business, and that if you're wanting to team and have an external investor join your business, you need to do the groundwork beforehand. You need to invest in your systems and processes beforehand, so that you can actually embrace that opportunity instead of fire-fighting.

He also spoke about the lessons learned from their experience, where they suddenly went from about 10 staff to 50 and the huge stress this imposes on a small business.”

Audra said it was not uncommon for small businesses to win major defence contracts and have to implement a rapid, large scale ramp up process, which had not been anticipated.

“Sometimes they don't know what systems they need in place to accommodate that, making it difficult to know how to be prepared,” she said.

Another key message was that Defence, from the highest levels down, is keen to engage with industry.

“We haven't seen that level of collective engagement previously. As an industry, we need to do more to embrace that. We need to do more to connect the Defence end user with industry so that we can get better, targeted innovation to the end user,” said Audra.

The presentation by Kate Carnell, the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman, was particularly well received. She talked about the frustrations and complications of panels, payment terms and contractual terms that are open ended and unlimited.

“There's a lot of work to do there,” said Audra. “Obviously, Kate is the right person to help us improve that.”

It Takes Time

The event highlighted the DTC’s ability to provide services to industry across Australia, through the use of professional digital tools and technology that supported knowledge sharing and collaboration.

One message the DTC continually emphasises with new entrants is how long it takes to get into the defence supply chain - and this was reiterated by a range of speakers.

“Many people just don't understand that it can take 3-5 years and they expect action straight away,” said Audra. “And I know that's not new but I found it reassuring to hear the same message delivered by others in the community..”

You can still access recordings of the Summit via the DTC's Events website page https://dtc.org.au/events-list/