‘Way to go’ before Defence Department achieves ‘excellence’: Richard Marles

Defence Minister Richard Marles says his department still has a “way to go” before it achieves excellence. Tensions between Mr Marles and the Department of Defence were revealed yesterday during Question Time after the Opposition called for him to lift his game. Funding demands are one of the key points of tension. Mr Marles says he is working with civilian and uniformed leadership on a path to reforms. “I make no excuses or apologies for demanding excellence and a culture of excellence in the Department of Defence and the Australian Defence Force,” Mr Marles said in Question Time. “We are giving the Defence Force a strategic purpose … to improve the culture, but there is a way to go because of the mess that was left by those opposite.”